I’m always looking for books on dog training and behavior that rely on the latest science for conveying the most important reasons for people to become fluent in dog—dog literate—while at the same time appreciating the well-established fact that there is a rapid global shift from outdated dominance-based training to positive force-free training based on what modern behavioral science is telling us.1 I also like books that are written for non-scientists that are fun and sometimes comical reviews of how we must demystify dog behavior and training and pay careful attention to what science tells us about these topics.
For these and other reasons, I was thrilled to learn of dog expert and trainer Melissa McCue-McGrath’s recent book with the quirky and inviting title Misadventures of the World’s Okayest Dog Trainer: 25 Cases to Guide Dog Trainers and Behaviorists in Their Career, in which she writes about her personal journey into the importance of taking the dogs’ point of view on the matters at hand and understanding the many reasons for the rapid evolution of canine behavior into a still unregulated industry.2 Along the way, she dispels myths about the behavior of companion dogs that can negatively influence the quality of dog-human relationships.3
Marc Bekoff: Why did you write Misadventures of the World’s Okayest Dog Trainer?
Melissa McCue-McGrath: I was assigned my first student through the Victoria Stilwell Academy (VSA), Zoe, in 2015. The night before her last exam, she asked me what she needed to know. I explained she should brush up on the learning theory quadrants, and that’s when she stopped me. She explained, “I feel I have a pretty good grasp on the test. What I am asking you is what didn’t they tell me? What do I need to know before I start working with dogs?” This is that book.
MB: How does your book relate to your background and general areas of interest?
MMM: My degree is in psychology. I knew I wanted to work with animals, but being in rural Maine before the internet the only options I believed I had for working with animals were farmer, police dog handler, and veterinarian. I wouldn’t thrive in those fields, so I went to a liberal arts school. I walked into Lake Erie College as an equestrian major, had a horrible fall and broke my spine the same year Christopher Reeves did, but I was incredibly lucky and fared much better than he did, rest in peace. I then went into psychology and never looked back.
MB: Who do you hope to reach?
MMM: First are people want to work with animals because they love dogs. I want to convey just how important it is for training and behavior professionals to respect and connect with guardians of the dogs we’re trying to help. In front of me in every training session and every behavior consultation are at least two learners: the dog and the human.
Second are people in the industry so they can (hopefully) relate. Each chapter is titled as a prompt to the reader who might be in this industry already. “Your Worst Case,” “Your Humpiest Cases,” “Your Definition of Success Will Change.” I’m asking readers to think of their own cases they can connect to as well. These are my stories, but pet professionals all have stories like these.
MB: What are some of the topics you consider and what are some of your major messages?
MMM: Each chapter is a different consideration told through experiences, inviting conversation as there is no right way to work in this industry. Topics include sexism, which is alive and well even in positive-reinforcement training circles which are 90% women; how often we have to clean up bodily functions that aren’t our own, hilarious humpers, and considerations in behavioral euthanasia. This book spans every emotional facet of this work, while exploring ways animals bring out our humanity.
MB: How does your work differ from others that are concerned with some of the same general topics?
MMM: There are many “How To” books in positive reinforcement training. I set out to do something a little different. Have you read Dr. Nick Trout’s book, I’ll Be Home Soon, a memoir of his work as a veterinarian at Angell Memorial Hospital in Boston? I loved his stories, intensity dripping off the page when he was saving a patient, or gut-busting laughter when he would talk about comical misunderstandings. Education through stories and emotion—that’s what I wanted to bring to our industry. Readers feel lulls between cases and the heart-racing panic when life is on the line. I wanted a book like that to recommend to Zoe when she asked what she needed to know. I didn’t want another book that was saying we work in an unregulated industry. I wanted people to feel what that is like, good and bad.
Working with dogs is not all rainbows. Readers will appreciate how much urine we clean up daily and how often we say humping in mixed company. They will also experience discussions of behavioral modification medication, the heaviness of hoarding, and behavioral euthanasia.
MB: Are you hopeful that as people learn more about dog behavior and dog training they will treat their canine companions with more respect and dignity?
MMM: I hope so! The first story in this book is a first-person account of a level-five dog bite when I was in second grade. I talk about how dominance training was the dominant narrative, some of our practices were outright abusive, and training meant obedience above all. I told the story the way some of my clients would speak about their dogs and how the disobedient dog is the problem.
In fact, the first two lines in the book are: “When I was seven, we had a dog named Nico. Nico was an asshole.” I wrote that, not because I believe it, but because that’s what the focus was on at the time. He lost his life as a result of that biting incident. He couldn’t be around kids, so he was perceived as a bad dog living his life on a chain. I then mention that I was essentially raised the same way, with physical punishment and an obedience-above-all ethos. I describe what that felt like, and paralleled those experiences to witnessing our dog being alpha-rolled and his ear bitten for something he did, or didn’t, do. Just like I was yanked out of bed in the middle of the night forcefully, and ended up on the floor of my bedroom. I was in trouble for something I was unaware of. That made me more empathetic to how we were raising our dogs.
Over the course of the book, I drop educational tidbits. There is a chapter explaining that sometimes a dog isn’t a match to a family and that is okay; we humans don’t get it right on Match.com every time, do we? There is a chapter on dog bites that articulates the seven factors that increase a risk of a serious dog bite. Our family lined up with six of them.
Teaching kids today is a gift to my younger self, and validation that I was right. There are better ways of doing this, and I get to make sure that happens for all of these learners—animals and humans—in my charge.
