“An informative, well-written book on the evolution of all canids, including the wild types (wolves, coyotes, jackals, and dingoes)…Recommended.”—Choice Of the world’s dogs, fewer than two hundred million are pets, living with humans who provide food, shelter, squeaky toys, and fashionable sweaters. But roaming the planet are four times as many dogs who are their own masters—neighborhood dogs, dump dogs, mountain dogs. They are dogs, not companions, and these dogs, like pigeons or squirrels, are highly adapted scavengers who have evolved to fit particular niches in the vicinity of humans. This book present an eye-opening analysis of the evolution and adaptations of these unleashed dogs and what they can reveal about the species as a whole. Exploring the natural history of these animals, canine behavior experts Raymond and Lorna Coppingers explain how the village dogs of Vietnam, India, Africa, and Mexico are strikingly similar. These feral dogs, argue the Coppingers, are in fact the truly archetypal dogs, nearly uniform in size and shape and incredibly self-sufficient. Drawing on nearly five decades of research, they show how dogs actually domesticated themselves in order to become such efficient scavengers of human refuse. The Coppingers also examine the behavioral characteristics that enable dogs to live successfully and to reproduce, unconstrained by humans, in environments that we ordinarily do not think of as dog friendly. A fascinating exploration of what it actually means, genetically and behaviorally, to be a dog, What Is a Dog? is likely to change the way beagle or bulldog owners reflect on their four-legged friends.

On the heels of her family’s beloved dog’s death, one woman returns to the canines of her past in order to imagine the human she hopes to become in the future in her memoir, What Is a Dog? Chloe Shaw is in a dog house of her own choosing. A married mother with kids, the death of Booker, her children’s eldest family pet, has left her reeling and reckoning with her lifelong relationship with dogs. Unable to shake the feeling a year later, she asks her family for some time alone to be with nothing but her thoughts and remaining canines, Safari and Otter—only to find the dogs of her past pawing at her every memory and running, sticks in mouths, back into her life. What follows is a meditation on one woman’s life through the dogs she's loved and lost. Since she was a child, Shaw had learned to escape the hardest parts of being human by immersing herself in the lives of her canine companions, an adaptive attachment that carried her to adulthood. Yet, in marriage and motherhood, Shaw finds herself facing her most human struggles yet. Her old ways of “being the dog” in the face of hardship prove destructive, and it’s not until she’s able to love herself and learn from the dogs of her past and present that can she truly thrive as a person, and show up for the family who needs her to be their person. With artful prose and a philosophical touch, Shaw takes us on an emotional journey anyone who has ever loved and lost a dog will connect with—and discovers dogs do more than just make our lives better—they quietly (and sometimes loudly) pull us boldly toward the person we were always meant to be.

A dog can be a wonderful companion with enormous affection for you and your family. His keen senses and alertness can provide you with much-needed protection, but it is important to remember that you must be prepared to care for your pet for the next twelve or more years. Like a child, it will depend on you, not only for its health and well-being, but also for dedicated training in order to become a friendly, well-mannered dog that is a pleasure for you and others. It must also be remembered that we do not live in a dog's world but that our dogs are the ones who must learn to live in a human world. It is therefore our responsibility to adequately prepare them for the unfamiliar environment in which we place them. Society does not punish a child for pulling a dog's tail but will punish the dog for biting that child. Before a handler can train his dog, he must understand what is involved in the training process. He needs to understand what is required from him and the dog in each part of each of the different obedience exercises. He must be able to teach his dog what it is expected to know, help it as much as possible, and make it as easy as possible for the dog. He needs to know about positive reinforcement in order to get the targeted behavior to recur and to reward good behavior. Above all, he needs to know when and how much to praise and what to do when the dog is not performing a task it was taught. All this he cannot learn during the relatively short time he spends each week with the instructor at the club. Six days a week he is alone at home with his dog and needs to continue to build on the training he received at the club. He needs to remember the sequence of training steps and how to break them up into the small component parts to be mastered by the dog. And when he becomes confused, he needs help or notes to refer to! This is what I had in mind when I decided to write these notes on basic dog obedience training. There are many basic training methods from clicker training to the more traditional methods that can be used to train a dog for obedience work. The perfect training method does not exist; otherwise, we would all have had copies made and used on our dogs. No, we are all learning and improving. I have adopted an eclectic approach to dog training—that is, I have, over many years, studied different training methods and selected from them what will work for most dogs. At times, however, I may use a combination of these methods, or I may shift from one method to another, depending on the training need or exercise. What is very important to me is that the reader must not only know about the best methods of teaching dogs today but must understand why a dog behaves the way it does. Above all, it must be remembered that dog training must be fun for both dog and trainer. Most dog owners do not ask much of their dogs: they ask only that the dogs obey some basic commands and that they are well behaved at home and in public. That is why all dogs should, at least, do the Canine Good Citizen test. I hope my notes will add to your knowledge of basic dog obedience training and that your trained dog will bring much joy to you and your family. Jan Meyer BA (SA), MEd DCRT (US), HP (MT)

When a pet dog injures a human or another dog, the owner is left in a state of fear and confusion. If a dog wreaks havoc and destruction on a home, the owner is left feeling helpless. If an owner finds a dog uncontrollable, or if a dog becomes aggressive and a threat to the community, the dog becomes the one that is at risk for injury or death. Families living with these behaviorally challenged dogs may become isolated and wonder if there is help for their dog. The reality is there are thousands of families facing these issues. This book explains the process for helping dogs with behavior problems in plain language. Calling on her years of experience as a certified canine behavior consultant, the author highlights the journeys of past clients through a series of vignettes broken up by chapters that contain informative and researched guidance. While it is not meant to be a how-to training guide, the book lets people with reactive or anxious dogs know they are not alone. And for those that lose the battle, it walks with them through that final journey.

A fascinating account of how the law determines or dismantles identity and personhood Abused dogs, prisoners tortured in Guantánamo and supermax facilities, or slaves killed by the state—all are deprived of personhood through legal acts. Such deprivations have recurred throughout history, and the law sustains these terrors and banishments even as it upholds the civil order. Examining such troubling cases, The Law Is a White Dog tackles key societal questions: How does the law construct our identities? How do its rules and sanctions make or unmake persons? And how do the supposedly rational claims of the law define marginal entities, both natural and supernatural, including ghosts, dogs, slaves, terrorist suspects, and felons? Reading the language, allusions, and symbols of legal discourse, and bridging distinctions between the human and nonhuman, Colin Dayan looks at how the law disfigures individuals and animals, and how slavery, punishment, and torture create unforeseen effects in our daily lives. Moving seamlessly across genres and disciplines, Dayan considers legal practices and spiritual beliefs from medieval England, the North American colonies, and the Caribbean that have survived in our legal discourse, and she explores the civil deaths of felons and slaves through lawful repression. Tracing the legacy of slavery in the United States in the structures of the contemporary American prison system and in the administrative detention of ghostly supermax facilities, she also demonstrates how contemporary jurisprudence regarding cruel and unusual punishment prepared the way for abuses in Abu Ghraib and Guantánamo. Using conventional historical and legal sources to answer unconventional questions, The Law Is a White Dog illuminates stark truths about civil society's ability to marginalize, exclude, and dehumanize.

In Classical Mathematical Logic, Richard L. Epstein relates the systems of mathematical logic to their original motivations to formalize reasoning in mathematics. The book also shows how mathematical logic can be used to formalize particular systems of mathematics. It sets out the formalization not only of arithmetic, but also of group theory, field theory, and linear orderings. These lead to the formalization of the real numbers and Euclidean plane geometry. The scope and limitations of modern logic are made clear in these formalizations. The book provides detailed explanations of all proofs and the insights behind the proofs, as well as detailed and nontrivial examples and problems. The book has more than 550 exercises. It can be used in advanced undergraduate or graduate courses and for self-study and reference. Classical Mathematical Logic presents a unified treatment of material that until now has been available only by consulting many different books and research articles, written with various notation systems and axiomatizations.

Dogs are intelligent animals, and when they're in a home well-suited to them, they make great pets. Dogs can be trained to do tricks and help their owners get around. They often become another member of the family. However, having a dog requires more than just feeding and walking your pet. This book uses engaging text and full-color photographs to examine what it takes to keep a dog happy and healthy. It also prepares children for the many roles and responsibilities of a pet owner.

Purr. Woof! Both dogs and cats are great furry friends! Compare these two popular pets side by side. Which needs more exercise? Which pet stays cleaner? Does one cost more? Learn the answers to these questions and more. Then decide which one might make the best pet for you!

First published in 2002. This is Volume VI of twelve in the Library of Philosophy series on Ethics. Written in 1971, this text looks at our knowledge of right and wrong and looks at topics of whether our knowledge of morality is a delusion and asks questions around moral judgment and they are subjective, the Universalization principle of a moral sense, God's commandments and human duties and finishes with suggestions of other reasons for actions.

Over the past thirty years, as Wesley J. Smith details in his latest book, the concept of animal rights has been seeping into the very bone marrow of Western culture. One reason for this development is that the term “animal rights” is so often used very loosely, to mean simply being nicer to animals. But although animal rights groups do sometimes focus their activism on promoting animal welfare, the larger movement they represent is actually advancing a radical belief system. For some activists, the animal rights ideology amounts to a quasi religion, one whose central doctrine declares a moral equivalency between the value of animal lives and the value of human lives. Animal rights ideologues embrace their beliefs with a fervor that is remarkably intense and sustained, to the point that many dedicate their entire lives to “speaking for those who cannot speak for themselves.” Some believe their cause to be so righteous that it entitles them to cross the line from legitimate advocacy to vandalism and harassment, or even terrorism against medical researchers, the fur and food industries, and others they accuse of abusing animals. All people who love animals and recognize their intrinsic worth can agree with Wesley J. Smith that human beings owe animals respect, kindness, and humane care. But Smith argues eloquently that our obligation to humanity matters more, and that granting “rights” to animals would inevitably diminish human dignity. In making this case with reason and passion, A Rat Is a Pig Is a Dog Is a Boy strikes a major blow against a radically antihuman dogma.