Finally–a book not about what you can teach your dog but about what your dog can teach you. It’s all valuable, say Matt Weinstein and Luke Barber in “Dogs Don’t Bite When a Growl Will Do” (Perigee, $19.95). They start with the observation that most dogs are much happier than most people, then analyze why.
The 67 things they say dogs know or do that it would behoove humans to copy include everything from “Dogs show their love openly” and “Dogs listen deeply (even if they don’t understand)” to “Dogs don’t roll over for just anyone.” Who among us wouldn’t benefit from being more Fido-like in our loyalties, or in our ability to rejoice in small contentments? “The thing that makes dogs such connoisseurs of the simple pleasures in life is that they give them their full attention,” the authors write. (Cat fans who feel left out of the discussion may substitute the word “cat” for “dog” in many sentences.)
Weinstein is the founder of a management-consulting company; Barber is a philosophy professor at Richmond College. Crazy about canines, they make a good case for why we should look to them for guidance.
On devotion: “I am quick to admit that I am good company. However, the way my dogs value my comradeship borders on the absurd.”
