100 Books Challenge
8 / 100 books. 8% done!
1. Bag of Bones, by Stephen King
2. The Golden Compass, of the His Dark Materials trilogy, by Philip Pullman
3. Cry to Heaven, by Anne Rice
4. The Good Guy, by Dean Koontz
5. The Sands of Mars by Arthur C. Clarke
6. Duma Key by Stephen King
7. Watership Down by Richard Adams
8. The Intelligence of Dogs: Canine Consciousness and Capabilities by Stanley Coren
And nonfiction makes it onto the list! This was published in 1994, so it contains some theories about the evolution of dogs that have since been challenged, but it's still full of useful information. One of the important things mentioned is the way science currently downplays the notion of animals having consciousness or emotions or reasoning capability, yet these same strict behaviorists who cry out against anthropomorphizing go home to their own pets and ascribe those same emotions and desires to them. When the dog gets out its leash and brings it to them, they say to themselves, "Oh, the dog wants to go for a walk."
Scientists can theorize about an animal's mind or lack thereof all day. The fact is, if you work with animals, you have to acknowledge the existence of a mind. A dog is not a machine, and if you treat it like one, you can get hurt. This is more evident when working with large predators like bears and big cats - the people who train those animals for work in films recognize the animals' minds and respect their mental state. You do not ask a tiger in a grumpy mood to work on set that day - you give him his space, for he is large and powerful and you are puny and delicious.
Anyway, this book also contains a very good Canine IQ Test and Personality Test. The latter is very similar to temperament testing used widely by rescue groups to determine how a dog with unknown history will react.