Reviews for A Useful Dog

The average rating for A Useful Dog based on 2 reviews is 4.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2012-05-26 00:00:00 Christopher Sapaula This book came out in the same year as McCaig's novel Canaan This slim volume begins with a poem about the efforts of an old sheepdog to gather up the sheep. Anyone who's seen a beloved pet slip a notch with advancing age can relate; it's all the more poignant to see this working dog at the end of his working life. The book explores history of the relationship between dogs and humans, focusing on dogs that work with sheep. McCaig's tone changes with each section, sometimes lyrical, other times straightforward. He ranges through a number of dog-related topics from sheep trials, to politics, to training. In his section on the Christmas Eve service in the little country church his family attends, McCaig gives us a brief, but intimate view of his farmer-neighbors. These farmers have to work very hard for small monetary compensation--but that's obviously not why they've chosen this work. You don't have to be a border collie nut to appreciate this book. In it McCaig shows us once again his versatility and mastery of style.

Review # 2 was written on 2013-08-15 00:00:00 Andrew Koh Alternately comical and melancholic, these sharply crafted essays explore the rich relationship between working dogs and humans. It includes some canine history, but mostly the book focuses on the communion between man and working dog. The writing is witty and McCaig's love for border collies apparent on every page. Perhaps the best example appears in the opening passage: "The snow is deep and he is old but two hundred sheep are yarded half a mile from feed so I send him. The snow is deeper than he is. He coils himself below its blank crust to buck into the light like a porpoise. Each lunge, each crash back in flurry achieves, nearly, three feet. He has eleven years and must get eight hundred yards. Too much love can burst the heart." Dog lovers will adore this book.