Truth About Dogs

by Budiansky, Stephen

• ISBN13: 9780756759858
• ISBN10: 0756759854
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-07-01
• Publisher: Diane Pub Co

Summary

The Truth About Dogs offers an iconoclastic reappraisal of accepted ideas about canine intelligence and emotions. Budiansky draws upon new psychological and neuroscience research to show that the seeming intelligence differences between different dog breeds have much more to do with temperament and training than true differences in brainpower. He also explores what we really know about the emotions of dogs, showing how canine feelings are strikingly similar to our own, yet extraordinarily different, too. The way dogs see, hear, and smell - and the social rules that they have evolved to obey and understand - create for them a world-concept that is beyond anything in our everyday experience. This original and insightful reexamination of an animal at once so familiar and so mysterious tells us, for the first time ever, what it truly is to be a dog.

Author Biography

Stephen Budiansky, scientist, author, journalist, and dog lover, is a correspondent for The Atlantic Monthly

Table of Contents

The Irredeemable Weirdness of the Dog: An Introduction	p. 1
Proto-Dog	p. 16
Social Etiquette, Doggie Style	p. 50
Canine Kabuki	p. 79
Two Colors, a Million Smells	p. 105
If They're So Smart, How Come They Aren't Rich?	p. 124
Odd, but (Mostly) Normal Behavior	p. 159
Troubled Dogs, Troubled People	p. 181
Brave New Dogs	p. 211
Acknowledgments	p. 239
Sources	p. 241
Index	p. 257
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