The Truth about Dogs: An Inquiry Into Ancestry Social Conventions Mental Habits Moral Fiber Canis Fami

by Stephen Budiansky

Book Overview

Prepare to have any illusions about your canine companion totally shattered. In writing The Truth About Dogs, author Stephen Budiansky (The Nature of Horses) is determined to uncover the true nature... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 014100228X
• ISBN13: 9780141002286
• Release Date: October 2001
• Publisher: Penguin Group
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 0.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.1" x 7.8"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Wonderful Book!

I was appalled to see someone gave this book a bad review. I thought it was the single best book about dogs I've read! It was entertaining, interesting, well-written and thought-provoking. Please read the reviews for the hardback version of this book, before deciding, based on the bad review given to this edition. Although there were one or two things I didn't agree with the author about, it made me think about the issue a little more. Much has been made about the author's view of dogs as 'con artists', but he certainly doesn't regard dogs as "pests" and his fondness for dogs is apparent on every page. Even his view of dogs as 'con artists' is said with affection and admiration. He presents this aspect of dog thinking without any negative connotations. I understood it as a type of "Lead, Follow, or get out of the way!" way of thinking; if we as dog owners, don't lead, it's just natural for a dog to try to fill in the spot, because in a dog's world someone needs to lead. I work with several dozen dogs in a typical week, and find them to be fairly unique in personality with a wide range of sometimes eccentric behaviour; Much like humans - no dog is exactly like any other. I don't know what kinds of dogs the previous reviewer has experience with, but my experience with dogs fully supports the information in this book. I will reread Budiansky's book every few years, that's how insightful and entertaining it was.

Man's Best Parasite

Stephen Budiansky has written good books on various aspects of nature before, and he brings nature into the home in his most recent one, _The Truth About Dogs: An Inquiry into the Ancestry, Social Conventions, Mental Habits, and Moral Fiber of Canis Familiaris_ (Viking Press). This is a fine book about viewing dogs in a scientific light, but as such, it will offend those who love dogs because they think that dogs provide unconditional love or because they view dogs as people or because they are convinced that dogs understand the thoughts of humans and can equally with humans experience such things as guilt and affection. Dogs, Budiansky says, do what dogs do because they are their own species, not because they are "almost human." Dogs get along with us because dogs are parasites.Now, Budiansky says he keeps dogs, and it is obvious he loves and appreciates them and that his dogs have a perceptive and caring owner. But he points out that as dogs, dogs are wonderful, but if they were humans, they would be jerks: they compete for our food and other resources, they spread disease, they bite and cause injuries, they relieve themselves where we do not want them to, they chew up valuable items, and they behave in countless other ways that would turn humans who so behaved into enemies very quickly. Dogs exploit the "Awww Effect" and we can't help but look at them as something like human. Dogs have our number. Dogs are on our side just as tapeworms are.That's a bit too strong, of course, since we do get something back from dogs. I think we get more than the cool scientific appreciation of a living, breathing bundle of conditioned reflexes which Budiansky encourages, but even if it is only that, dogs and we have more of a symbiotic rather than parasitical relationship. Seen this way, his book cannot make us appreciate them any less. He describes very well their evolutionary history, their peculiar ways of looking at the world and how they got them, their uncanny ability to respond to stimuli that will please us, the peculiar deviancies of aggressive or hypochondriacal dogs (and how we encourage such behaviors), and the dangers and cures of inbreeding. There is much to learn in this amusing and well informed book, and this is a scientific view that admirably encourages delight: "[Dogs'] enrichment to us is visceral and cerebral - the joy of touching and feeling the mind of another so different, the awe, even, of contemplating the sublime forces of evolution that have fashioned such a wondrous array of life on Earth. Dogs are a constant reminder that we are just one species among many, and that our automatic and daily assumptions about the set nature of society and the rules of the world are the height of parochialism for all that evolution cares about it."

(A good deal of) truth about dogs

Just to second the opinions of several other reviewers - this is not a training manual, it's very readable and is well referenced for a work aimed at the layperson (that's 99% of us). As a long time kennel owner there were many Ah-ha moments, connections made for disparate behaviors I was already aware of and some things I wasn't totally convinced of. Although Budiansky doesn't make an airtight case for every single conclusion, the beauty of this book is in the approach and the number of times he hits his target with deadly accuracy. The underlying theme of Budiansky's book is that what was dogma 20 years ago can be examined in the light of new knowledge - and this is an ongoing process. I have to contradict a previous reviewer - if you read the first two chapters and find yourself uncomfortable with what Budiansky has to say, you are the person that will gain the most from completing the rest of the book. So will your dog(s).

Entertaining and insightful

Both the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal gave this book rave reviews and I couldn't agree more. Calling on the latest scientific studies on dog genetics, evolution, and psychology, The Truth About Dogs is both fascinating for its insights into what makes your dog tick as well as (VERY unusually for dog books) extremely humorous and well written. Though Budiansky does not set out to write a training manual, and tries to stick to what we really know from science, no dog owner can read this book without coming away with many practical insights into how to better handle--and better understand and enjoy--his or her dog. I especially liked the sections dealing with why dogs bark, whether some breeds are really smarter than others, and why dogs invent the incredible variety of attention getting devices that they do. Reviewers often say that this or that book is a "must" but this one REALLY is a must for all dog owners and dog lovers.

A fascinating mix of science and insight

Stephen Budiansky has written the smartest book about dogs to come out in years. Rather than simply make observations about the relationships he has witnessed between people and their pets, he assembles decades of scientific research and archaeological evidence to explain how the deep bond between people and animals came about, how dogs and their owners have helped each other for tens of thousands of years. Although the story is not always warm and fuzzy (people have put dogs to many unsavory uses over the millennia), Budiansky still makes the strongest case I've seen for the unique nature of the human-dog bond. A terrific read, and incredibly informative.