Coming from a family of dog lovers, I have lived a lifetime of loving dogs and reading (and writing) books about dogs. My childhood animal books were “dog-eared” for sure, but when I began to read dog books like those on my list, my relationship with dogs became deeper and richer beyond how a dog looks or acts; these books opened a door on our mutual history and how our lives fit together. As our oldest animal partner, dogs choose to travel this shared path with us. A gift to us, it is now our responsibility to honor them.
I wrote
Farm Dogs: A Comprehensive Breed Guide to 93 Guardians, Herders, Terriers, and Other Canine Working Partners
I cannot imagine my life with animals without the understanding I have drawn from this book. While biologists and the public have long viewed domestication as a form of forced servitude, Budiansky details another revolutionary theory that some special animal species “choose” to throw their futures in with humans.
How this happened is a fascinating story that challenges our long-held assumptions and reveals our huge debt and responsibility to these animals who chose to live with us. This book is the foundation stone of my work with dogs and other domesticated animals.
Animal rights extremists argue that eating meat is murder and that pets are slaves. This compelling reappraisal of the human-animal bond, however, shows that domestication of animals is not an act of exploitation but a brilliantly successful evolutionary strategy that has benefited humans and animals alike.
"Budiansky's slim, elegant discourse is a persuasive counterweight to the pastoral delusions of sentimentalists intent on seeing humans as malevolently at odds with the noble animal kingdom."-Manuela Hoelterhoff, Wall Street Journal
"Forcefully argued and eloquent."-Christopher Lehmann-Haupt, New York Times
"A subtle look at the mysteries of evolution and a stinging response to animal-rights extremists.…
This book presented me with many questions I could not stop thinking about. Without the partnership and support of the dog, what would our human history and cultures look like? From the Arctic regions dependent upon sled dogs to all the pastoral and hunting peoples, would these cultures have existed without dogs as partners?
Derr not only shows us the science of canine evolution–how the wolf became the dog–this book also asserts the essential question we should continually ask ourselves–are we doing right by our oldest and deepest animal companion?
How the Dog Became the Dog posits that dog was an evolutionary inevitability in the nature of the wolf and its human soul mate. The natural temperament and social structure of humans and wolves are so similar that as soon as they met on the trail they recognized themselves in each other. How the Dog Became the Dog adeptly and engrossingly examines this singular relationship. Combining the most recent scientific research with Mark Derr's original insights, this book shows that dogs made us human just as humans affected the evolution of dogs.
Nature writer Sharman Apt Russell tells stories of her experiences tracking wildlife—mostly mammals, from mountain lions to pocket mice—near her home in New Mexico, with lessons that hold true across North America. She guides readers through the basics of identifying tracks and signs, revealing a landscape filled with the marks…
I have always been fascinated and in awe of working livestock guardian dogs. One of our first human/dog partnerships, this group of dogs possesses a unique set of genetically inherited behaviors.
The Coppingers' research into how livestock guardian dogs think and work was groundbreaking and instrumental in promoting the use of these working dogs for predator coexistence in North America.
Expanding their work to include sled, herding, and hunting dogs, the Coppingers also explain how these specific dog breeds acquired their special traits.
Marking the first time that dogs have been explained in such detail by eminent researchers, Dogs is a work of wide appeal, as absorbing as it is enlightening.
Drawing on insight gleaned from forty-five years of raising, training, and studying the behaviors of dogs worldwide, Lorna and Raymond Coppinger explore the fascinating processes by which dog breeds have evolved into their unique shapes and behaviors. Concentrating on five types of dogs—modern household dogs, village dogs, livestock-guarding dogs, sled dogs, and herding dogs—the Coppingers, internationally recognized canine ethologists and consummate dog lovers, examine our canine companions from a unique biological viewpoint.…
I found this book to be a deeply humane exploration of our human-dog relationship from prehistory to the present. It presents the essential ways that dogs changed us and acknowledges the ever-lurking, awful temptation to exploit or harm our oldest friend.
Hobgood-Ostler weaves together canine-human archaeology, history, and literature to show us how we would not have flourished without our dogs, from the earliest days of our partnership to our current lives in which dogs have become actual family members, offering companionship, support, and love.
Canines and humans have depended upon one another for tens of thousands of years. Humans took the initial steps of domesticating canines, but somewhere through the millennia, dogs began dramatically to affect the future of their masters. In A Dog's History of the World, Laura Hobgood-Oster chronicles the canine-human story. From the earliest cave paintings depicting the primitive canine-human relationship to the modern model of dogs as family members, Hobgood-Oster reveals how the relationship has been marked by both love and exploitation.Canines have aided and been heir to humankind's ever-increasing thirst for scientific advancements, empire building, and personal satisfaction. They…
The Model Spy is based on the true story of Toto Koopman, who spied for the Allies and Italian Resistance during World War II.
Largely unknown today, Toto was arguably the first woman to spy for the British Intelligence Service. Operating in the hotbed of Mussolini's Italy, she courted danger…
Like most dog lovers, I love the incredible diversity of modern dog breeds, but I thought very little about the dogs already here in the Western Hemisphere before the European colonists arrived.
Derr tells the story of the First Peoples and their dog companions, who traveled to the corners of both continents. But then the story becomes one of tragic slaughter and conquest for both people and dogs.
What happened to these Native American dog breeds? Did any remnants survive to interact with the new settlers? What new types and breeds emerged? How did they and their descendants shape American history? I found all the answers fascinating.
In the New World, wherever humans have gone, dogs have been their close companions. In this revelatory history, Mark Derr looks at the ways in which we have used canines - as sled dogs, sheepdogs, Seeing Eye dogs, guard dogs show dogs and more - as he tracks changes in American culture and society. Derr weaves a remarkable tapestry of heroism, betrayal, tragedy, kindness, abuse and unique companionship. The result is an enlightening perspective on American history through the eyes of humanity's best friend.
One of the greatest stories ever told is how humans and canines teamed up for our mutual survival thousands of years ago. Over centuries together, dogs and humans formed true working partnerships. Selected for specific temperaments, behaviors, and physical characteristics, their work was indispensable. No animal has been our companion longer, and on our journey together, we have forged a unique and rewarding bond.
My book, lavishly illustrated in color, presents the heritage, physical characteristics, behavioral traits, and working abilities of 93 dog breeds. Whether you need a farm or working partner, a sports dog, or a family companion, I wish you not only understand your dog’s heritage but also make the right choice of breed or breed type for you or your family.
I grew up thinking that being adopted didn’t matter. I was wrong. This book is my journey uncovering the significance and true history of adoption practices in America. Now, in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade, the renewed debate over women’s reproductive rights places…
An enthralling portrait of the Bloomsbury Group’s key figures told through a rich collection of intimate photographs. Photography framed the world of the Bloomsbury Group. The thousands of photographs surviving in albums kept by Virginia Woolf, Vanessa Bell, Dora Carrington, and Lytton Strachey, among others, today offer us a private…
