PUBLISHING YEAR: 1990
SUMMARY: Interpretations (often pack theory-based) of commonly observed dog behaviour.
AUDIENCE: The audience is, in theory, dog owners looking to debunk myths about dogs. Unfortunately, it disseminates the occasional myth by itself, so to be taken with a pinch of salt. So I would put it in the hands of critical readers who are already well-read in the field, and want to finally read this often-quoted book.
REVIEW: Perhaps I am completely incorrect, given the weight of the author’s name in the field, but the book read like it was written by a general veterinary practitioner with little in the way of academic credentials in behaviour.
As with 99% of books written in the 1990’s (publication date here 1990) , the book is predictably littered with dominance theory-related interpretations.
The most interesting chapter was, for me, the description of the effect of old age on a dogs’ behaviour. He makes some very interesting obverations in it.
In my opinion, this book should be removed from compulsory reading lists (it is still in many curricula on dog behaviour) in the edition that I read. To be fair, I purchased mine second hand and it could well be that he re-wrote some chapters in subsequent editions.
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