FOR THE LOVE OF DOG
Dogs and humans have evolved alongside one another over a long period of time but all is not well in the Land of Dog. This book is about dogs’ needs and how we can improve our understanding of dogs and how best to look after them in the 21st century. Drawing on the latest research and my expertise as a veterinary behaviorist who has spent a lifetime with dogs, my aim is to suggest a new approach to owning a dog. I hope to explain why dogs thrive on three key things: fun, exercise, and training. Most importantly, I offer fresh ideas about how we, as dog owners, can help our dog meet these needs.
Salman Rushdie described dogs as the “loving, half-comprehending, half-mystified aliens who live within our homes.” A Modern Dog’s Life looks at aspects of our behavior that are particularly mystifying to dogs and establishes why dogs may never comprehend some of our characteristics and tendencies. It also examines features of dog management that many owners struggle to get right—and sets out some blunt home truths about the realities of keeping a dog. Ultimately, A Modern Dog’s Life is for anyone who wants to understand more and therefore demystify their dog. Its aim is to help you to become a better dogwatcher, team-player, care-giver, companion, and life-coach by knowing when and how to intervene.
This is not a book about the charm of dogs or the many ways of caring for them. There are hundreds of such books already out there. Instead, my premise is that owning a dog takes time and thought and is not always a pleasure. Despite figures pushed out annually by pet food manufacturers as they insist that pets are good for our health, we all know that dogs can also cause tremendous distress to humans around them, and not only to their owners. This book asks why dogs can be distressing and why they get distressed. It offers solutions to some common doggy dilemmas but does not shy away from the fact that many dogs lead less than ideal lives. In a sense then, this book is for those who strive to do the best for their dogs rather than those who need to get the best out of their dogs.
My aim with this book is to deliver insights and challenges that prompt you to reflect on your own dog’s behavior. All the dogs you have shared time with offer examples of the concepts I describe. When exploring the unwelcome consequences of our actions on the welfare of dogs, I promise not to use the trite and inadequate remark: How would you like it? This is not useful because our chief challenge is to think like dogs rather than expect them to have the same sensitivities we have. My pledge is to avoid interpreting dog behaviors in human terms. Any statement suggesting that dogs are almost human is, for many dog enthusiasts, nothing short of an insult. In return, I encourage you to use my reflections to improve the lot of the dogs you know now or are yet to meet. This book gives dogs the benefit of the doubt (and of the latest research) when it comes to their feelings, but never assumes that they have human intelligence. Dogs have canine intelligence—for them a far more useful attribute.
As we gather more information on dogs and their behavior, we begin to realize how much there is still to discover. Humans owe dogs a great deal, and vice versa. We have co-evolved, exploiting one another to various degrees. Indeed, we continue to do so in novel ways that I note throughout this book. If dogs were to become scientists, I believe they would be baying for more funding for studies touched on by A Modern Dog’s Life.
—from the first chapter
