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Carregando... Our dogs, ourselves : how we live with dogs now (edição: 2019)de Alexandra Horowitz
Informações da ObraOur Dogs, Ourselves: The Story of a Singular Bond de Alexandra Horowitz
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Registre-se no LibraryThing tpara descobrir se gostará deste livro. Ainda não há conversas na Discussão sobre este livro. I didn't finish this book so I won't leave a star rating. The first bit was about how naming dogs changes our relationship with them. It was interesting enough. Then, there was a discussion about dogs legal status as property. I'm not sure why that was where I stopped but I just couldn't get past that section. I think perhaps I wanted a book that was more fun and this book just ended up not being. Author Alexandra Horowitz has certainly done much research in the preparation of this book and has given her readers food for thought about the behavior of both dogs and their humans. How we bond and communicate with our dogs, what we mean to each other, and how we live together was quite interesting. She also delves into the history and background of dogs, and how and why we choose the dogs we do. She talks much about breeds, and the sometimes unfortunate result of making breeds: dogs who can’t breathe properly and others with hip problems, just to name a couple of problems. She talks about the pros and cons of spaying and neutering, but seems to be more against it than for it. She discusses the problems of overpopulation and the tragic way it is too often dealt with. You likely will find her facts and opinions interesting, though you probably won’t agree with everything she says. I found the chapter on the way owners talk to their dogs to be quite entertaining, while some of other chapters were just plain sad. Still, it was an interesting book, made even more so by the author’s capable narration. sem resenhas | adicionar uma resenha
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"This middle grade adaptation of Our Dogs, Ourselves is an eye-opening, entertaining, and beautifully illustrated look about humans' complicated and sometimes contradictory relationship with man's best friend by New York Times bestselling author of Inside of a Dog-Young Readers Edition. We keep dogs and are kept by them. We love dogs and (we assume) we are loved by them. Even while we see ourselves in dogs, we also treat them in surprising ways. On the one hand, we let them into our beds, we give them meaningful names, make them members of our family, and buy them the best food, toys, accessories, clothes, and more. But we also shape our dogs into something they aren't meant to be. Purebreeding dogs has led to many unhealthy pups. Many dogs have no homes, or live out their life in shelters. How is it possible we can treat the same species in these two totally different ways? In Our Dogs, Ourselves Young Readers Edition, bestselling author of Inside of a Dog, Alexandra Horowitz reveals the odd, surprising, and contradictory ways we live with dogs"-- Não foram encontradas descrições de bibliotecas. |
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There is a depressing account of how the law has regarded dogs through history: as property, not individuals, or even sentient beings, and while this is changing a little in some places, they are still deemed equivalent to butterknives in some divorce courts. The chapter on how we converse aloud with our dogs is charming and funny, with the light it sheds on how we see them: as children? friends? lovers? peers? royalty? Other chapters are less successful, such as the data-driven description of her professional work (she's not quite as witty as she thinks she is).
Where I struggled the most is with her takedown of all purebred dogs (as the devoted guardian to a border collie/Lab mix AND a healthy, sound, wonderful purebred Italian greyhound). While I am in complete agreement about the terrible, extreme deformities humans have inflicted on dogs in the name of fashion (flat-faced dogs that cannot breathe or give birth normally, giant dogs who are dead by the age of 8 because their bodies simply cannot sustain their own weight, dogs whose ears are bloodily cut to look perky and sharp), I know breeders who scrupulously research health issues, breed for soundness, health and sanity, and then only rarely, support rescue, and provide us with true types of dogs to fit our lives and loves and admiration. I don't want those dogs to all disappear. She also casts often-justified doubt on the near-universal practice of spay/neuter - too much, too early, and with health implications that should be considered (hormone levels can influence bone strength, vulnerability to some cancers in some breeds, etc.). She is rather harsh on the shelters and vets who push for widespread spay/neuter, blaming them for self-interest in money and convenience, which does not seem fair. They want there to be fewer unwanted dogs, and this is one way to get there. Other ways: better behavior by pet OWNERS, better education, or alternative surgical techniques should also be in the mix, which she suggests and encourages. Still, her rather blanket disparagement of spay/neuter as a violation of a dog's right to live a full life as a dog seems a bit extreme.
Dog people will find this book amusing, interesting, and possibly annoying - or not. Not bad, but not her best. However, if anyone knows where I can find the 19th-century knitting patterns she mentions for Italian greyhound sweaters, I'd love to see them. ( )