crysania's review against another edition
4.0
I wasn't quite sure what to make of the book at first. I thought it was going to be along the lines of the McConnell books I've read: trained animal behaviorist giving anecdotes and scientific fact to back up her claims. That turned out to be far from the truth. The book is more about the journey one woman takes after getting her dog, a journey into a discovery of what being a "dog person" is all about. She does explore the bonds between humans and dogs, but from an entirely personal way. It's all done through her careful observations of her own emotions and thoughts and through looking at other people's relationships with their dogs. The book, ultimately, does a lot to debunk the whole "dogs as unconditional love" thing many people are fond of reciting. It doesn't do this in a harsh way, but rather gently reminds the reader that dogs are living creatures, with their own wants and emotions.
While it wasn't what I expected, I thought it was ultimately a wonderful book.
While it wasn't what I expected, I thought it was ultimately a wonderful book.
yetilibrary's review against another edition
5.0
Pack of Two is both a memoir of one woman's relationship with her dog and a larger exploration of the relationship between humans and dogs. A great read for any dog-lover.
wingsofareader's review against another edition
4.0
Although I did not always agree with Knapp's observation about the nature of dogs themselves - particularly those which seemed to be too reliant on a Ceasar Milan-esque notion of human dominance / Human-As-Alpha-Dog-Because-Dogs-Are-Descended-From-Wolves mentality - I could certainly identify with much of what she wrote about.
Caroline Knapp adopted her dog, Lucille, after having 'broken up' with her long-term lover, alcohol. (See her memoir, Drink: A Love Affair At that point in her life, Knapp had also recently lost both of her parents, and was continuing an almost life long struggle with determining how to make her apparently high-functioning external presence in the world, align with her internal feelings of inadequacy, loneliness, and ambivalence in almost every type of relationship in her life.
Enter Lucille.
In Pack Of Two: The Intricate Bond Between People and Dogs , Knapp explores the many reasons that she believes, based on her personal experience and the experiences of the "dog" people that she has encountered through her life with Lucille, how and why our (human beings') connections to our canine companions are so powerful, why they are often underestimated and what they can mean to individuals in their day to day lives.
I appreciate the fact that while she focuses on her own narrative, and most often substantiates her subjective experience with the equally subjective experience of other "dog people", human beings who also love their canine companions deeply, Knapp also makes the effort to find some academic and scientific proofs for her understandings of the connections between the two species.
I did get frustrated, however, on more than once occasion, when it seemed to me that just a bit more or broader inquiry would have provided a more accurate understanding of the things Knapp was discussing. So many able and intelligent trainers have debunked the myth of Dog-As-Wolf and the Milan-eque Alpha dominance model that has very little to do with how dogs have evolved in concert with humans for several thousands of years - apart from wolves and with unique social structures, in part because of the ways in which humans selected which 'wolves' to breed over the millennia, based on desired traits, long before true breeding programs were entrenched - it was annoying to read Knapp talk about outmoded nonsense, and to "hear" her cite her trainers' expertise about how to dominate her dog. In fairness however, I did go compare the publication date of Pack of Two against the more widely published works of the most easily accessible ethnologists and behaviourists in the field - Karen London, Karen Pryor, Jean Donaldson, Patricia B. MacConnell, Sophia Yin - and most of them published after Knapp's book came out, so definitely after she was writing it, never mind training Lucille.
There were also comments she made which I found to be inaccurate - but which Ms. Knapp stated as categorical fact, because I think they were factual in her experience, but in my experience, as someone who shares my life and home with multiple dogs rather than a single dog, my experience has been notably different.
These 'differences' of opinion, however, ultimately prove Knapp's overall thesis - that while the individual shape of the experience of any one person and their canine companions may vary, even varies depending on the dog(s) and time in our lives - there are commonalities experienced by humans in North American culture who share their lives with dogs, and it is worth considering both the enormous benefits and the potential pitfalls of this often underestimated symbiotic experience, in order to ensure that we do our best to ensure the health of both the canines and the human beings who care for them and about them.
Caroline Knapp adopted her dog, Lucille, after having 'broken up' with her long-term lover, alcohol. (See her memoir, Drink: A Love Affair At that point in her life, Knapp had also recently lost both of her parents, and was continuing an almost life long struggle with determining how to make her apparently high-functioning external presence in the world, align with her internal feelings of inadequacy, loneliness, and ambivalence in almost every type of relationship in her life.
Enter Lucille.
In Pack Of Two: The Intricate Bond Between People and Dogs , Knapp explores the many reasons that she believes, based on her personal experience and the experiences of the "dog" people that she has encountered through her life with Lucille, how and why our (human beings') connections to our canine companions are so powerful, why they are often underestimated and what they can mean to individuals in their day to day lives.
I appreciate the fact that while she focuses on her own narrative, and most often substantiates her subjective experience with the equally subjective experience of other "dog people", human beings who also love their canine companions deeply, Knapp also makes the effort to find some academic and scientific proofs for her understandings of the connections between the two species.
I did get frustrated, however, on more than once occasion, when it seemed to me that just a bit more or broader inquiry would have provided a more accurate understanding of the things Knapp was discussing. So many able and intelligent trainers have debunked the myth of Dog-As-Wolf and the Milan-eque Alpha dominance model that has very little to do with how dogs have evolved in concert with humans for several thousands of years - apart from wolves and with unique social structures, in part because of the ways in which humans selected which 'wolves' to breed over the millennia, based on desired traits, long before true breeding programs were entrenched - it was annoying to read Knapp talk about outmoded nonsense, and to "hear" her cite her trainers' expertise about how to dominate her dog. In fairness however, I did go compare the publication date of Pack of Two against the more widely published works of the most easily accessible ethnologists and behaviourists in the field - Karen London, Karen Pryor, Jean Donaldson, Patricia B. MacConnell, Sophia Yin - and most of them published after Knapp's book came out, so definitely after she was writing it, never mind training Lucille.
There were also comments she made which I found to be inaccurate - but which Ms. Knapp stated as categorical fact, because I think they were factual in her experience, but in my experience, as someone who shares my life and home with multiple dogs rather than a single dog, my experience has been notably different.
These 'differences' of opinion, however, ultimately prove Knapp's overall thesis - that while the individual shape of the experience of any one person and their canine companions may vary, even varies depending on the dog(s) and time in our lives - there are commonalities experienced by humans in North American culture who share their lives with dogs, and it is worth considering both the enormous benefits and the potential pitfalls of this often underestimated symbiotic experience, in order to ensure that we do our best to ensure the health of both the canines and the human beings who care for them and about them.
becasaur27's review against another edition
3.0
Gretchen Rubin listed this as one of the books she read when she was trying to decide about getting a puppy. Or maybe she read it just after she got a puppy. Anyway, she mentioned it, it sounded interesting, so I read it. I talk to my dogs (and my cat), but I didn't really identify that much with the author of this story who dotes on her dog and while I've had a really close relationship with one dog (had dreams of her after she died and woke up and cried about her for over a year) this is just not how I feel that I relate to my dogs. I was happy she had found a way to form such a close bond and had found the perfect dog for herself, but also super concerned about how she was going to cope with that loss in fewer years than we'd like. I did like that she had stories about her dog both bringing her closer to lots of people and also driving her apart from her long time boyfriend. A moderately interesting read that I can't really recommend. I'm not sad to have read it, just it doesn't stand out as stellar for me.
melissabalick's review against another edition
I was absolutely gutted to learn in the “About the Author” section at the end that Caroline Knapp died in 2002 at the age of 42. That’s really sad. This book made me like her a lot. I wonder if Lucille was still alive then.
bgid's review
4.0
An excellent look into what makes dogs so special to us, why are they so endearing and important to out health and sense of person.
samirakatherine's review against another edition
3.0
Well written, but I found the author a bit too self-involved. In addition, I think I had expected a bit more in the way of a dog training book and less "reflections on life with dog."
tlockney's review against another edition
3.0
Not sure what to say about this book. Parts of it were great, parts of it made me want to groan. The author was clearly dealing with some serious neuroses (she did write a best-seller about her 20 year battle with alcoholism) and these come through loud and clear -- often projecting onto the dogs, people, and the relationships between them that she describes. I'm not sure I'd recommend this to people really trying to understand the relationship between people and dogs, unless you already have enough experience to filter out the more "colored" bits.