Book Reviews
By Sarah Dahnke
The Emotional Lives of Animals
By Marc Bekoff
(New World Library)
More than just another collection of hypothetical theories about why animals have certain behaviors, The Emotional Lives of Animals is backed by 35 years of research about their social communication patterns. Scientist Marc Bekoff explores the many types of emotions animals feel and more importantly, why animals have emotions in the first place. He touches on each topic with lighthearted sensibility, helping the reader shed light on how to properly and ethically co-exist with these creatures.
Merle’s Door
Lessons from a Freethinking Dog
By Ted Kerasote
(Harcourt)
While author Ted Kerasote’s views on dog training may be controversial, they are also followed by many around the world. In this book he outlines his philosophy that humans need to share leadership with their dogs, rather than dominate them, and provides tips on how to give dogs more freedom and create dog-friendly spaces. The book inspires people to think about how dogs and their guardians should interact and raises important questions, even for those who ultimately disagree with Kerasote’s methods.
Hiss, Whine & Start Over
By Jane Caryl Mahlow
(Cuppa Press)
This lighthearted fictional book melds the world of a newly divorced woman and her job at a local animal shelter, showing how working in the animal welfare community changes her life for the better, allowing her to evolve from broken woman to heroine. Anyone who has worked in the animal community will be able to relate to her experience as she dives into daily life at the shelter, attempting to curb the never-ending pet overpopulation problem.
Forensic Investigation of Animal Cruelty
By Leslie Sinclair, Melinda Merck, & Randal Lockwood
(Humane Society Press)
This textbook-like resource is sure to be a valuable tool for veterinarians and animal cruelty professionals who deal with potential animal abuse on a regular basis. However, its presented in terms easy enough for a layman, merely interested in animal cruelty cases, to understand. The book includes graphs, photos, and first-hand accounts, in addition to a glossary and resource guide, to help individuals diagnose animal abuse cases and learn the proper protocol.
The Cat Behavior Answer Book
By Arden Moore
(Storey Publishing)
What’s the difference between a “mew” and a “meow?” Why do carnivorous indoor cats indulge in the occasional grassy snack? How do you convince a bed-hogging feline to give you some pillow space? Arden Moore’s newest book attempts to answer these questions and more. It is organized in an easy-to-follow Q&A format, with the occasional informational quick resource guide or graphic to assist even the most clueless cat person in finding the answers to their burning questions.
Extraordinary Dogs
Inspirational Stories of Dogs with Disabilities
By Joyce Darrell
(The Lyons Press)
Just like humans, disabled pets can live healthy, happy lives despite their physical limitations. Extraordinary Dogs contains a collection of ompassionate stories about 50 disabled dogs who managed to live wonderful lives, partially due to their luck in finding loving homes. Over and over, this book highlights the dogs’ enthusiasm for life and will to live against all odds, providing inspiring tales for readers of all ages.
Working Like Dogs
The Service Dog Guidebook
By Marcie Davis & Melissa Bunnell
(Alpine Publications)
To someone who has never needed the assistance of a service dog, his role in a person’s life may be puzzling. This quick and easy read outlines how a dog can take on a job as a service animal and what his duties may include. Keeping the dog healthy and happy is a main focus of the book, and illness and pet loss are given a significant mention. The back of the book includes an appendix that discusses service dog guidelines and provides an extensive amount of resources for those interested in helping their dog help others.
Shaggy Muses
The Dogs Who Inspired
By Maureen Adams
(Ballantine Books)
Dogs have served as muses to some of the heaviest hitters in literature, helping them cope with issues such as depression, reclusiveness, and anxiousness. Female writers such as Emily Bronte, Virginia Woolf, and Emily Dickinson are all mentioned in this book, which explores the bond between these women and their dogs, providing a unique and unusual perspective into the lives of these legends.
Author’s Corner
By Sarah Dahnke
Although the pet industry has only recently experienced such a notable boom, Americans have been keeping pets in some capacity since our founding fathers first declared independence. Cataloging our journey as a society, from the keeping of deer as pets in the early 19th century to trotting Rover to the doggie spa today, is not easy, since our co-existence with animals was inconsistently documented in the past. 
Author and researcher Katherine C. Grier was intrigued by the evolution of the “pet person,” and embarked on a lengthy, 14-year-long journey, which turned up all sorts of interesting details and inspired her to compile the premiere history of Americans and their pets. We recently spoke with her about her new book, Pets in America: A History, and learned about her research process and the gradual change in Americans’ relationship with animals.What inspired you to write a book that highlights the pets’ role in our society from a historical standpoint?
First, I was motivated by simple curiosity; where did people like me come from? After I got into the project, I realized that this work could be helpful to people who are interested in policy questions related to pets—discussions that typically lack any historical perspective. I wrote a book that I think is a very “good read” but I also hope that on some level it will be useful.
This book is billed as the first-ever history of pets in America. Why do you think it has taken so long for this story to be compiled?
It was a difficult story to reconstruct and tell! I had to reconstruct the story from lots of different kinds of sources, and they were located in many different places. I keep finding new material, too. Stay tuned for a second edition.
You heavily discuss the evolution of animal-human interaction. How have these sorts of attitudes evolved over the past 100 or so years?
Well, the most important thing that has happened is that our reliance on animal bodies—for food, for leather, for lots of other things—has become invisible, both because of urbanization but also because of the industrialization of agriculture. Animals who become meat for us are mainly invisible, and meat is something in a plastic package. In the past, Americans were more honest about their meat eating and their use of animal bodies. They knew that their lives depended on the bodies of animals.
At the end of the book you speculate about our desires to treat pets “naturally” but curb instinctive behaviors that we find undesirable. How do you think Americans can co-exist with pets in a way that is healthy for both parties?
Boy, this is a really good question, and one for which I do not have a ready answer. I wish some of the media outlets would take more of a lead on this, instead of simply providing programs about “funny animals.” At the same time, I don’t think that it’s good or useful to attack pet keeping or pet lovers. We need to get people to think about how we can support successful pet keeping with education from lots of places—shelters, veterinarians’ offices, and so on. Here I think that the Humane Society of the United States has done some real good with its “Pets for Life” program.
You document people throughout history keeping unusual pets, such as deer, badgers, bears, horned toads, and sheep. In your research, did you come across any pets that you thought were completely outrageous?
Well, there was a company in the Midwest that provided exotics to people during the 1960s and 1970s (I don’t think it is in business now). [It] was selling big cats like leopards, chimps, and lots of exotics that people simply should not keep at home. What I thought was outrageous was how easy it was—and still is in some circumstances—to get pets like this.
I think that, on balance, Americans take pretty good care of the animals in their lives and try to meet their needs. We could do better, however, and there is much more work to be done regarding shelter relinquishments, the feral cat problem, puppy mills, and other issues. Some parts of my book provide a sense of some of the struggles pet [guardians] have faced in the past as they tried to be good stewards to the best of their abilities and means.
