The Other End of the Leash: Why We Do What We Do Around Dogs

by Patricia B. McConnell

One way to practice is to watch and write down what you see. Artists and scientists know this: we don’t really see something until we ask our minds to translate it into words or pictures. So become your own Jane Goodall. Take a sketchbook with you and your dog to the dog park (any paper with a solid backing will do) and start watching, describing, and sketching specific movements of your dog. Focus on which way her body leans and write it down and try to sketch a picture. Notice whether the corners of her mouth (the commissure) go forward or backward and write down when it happens and when it doesn’t. Do her eyes look “hard” or “soft” when she’s greeting another dog? How does her tail set change when she sees another dog? Is it the same change as when she sees a human? Focus on just one body part at a time; otherwise, your brain gets swamped and you can’t really focus on a specific action. Try keeping your notes and sketches together in a journal and go back often to read what you wrote.