disappointing, yet informative

For the Love of a Dog by Patricia B. McConnell, PhD.

                Hez-o-meter  *** ½

In her latest book, Patricia McConnell plays on an age-old question asked by many a dog-lover:  Do our beloved dogs experience emotions like humans?  Of course this is a question that cannot be completely answered.  And in the opinion of many experts, this question should remain unanswered.  Why waste the time trying to search for an answer to such a question that can never be proven valid?

I will admit that I have asked the question myself.  I vividly remember one day this past winter when I briefly touched on the subject.  As I was sitting on my couch I turned to look at one of my dogs staring out the window.  What is she thinking?  Is she feeling like me about this frigid day, wondering when she’ll see the grass again?  Longing for a day of sunshine when she can enjoy the outdoors and the fresh warm air?  Or is she simply passing time due to boredom because her owner hasn’t felt motivated enough to do more than dump some kibble in her dish?  Or maybe she’s watching that squirrel across the yard?  Yes—the latter is a likely answer.  She likes to chase squirrels. 

But McConnell would like to think in a more abstract way.  And this book is obviously biased.  It gives the average person enough background on the anatomy and function of the brain that one may think they have an educated opinion after reading the book.  The sad truth is that McConnell gives the reader just enough information to understand what she wants the reader to understand and no more. 

The major argument that McConnell stresses is this:  How can we be so vulgar to assume dogs are incapable of experiencing emotions when we don’t have a complete grasp on the concept of emotions for our own species?  But, as written by Peter Caruthers, unless animals are able to think about thinking, they may have what look like emotions, but they can’t feel them.

I’m not saying that I agree with Caruthers.  Honestly, both thoughts sound completely absurd in my mind.

Although I was not a huge fan of this book, I was impressed on how the book was written.  For a person with medical background, the book will be a slow read.  McConnell repeats herself unnecessarily, and for someone who already knows how the brain works, they will find themselves skipping paragraphs.   But, for the average citizen, it is very informative.  It breaks the function of the brain down into terms that are comprehendible to someone with no previous education related to neurochemistry.  McConnell also provides scientific backup to all of her theories.  There is quite a lengthy reference section at the end, along with a well-written instruction on how to teach a dog to “Stay”.  And she also provides informative footnotes at the bottom of almost every single page.  The footnotes were by far my favorite part of the book. 

The chapters are broken up into different subjects.  The emotions of Love, Happiness, Anger and Fear have an entire chapter devoted to each of them.  Emotional Expressions, Emotions and the Brain, and Pavlov have their own chapters as well. 

Another nice point is the photo section provided in the center of the book.  Sixteen centerfold pages are filled with photos of the emotional expression captured on dogs’ faces as well as the same expressions on the faces of humans.  McConnell makes reference to these photos quite frequently in the discussion of happiness, anger and fear. 

I would recommend this book for the pet owner who wants to learn to read the emotional state of their dog.  I have to admit that I am now more aware of my dogs being nervous in a certain situation versus excited as I may have thought at one time.  In fact, I can’t even look at a dog anymore without assessing their basic emotional status.

Unfortunately I still feel there is so much that we don’t know about our own brain chemistry, let alone that of a dog.  And until we can get inside the brain of a dog we will never know for certain what they are thinking, feeling, or otherwise experiencing.  The brain is a very complex thing which, in my opinion, is not meant to be understood.  In closing, I would like to share the best lesson I learned from this book:  Our emotional connection to our dogs is pure, primal, and as basic as oxygen and water.