rayne709's review against another edition
informative
slow-paced
2.0
Listened to the version read by the author. Not going to lie listening to this book instead of reading it highly influenced my rating. There were several points in the book that the author made a good generalized point but then brought up so many examples that made her original point null and void. In addition I never again need to listen to an author read a list of names for what felt like an eternity of rambling.
ce_hope's review against another edition
4.0
A thought-provoking look at our relationship with our four-legged family members. Warning: will make you hyper-aware of hearing and speaking "dog talk"
childoftheninth's review against another edition
5.0
If you own a dog, if you have ever loved a dog, read this book.
kristakruger's review against another edition
2.0
This book was not what I expected at all. I really wanted to love it, but didn’t.
It might have been the dreadfully boring, 59 page chapter titled “The Trouble with Breeds” that did me in. I’m certain it was interesting to some people, but it just felt like it was never ending to me.
The research presented though the book is dull to say the least. There are some interesting parts in the book, but most often that is when the author is relating her own experiences with her own dogs to the research presented.
This was an extremely dry book that was very hard to read. In fact, part way through I just started skimming the book instead of full on reading.
It might have been the dreadfully boring, 59 page chapter titled “The Trouble with Breeds” that did me in. I’m certain it was interesting to some people, but it just felt like it was never ending to me.
The research presented though the book is dull to say the least. There are some interesting parts in the book, but most often that is when the author is relating her own experiences with her own dogs to the research presented.
This was an extremely dry book that was very hard to read. In fact, part way through I just started skimming the book instead of full on reading.
alexrob's review against another edition
2.0
Extremely well written but a very intense look into human interactions with dogs (mostly negative). Things I knew and are all true but still made it hard to get through and I expected at least a positive “but we can do XYZ going forward” at the end but there really wasn’t much of one.
zhzhang's review against another edition
4.0
A well-written book on the human-dog relationship. The way we should treat our dogs and just let them be dogs. All dog owners should read this book. I remember once I was approached by a stranger asking me "how much responsibilities for a dog owner? How many times you should talk your dog outside and for how long?" Before I tried to give him a good answer from my limited experience, he blurted out, "once? is 5 minutes enough?" I glared at him and walked away.
thewickedbookworm's review against another edition
2.0
I'm a rescue worker and this book ended up pissing me off to no end. The behavior and psychology info was fine, but the author is completely naive if she thinks we're anywhere near a situation that would allow us to reconsider current spay/neuter practices. In a perfect world, maybe sterilization could happen at six or twelve months instead of eight weeks, but we are far from a perfect world. I sympathize with the fact that her cat died while at a spay appointment - not from the procedure, mind you, which only carries a 0.1% mortality rate - but during the administration of pre-surgical pain medication, which could have been from any number of reasons, including unknown health issues or an error on the administering vet/tech's part. That experience cannot be the basis for a blanket opposition to spay/neuter. Animal overpopulation must be handled in one way or another, and currently there are two ways: spay/neuter programs, or mass euthanasia. I know which one I prefer.