I just finished this wonderful book authored by Jon Katz, one of my favorite writers of canine non-fiction. All dog owners and lovers should read this unusual perspective on the roles our dogs play in our lives today. Katz has the ability to capture the essence of dogs and people and can help people learn how to get in touch with their social and emotional selves.
After profiling several owners and their dogs, Katz goes full circle by revisiting Montclair, NJ to learn what had happened to the people and dogs whose stories he told. He says, "The return visits reaffirmed an early thought: the story of dogs and people is sometimes the story of life itself. "
After profiling several owners and their dogs, Katz goes full circle by revisiting Montclair, NJ to learn what had happened to the people and dogs whose stories he told. He says, "The return visits reaffirmed an early thought: the story of dogs and people is sometimes the story of life itself. "
Katz also muses: "If we really knew dogs, would we be attributing to them the vast, complex panopoly of emotions that are unique to humans? See them as people when they are not? Would we acquire large, active working dogs for small apartments or townhouses in congested tracts? Would we refuse to train them? Beat and abandon them by the millions? Would we bar them from doing almost everything they naturally want and need to do, from roaming and sniffing to settling dog scores and chasing squirrels?
Perhaps it is and has always been the nature and fate of contemporary dogs to serve humans and then step aside or get left behind when their work is done. Many of us seem to feel that's the way we treat other humans now as well. Perhaps this fate is simply the price dogs pay for all the shelter, care, and affection their receive, a natural evolutionary extension of the time when dogs threw themselves in front of wild animals to protect their humans."
Katz spends time discussing the attachment theory and says, "Attachment theory as it relates to dogs isn't theoretical, to my mind, but highly utilitarian; it can sometimes help us understand the relationship and connections between the two species. Understanding that our earliest emotional experiences were formative, that we connect with animals out of our own unanswered needs for security and affection, can help us to forge a more realistic and satisfying relationship with dogs.
When the right dog connects with the right person for the right reason and there is clarity, self-awareness, and truth in the relationship, dogs are far more likely to be secure, happy, calm, and better behaved. Someone who understands attachment theory will see that crating a dog is not inherently cruel; that expensive toys and oven-baked biscuits that look like hot dogs fulfill human, not canine, needs; that leashing an aggressive dog is essential to the safety and well-being of the dog and others."
From USA Today:
From Barnes and Noble:
No comments:
Post a Comment