Dogs are invented creatures-invented by humans in the sense that we have been continually shaping and changing them for at least 15,000 years. We are also continually shaping and changing the nature of our
relationships to our dogs. We are always finding different was to fit them into our lives and are also finding new jobs for them to do. This means that the modern dog, his world, and his involvements with humans are quite different today from what might have existed a century ago.
The changing nature of dogs and their relationship to people has always fascinated me. It was one of the reasons that when I decided to become a Psychologist I chose to be dual trained. While most psychologists focus either on human behavior or animal behavior, I took on the more laborious task of learning about the behavior of both. After all, there is a human at one end of the leash and a nonhuman animal at the other end. It was the relationship-the bond-between those two creatures that was what I wanted to understand.
There are not many books that have looked at the modern dog and our relationship to him. So for that reason I decided to put together my most recent book, The Modern Dog. This is a book about the modern dog. It is meant to be a series of "snapshots" of various aspects of how we interact with dogs, how society responds to dogs, how our relationships with dogs have changed over history and where dogs fit into our personal and emotional lives. Dogs exist in our human world, which means that the only aspects of canine behaviors which are really important to the average person are those that affect the way that dogs and people interact. Often it is how people respond to and interpret the actions of dogs (and dog owners) that has a greater effect on a dog's life than the behavior patterns that have been programmed in the dog's genes.
Many sources of information tell us about the nature of human relationships with dogs. Obviously science has provided a lot of insight over the past few decades; however folklore, religious writing, tradition, and even the actions of political bodies can all shed light on the dynamic interactions between humans and canines. Nonetheless, the exploration of the nature of the modern dog in this book has been designed to be much more of a romp than a formal exposition involving these sources of information.
My look at the interactions of people and dogs covers a broad range of topics. In it you will find the story of how certain types of dogs came to be, how dogs have gotten entangled in political and legal systems, and even some exciting new material on how dogs may have influenced human evolution. Several chapters deal with some of the odd, compassionate, and even heroic behaviors that dogs have been known to demonstrate. You will also meet a large collection of modern dogs and historic canines, including dogs that work, dogs that love, dogs that act reprehensibly, and dogs that will make you laugh. Along with them you will see people who love, hate, work with, care for, and even obsess over dogs.
Since this is a book about how dogs fit into our society and culture as well as where they fit into our personal and psychological lives, it involves a lot of characters. There are some famous dogs, such as Strelka and Belka, the first living beings from Earth to go into orbit and survive, also dogs whose faithfulness or fighting spirit caused statues to be erected in their honor, as well as the real-life dog that was the basis for the much-loved story, "Lassie Come Home." There are also heroic dogs that are not so well known, but who have saved or protected human lives or more subtly mended the minds of people under stress. Along with the dogs are a broad array of humans with whom the dogs relate/ This includes kings and queens (such as Elizabeth I, Victoria, and Henry VIII), emperors (like Frederick the Great, Napoleon, and Ming Ti of China), presidents and prime ministers (like Winston Churchill, John F. Kennedy, and both Roosevelts) and even a few gods, saints, and prophets (like Anubis, St. Hubert, and Buddha). There are also a collection of other interesting people and their interactions with their dogs. These include scientists, generals, physicians, school teachers, children, revolutionaries and others.
Although this book provides some important information about dog behavior, it is really designed to explore our relationships and our emotional bonds to our dogs. Along the way you will learn about how dogs can improve your and your children's health, both physical and psychological. You will also learn how your dog can affect the way that other people view you, or judge your place in society.
Each chapter of this book is meant to stand alone. This means that you can read them in any order since no chapter depends on what was covered before. In keeping with the lighter tone that I wanted for this book I decided to illustrate it in a range of styles, from those that appear to be woodcuts or engravings to those that appear to be modern pencil or pen and ink. I tried to make the style of the pictures fit the words or mood that the story conveyed. The pictures also allow you to browse through the book; using them as a guide, you can decide which chapter fits your mood or interests at that moment and simply start reading from there.
There is a bit of personal history associated with this book. Early in 2002 I had a conversation with Connie Wilson, a beautiful blonde woman with a lot of drive and intelligence. Over the telephone she told me that she was going to try to start publishing a magazine called Modern Dog that would involve life-styles and, of course, dogs. I laughed and told her that I had always wanted to do a book with that title and that I had intended it to be an exploration of the human-canine relationship. Connie wanted me to do some writing for the magazine. I turned down the offer of a regular column and opted to write regular articles instead and have had one in every issue since it began publication. The magazine has gone on to be quite successful and is now internationally distributed. Connie's love of dogs is shown in the fact that, as the magazine prospered she has used her association with it to sponsor a number of dog-related events.
During the six years of my association with Modern Dog Magazine I got to try out a number of themes and topics associated with issues involving the shared lives of humans and dogs. The advantage of writing for a regularly appearing magazine is that an author can get lots of feedback from the readership, in the form of letters and emails (and a few bizarre telephone calls), that let him know which topics really interest dog owners and dog lovers. About one third of the chapters in this book actually started out as ideas for articles for The Modern Dog, although all have been re-edited, expanded, and updated to take into account scientific advances, new information uncovered about the issues, and-most importantly-the wants, needs and desires of the many readers who took the time to correspond with me.
I hope that readers of this blog will forgive my personal musings about this, my newest, book, however I had a lot of fun writing it and the advance reviews (for example in Publishers Weekly and Library Review) suggest that readers should have a lot of fun reading it. So let me simply alert you that at the time of this writing it should just have reached the bookshelves of most bookstores and is available through all of the usual online booksellers if you want to take a look at it
Stanley Coren is the author of many books including: Why Do Dogs Have Wet Noses? The Pawprints of History: Dogs and the Course of Human Events, How Dogs Think : Understanding the Canine Mind, How To Speak Dog, Why We Love the Dogs We Do, What Do Dogs Know? The Intelligence of Dogs, Sleep Thieves, The Left-hander Syndrome.
