Understanding Your Dog [antikvár]

Foreword The central aim of this book, though not stated in so many words, is to promote a natural and happy relationship between Man and Dog, and to give potential dog-owners an insight into the 'language of dogs', that is, their non-verbal code of communication. The author, a scientist with a profound knowledge of dogs, deals extensively with the manner in which different breeds have diverged from their wild ancestors as a result of selective breeding by man. In this particular respect,the book contains a great amount of important information, with a section on working dogs and the ways in which they serve man. He shows the reader in a simple and understandable way how the different senses work in the dog. The author proves exceedingly able to 'visualize' the world of a creature whose main sensory organs are the nose and the ear, a world which is extremely different from the predominantly visual one in which we live. Peter Messent, an ethologist, gives a very clear picture of the innate, instinctive abilities of dogs. With scientific objectivity, he informs the reader of the ineradicable traits a dog-owner must contend with, and goes on to emphasize that the greatest value of a dog is the love it can give to its master. His disquisition on the different breeds will prove valuable to prospective dog-owners in helping lo decide which sort of puppy will best suit them. One of the most valuable sections of the book, in my opinion, is the one dealing with the 'socialization' of a puppy, necessary to make it fit harmoniously into a human household and, reciprocally, of teaching a human family to live happily with a dog. Peter Messent makes it perfectly clear that he considers a human family incomplete without a dog or, even better, some dogs. However, he does not make a secret either of the difficulties encountered and of the many unfortunate ways in which the harmonious relationship may break up. He gives excellent instructions concerning the practical exigencies of bringing up a puppy, and deals in great detail with the typical mistakes committed again and again by dog-owners. He stresses with commendable vigour the fact that reward as well as punishment only takes effect when administered immediately after the desired or undesired action of the dog. So very few people realize that punishing a truant dog when it comes back from an illicit hunt does nol have the effect of discouraging hunting, but of coming back openly. Many of the subtle methods of conditioning a dog have been new to me, though / have never been without a dog for the last sixty-five years. Mutual understanding between man and dog is the most important prerequisite for founding a harmonious relationship between both. Peter Messent regards this understanding as so important, that he chooses the title of his book accordingly. The sign language of a dog is described and discussed most thoroughly and all present and prospective dog-owners should read it with the greatest attention.Every observant dog-owner has time and again been surprised by the dog's ability to judge his intentions by infinitesimal signs which the master has given quite unconsciously. The well-known phenomena of 'talking' and 'calculating' dogs are all the consequence of the dog's ability to evaluate minute, unintentionally-given signs. As regards human education, I consider it highly important to teach children at an early age that there are other sensient creatures in the world besides human beings. All my own children have been brought up in a house teeming with dogs and all of them at a later age have proved to be dog-lovers. Stressing the emotional value of dogs does not prevent the author from dealing very thoroughly with all the considerations of keeping a dog. The question of feeding is discussed in detail, the sermon against starchy foods and overfeeding is well worth heeding. It is a fact that dogs fed on kitchen scraps are, on average, fatter than those for which commercial dog food, tinned or otherwise prepared, is bought. It ought to be realized by all dog-owners that obesity shortens a dog's life quite considerably, a life which is much loo short anyhow. Perhaps the most important advice Peter Messent gives us concerns what to do when a dog dies. 'There is sorrow enough in the natural way, when it comes to burying Christian clay', says Rudyard Kipling, the great poet of the dog; he bids us beware of 'giving our heart to a dog to tear'. Indeed, the death of a family dog causes hardly less grief than that of a human family member and it is quite predictable that it will overpower us when 'fourteen years that nature permits, are ending in asthma or tumour or fits'. I know people who, having experienced this sorrow once, swear that they will never acquire a dog again. However, a deceased dog is more easily replaced than a person, and whoever follows Peter Messent's advice to buy a puppy at once on the old dog's death, will be able to find himself able to transfer his love for the dead dog to the living one and thus find a measure of consolation. Prof. Dr. Konrad Lorenz.