Ponder Post: The Education of Will

With an easy, non-threatening, calmly informative writing style in The Education of Will (©2017), the author tells the healing story of a women who has been traumatized by events in her life (and suppressed them) and her dog, Will. The subtitle of the book reads A mutual memoir of a woman and her dog. As a professional animal behavior specialist, Patricia McConnell recognizes a similarity of her reactions to those of her dog when exposed to external triggers. Both she and her dog exhibit the symptoms and actions often associated with post traumatic stress syndrome (PTSD).  She draws on her medical knowledge and training experience with animals to help herself and her dog Will on the road to recovery. Although on the surface it sounds like a heavy topic, I found the book very enjoyable and intriguing. Her personal trauma is disclosed but the author does not dwell on it. I am pleased I did not let the premise deter me from reading the book.

There were passages which describe the training of border collies and other similar breeds to herd sheep, along with a fascinating analysis of the signaling techniques and sounds used universally - independent of a country's language. Included in the book were numerous anecdotal stories of clients with pet behavioral issues, some that tugged at my heart-strings and others that made me wonder why on earth the person was keeping such an aggressive dog. Most of the training plans for teaching the dogs and owners how to substitute more appropriate responses to triggers were logically obvious - once, of course, they had been pointed out. The detective work to uncover what triggered those undesirable reactions in the canines was clever. One trigger that surprised me was sunglasses.

People interested in gaining or maintaining power often wear sunglasses, not just to conceal their eyes but also to enlarge them to look more formidable. Conjure up the image of a young military man in a country enmeshed in political turmoil, and looming behind the ubiquitous AK-47 will be a face punctuated by two large black circles staring at you, the lenses unwavering like the hard eye of a dog about to bite.

In The Education of Will the commonality between human and canine reactions to fear was advantageous in helping a dog owner and her troubled dog mutually help each other control their fears. But the author does whimsically point out an advantage of canines.

We [humans] are hardwired to remember negative events over positive ones, so we ruminate on our mistakes and the slights of others. No wonder we love dogs who don't need meditation retreats to get over the shame of getting into the garbage last Thursday.

The previous example illustrates the quirky language and mildly humorous metaphors the author uses. The phrase "A nest of robins in her hair" from the Trees poem by Joyce Kilmer has often been held up as an example of an awkward simile, but I have always kind of liked it. Patricia McConnell has sprinkling a few delightful similes throughout this book that pop up unexpectedly. They are fun to stumble upon. For example, in racing horseback with a friend across a field the author describes the start as

... we'd exchange glances like teenage boys in hot rods at a stop light 

When the horse really starts to run full tilt she describes it as

... the saddle, and your seat within it, lower as if a plane hit an air pocket and dropped fifty feet.

The potpourri of names for the dogs is also amusing, Tanker, Aladdin, Zip, Tulip, Pippy-Tay, Vic, Lassie, and of course Will. Her one-in-a-million dog Luke could not help but make me think of our own faithful, patient, loving, best-dog-ever, Jessie. Jessie passed on in April 2003 at the age of 13 in human years. We had dubbed her a Germador, a German Shepherd and Black Labrador mix. Although not a nationally recognized breed, that is how we registered her with the city for her dog tags. She truly was one-in-a million.

Why did I pick this book to read? My reason was nothing more than an impulse upon exiting the library when the dog on the cover looked at me from the display rack of new suggested reads. I had gone to the library to pick up the book I'd reserved,  A Dog's Purpose, because Frank and I  had recently enjoyed the movie with Alex. The Education of Will also appealed because my son's dog Snoopy can also exhibit some fearful behaviors and I thought I might get some insight from reading about the title dog, Will. I guess maybe I was in a dog frame of mind at the time. I am very glad I read this book. It was an eclectic pick, yes, but well worth the time to read, learn, enjoy, and ponder.