Hidden Life of Dogs Book

Somewhere in this book I recall the author calling herself a dog anthropologist. This egotistical idiocy completely blew my circuits. Call yourself a dog lover or a dog observer or a dog whatever that makes sense, but do not lump together the study of humankind with watching dogs copulate and take walks and form packs. I am not saying that the study of humans is necessarily more important than the study of animals but they are very different, in that we can relate to the humans we study because we ARE humans, and we have no personal context with animals.

I love dogs, I completely obsess about and go ga-ga over dogs, I would form my own dog colony if I could, I have three dogs that are my babies and I want a hundred more and I would like to breed dogs and open a dog rescue and my life is all about DOGSDOGSDOGS. Therefore, I just knew I would love this book.

Unfortunately, it was more about how wonderful and humble the author was than about the dogs themselves. I honestly found myself completely uninterested in the dogs because I hated the writer.

At several points, she painted the dogs' behaviors so negatively that I didn't even like the dogs, and I felt like she was too unobtrusive in her observations. (And yes, I get that this is why she called herself an anthropologist, but zoologists out in the wild observe unobtrusively and do not compare themselves with anthropologists.) Your living room is not the wild and your pets are not wild animals; if one is sexually harassing another, separate them; if one is being isolated, make sure that you give it all the attention it needs. Pet dogs and wild dogs may have the same instincts, but they behave differently and react differently because they are in completely different environments. It is cruel to watch some behaviors and not intervene.