#60: Resilience in Dogs with Patricia McConnell

Dr. McConnell is an internationally known zoologist and a Certified
Applied Animal Behaviorist. In her career, she has worked with dogs
with all kinds of serious behavior problems. She was also the host
of the nationally syndicated Radio show "Calling All Pets", and she
is a retired assistant professor of Zoology at the University of
Wisconsin-Madison. She is an amazing speaker… in fact, she was one
of the first real dog seminars that I ever went to…possibly THE
first if my memory is correct. So she is partly responsible for
getting me hooked on dog training in the first place. She is the
author of many beautifully written and well-researched books, most
of which I have in my house, and are among some of my favorite
books that I read over and over…particularly "The Other End of the
Leash: Why We Do What We Do Around Dogs", which again was sort of a
gateway dog book for me. And her book "For the Love of a Dog:
Understand Emotion in You and Your Best Friend", I have in both
hardcover and audiobook format. Her new book, "The Education of
Will", which I have read and will read again, is also beautifully
written and insightful. It’s a little different in that it’s
written as a memoir. She shares stories from her own life and her
experience with trauma, fear, and anxiety…something I know a lot of
us can relate to. But they are interwoven with stories about the
dogs she’s worked with, particularly her own dog, Will, and their
journeys with trauma and anxiety. And among those of course, she
includes glimpses into what we know about the science of fear and
what we can do about it. Fair warning, I did cry a little. So just
a heads up. In the book, the theme of resilience comes up. And it’s
a topic that really fascinates me. Why do some individuals bounce
back after a bad experience and others don’t? What can we do to
help our dogs recover quickly after something stressful happens?
How can we set ourselves and our dogs up for success? And that is
exactly what we talked about during our conversation. For full show
notes, visit: www.wonderpupstraining.com/podcast/60