I can't wait to get a dog. I love dogs. I love puppies. I've wanted a dog for as long as I can remember. My mom was allergic to dogs growing up, so I never had a dog to call my own. Now that I'm older I plan on getting a dog for myself - an English bulldog to be exact - but I am waiting until I'm not working full-time so the pup doesn't have to be alone eight hours a day. Until then, I will read about dogs so I am prepared to welcome a canine into my world.
I found Inside of a Dog an interesting read. It is not a guide to training your dog, but more of a road map to better understand how they think and perceive the world around them. Horowitz, a cognitive scientist, explains why certain dogs act the way they do and what an owner can learn from their everyday actions. She also examines how a dog perceives certain concepts: time, right vs. wrong, emotions and themselves. I found Inside of a Dog to be a nice starting point to learning about dogs' perceptual and cognitive abilities, but it is by no means a comprehensive volume. If you have any sort of background or experience studying animal behavior I would skip this book, because most of the information it contains will be obvious to you. But it does work well as an introduction to the subject, regardless of its occasional repetition.
Horowitz highlights a few ideas to keep in mind when trying to better understand your dog. First, forget what you think you know about your dog. Secondly, if you want to understand the life of any animal, you need to know what things are meaningful to it and how it acts in reaction to those things.
I enjoyed the anecdotes Horowitz included with every chapter - an instance when her dog, Pump, exemplified an action that Horowitz goes on to examine. I also found the chapter on how a dogs vision works particularly interesting. Not only do they perceive colors differently than humans, but they also have a higher flicker-fusion rate than humans (the number of snapshots of the world that the eye takes in every second). It is for this reason that dogs can actually see a thrown frisbee's or ball's new location a fraction of a second before humans do. Also, when dogs see an image on the tv, the image stream is not fast enough for a dog's vision - they see individual frames and the dark space between them too. In other words, the image on a tv does not look real to a dog.
All in all, this was an interesting read that I am going to push onto my dog-owning friends. It has also made me even more excited for the day when I can bring home my own puppy.
 |
| Me and my old friend, Lola |
Publisher: Scribner, 2010
Awww that picture of you and your little friend Lola is so cute! I always wanted to own a dog as well, but I work full time and travel a lot so it would be a disadvantage to the dog! But they are oh so cute! :) Post pictures when you buy one!!!
ReplyDeletereederreads, It sounds like we are in the same boat - we love dogs but aren't home much. Hopefully someday that will change. Give me a couple years for the pictures - I don't think I'll get a dog anytime soon. But when I do you can bet there will be many pictures posted!
ReplyDeleteLola is one lovely Bulldog. It's a lot of job, but it's very hard to live without them after you have them. My little Scarlett is a bunch to handle, but she's a lot of fun.
ReplyDeleteBen, I believe it's got to be hard to live without them once you have them. Your little Scarlett is such a beautiful dog.
ReplyDeleteSounds like an interesting book. I've always wanted a dog as well but my mom never liked them. I'd love to get one down the road when I'm at home more and will be moving less often than once a year.
ReplyDeleteAdorable picture of you and Lola!
Red, Thats where I am. Probably somewhere in my 30's I'll get one.
ReplyDeleteI'm not really a dog person but J and I have two cats. Stevie, our little chubby man, resembles a bulldog actually! It does seem like a great introductory read. I've always been interested in the way animals view time. Apparently cats won't really realize that you've been gone for 8 hours. I don't know if it's necessarily true. But they certainly don't realize they're repeating something they shouldn't be doing! Bulldogs are so cute! I'm sure you'll be a great owner.
ReplyDeleteI've wanted a dog since I was a child too. I'm hoping to finally get one later this year. I'm trying to read as much about dogs as I can in the next few months and I love the sound of this book. I will try and get hold of a copy - thank you for drawing it to my attention.
ReplyDeletecute cover and cute picture as well.
ReplyDeleteAs a fellow dog lover, I love the sound of this!
ReplyDeleteInteresting book, we love our dog a lot round here, and I didn't know that about their vision. I think I'll be checking this one out at the library!
ReplyDeleteBeth, I'm not a big cat person, mostly because I have an insane allergy to them. But I'd love to see pictures of your chubby man! He sounds so cute!
ReplyDeletefarmlane, Sure thing! Keep me updated on the dog front :)
Diane, thanks!
Nymeth, I learned some interesting things. Do you have a dog now?
Selene, Good call!
Sounds like a really interesting book! I'm a dog-lover and a part-time dog-walker so this seems a particularly relevant read! Thanks for recommending it!
ReplyDeleteI love dogs so much that I swear that sometimes (more often than I like to admit) I prefer them to humans. This book sounds really good - especially since I rescued a German Shepherd from the streets about a year ago and his time of being abandoned, starving and harangued by other strays has given him his own little set of issues. He's the sweetest, most loving dog in the world but he is scared stiff of other dogs. It's getting better but it's still far from sorted... This might help?
ReplyDeleteLaura, It sounds like you should read it!
ReplyDeleteKathmeista, Poor guy :( This book may help you to understand what's behind his fears.
You can always have Cheeky! <3 I am putting that book on my list to read....
ReplyDeleteI'm getting a puppy in a few weeks (and am considering naming her Lola, btw!), and so for the past month or so I've been reading nonstop about dogs, puppies, training, etc. I'm on the wait list to get Inside of a Dog from the library, so I was really excited to see that you had reviewed it!
ReplyDeleteWhen you do get closer to that English Bulldog, you should check out Cesar Millan's How to Raise the Perfect dog. One of the puppies he raises in it is an English Bulldog.
That's an excellent book on learning the real mind of your dog. It will keep you aware of what the dog is really thinking and will give you an idea of what to do. That’s an excellent book on learning the real mind of your dog. It will keep you aware of what the dog is really thinking and it will give you an idea of what to do.
ReplyDeleteCheers,
Natalie, english bulldog owner