Book / TV Show recommendations for dog lovers
 

For all the readers and tv watchers out there: what do you recommend?

Obviously a lot of people love Cesar Milan and Victoria Stilwell (sp?). Thor and I watch "It's Me or the Dog" every week together. :) Did anyone see the episode on the Pomeranian? I loved it.

Anyway, I just read a fascinating book called 'Animals Make Us Human'. The author, Temple Grandin, is well known for being autistic and designing humane slaughterhouses. She has some incredible insights into animals' emotional lives. She says that being autistic helps her because she thinks "in pictures", like animals do, rather than with language, as most people do.

While this book covers most domesticated animals (pigs, cows, horses, chickens, cats, and DOGS), she has two chapters specifically on dogs and what they need to be happy. She makes some interesting claims about most dogs' current quality of life. In fact, she says that a humanely butchered cow may have better quality of life than the average dog today! Provocative stuff, but I think everyone would find at least a few of her suggestions valuable.

What is YOUR favorite animal book?

Amazon link: Amazon.com: Animals in Translation: Using the...

Sounds like a very interesting book. Which did you read, "Animals in Translation" or "Animals Make Us Human"?

Oh, oops, I linked to the wrong one. I read 'Animals Make Us Human'. I'm planning to buy her other books as well. 'Animals in Translation', which I linked to, is her earlier book.

Here is the correct amazon link: Amazon.com: Animals Make Us Human: Creating the...
FYI, it's subtitled 'Creating the Best Life for Animals'. She talks about good zoo design as well.

Sounds interesting, what was her complaint about the average dog's life?

I'm currently reading Sylvia Brown's new book called "All Pets go to Heaven, the Spiritual Lives of the Animals we Love". It's really good so far. :)

I'm also reading a book I got for Christmas called "Bad Dogs Have More Fun" it's selected writings on Family, Animals & Life written by John Grogan (Author of Marley & Me) from his articles and stories in The Philadelphia Inquirer.

I love reading Dog books. Here's another one I recently read. "Disposable Dogs" Heartwarming, True Stories of Courage & Compassion by Steve Swanbeck.

Did you ever watch "Groomer Has It" on Animal Planet? :icon5: It's coming back on with a new season sometime this month I think. I loved.....the lst one. :thumbup::)

Great thread! I'm going to be watching for suggestions.

Rudy's Mom, thanks for the recs, I will be sure to check them out!

The book I recommended has a very high limit on free page views on amazon, so I urge anyone who is interested to read an excerpt.

Again, she has an odd, but compelling take on how animals interact with the world. She believes in four primary drives, FEAR, RAGE, SEEKING, and PANIC. SEEKING encompasses curiosity, getting something you really want, and the anticipation of getting something you really want. One of her points is that dogs anticipate good things just like people do, and that just like for us, anticipation in itself is very enjoyable. So for instance, if you have a signal that a dog is going to get a treat, your dog will enjoy waiting for the treat, as well as the treat itself.

PANIC is social drive (again, a weird way to look at it, but it makes sense as she describes it).

Her concerns about dogs are that they are extremely social (PANIC) and they love to roam (SEEKING). She contends that a dog left by itself all day will have low quality of life, especially if they are never let off-leash. I'm not quoting her exactly, so I don't mean this as an attack on people who need to crate their dogs during the day. But she thinks that if you can't be with your dog most of the time, you should get another dog to keep it company.

She also has some very interesting ideas about wolf behavior that challenge conventional wisdom about how dogs see hierarchy.

Thanks for the reply, sounds very interesting, I would love to read it.

An addendum to my earlier post: she doesn't necessarily say that a single dog MUST be unhappy, but she says you will need to work harder to make sure he's stimulated and doesn't feel lonely.

Can't argue with that!