#dog books

[blueboyluca]

“When I first heard it, from a dog trainer who knew her behavioral science, it was a stunning moment. I remember where I was standing, what block of Brooklyn’s streets. It was like holding a piece of polished obsidian in the hand, feeling its weight and irreducibility. And its fathomless blackness. Punishment is reinforcing to the punisher. Of course. It fit the science, and it also fit the hidden memories stored in a deeply buried, rusty lockbox inside me. The people who walked down the street arbitrarily compressing their dogs’ tracheas, to which the poor beasts could only submit in uncomprehending misery; the parents who slapped their crying toddlers for the crime of being tired or hungry: These were not aberrantly malevolent villains. They were not doing what they did because they thought it was right, or even because it worked very well. They were simply caught in the same feedback loop in which all behavior is made. Their spasms of delivering small torments relieved their frustration and gave the impression of momentum toward a solution. Most potently, it immediately stopped the behavior. No matter that the effect probably won’t last: the reinforcer—the silence or the cessation of the annoyance—was exquisitely timed. Now. Boy does that feel good.”

— Melissa Holbrook Pierson, The Secret History of Kindness (2015)

[godzilla-reads]

My mother has quite the Albert Payson Terhune collection of collie books. These are fun to find, plus they’re great books for getting you out of a reading slump since Terhune’s writing is very anecdotal. When I’m in a reading block, my mom will often hand me one of these books to read.

[sceneshepherd]

my favorite dog books that i own!!! plus my wolf books and a wolf plushie my bf got me from the nc zoo :)

[dogwisdoms]

OOPSIE.

That’s only 3 out of 5 I’ve ordered 😅

[cassettoicecream]

La coda/correct tail

dal 'Il Siberian Husky' di Jessica Vallerino

1997

De Vecchi Editore

[bones-n-bookles]

Photos from Охотничьи Лайки (Hunting Laiki) by А. Т. Войлочников (A. T. Voylochnikov) and С. Д. Войлочникова (S. D. Voylochnikova).

Finnish Spitz and Finnish Spitz head

I'm only able to roughly translate russian currently so *please* correct me if I make any errors on these!

[emeraldlabyrinth]

Happy International Dog Day

A loyal friend for the ages, both in hunting and sport along with protecting the things most dear to us. Dogs have been a long cherished friend and will continue beings so forever more.

For International Dog Day I have collected four books on nurturing this friendship in different ways.

101 Dog Tricks by Kyra Sundance and Chalcy (they have a whole series of dog training books)

Livestock Protection Dogs by Orysia Dawydiak and David Sims

Advanced Retriever Training by Tom Dokken

Absolutely Positively Gundog Traning by Robert Milner

[charlesmoffat]

Check out the wolves and dogs that appear in my fantasy books, available at amazon.com/author/moffat

[canisitsnotlupus]

Saw your little post about dog books - do you have any recs for someone getting into dogs? Thanks!

kim brophey's "meet your dog" is where i would start for someone new to dogs. i know people always rec "other end of the leash" and "when pigs fly" and i honestly think these books are pretty heavy for someone just beginning. they're also, imo, boring as frick. "control unleashed: puppy program" by leslie mcdevitt is also really good and not heavy. it's training and behavior centered, really fun, easy to follow. i LOVE cu. "your puppy and you" by bloom, hill, and perez, is another one i really like. it's newer and i bought it when it came out and i really like it. "cooperative care" by deb jones would probably be the last i can think of right now. i think knowing about CC before getting a pet can be lifechanging. it is SO difficult to change when you didn't start with CC.

[lolabean1998]

Artists of Tumblr! I have a quest for you!

I wrote this story about my dog and her friends for my nephew, (4 months old and already in love with dogs) but I can’t draw for Shit!

Would anyone be up for helping with the illustrations?

I have pictures of the dogs in the story, but they don’t go well with my severe artistic deficiency 😅😰

Please Help Me!!! Photos to inspire x

UPDATE* - start of the story to inspire- happy to pay for commissions! Someone please help me!!!

The lost ball!

It was a perfect day at the arboretum. The birds were singing, the snowdrops were in full bloom.

The spring sun shining through the budding trees made the fresh grass dew twinkle like stars in the sky.

Fruits, a short, white dog was enjoying a gentle stroll with her human whilst playing with her favourite ball.

It was perfect for her. A match made in the stars. It was a perfect shade of pale green and at night it shone bright a green brighter than the stars.

Fruits didn’t like to share her ball. So much so, that she trained her human to bring other balls to give to her friends in want of a ball.

But her best friends had the special privilege of being allowed to play with her most precious of toys.

She’d often give them the ball when her human looked like she wanted to go home. That way she could stay and play with her friends for a little while longer.

They had just arrived at the arboretum, the dogs favourite place to play. When suddenly, disaster struck.

Her human had thrown the ball in the opposite direction in a cruel prank. Unfortunately, Losing the ball.

Her head dropped when the ball failed to land on her side. In the distance she could hear her human running away from her. Shouting something inaudible as she went.

Leaving Fruits alone in her search.

The tall grass making it difficult to see ahead. Nevertheless, she dropped her nose to the ground and began her search. She searched the field, trees and undergrowth around her, desperate to reunite with her missing ball.

All hope seemed lost when a figure appeared across the field. Growing rapidly as it approached.

“BENTLEY!” Fruits cried happily.

The gentle giant stopped by his sad friend. Touching is nose to her head in comfort, when a second figure came skidding to a halt. Gently nibbling her friends ear as she always did.

Fruits’ heart lifted at the sight of her friends supportive affections.

“Come on, Hollie and Cuddles are searching the other side.” Bentley encouraged. Pointing his nose, to his sisters weaving in and out of the trees on the far side of the field.

[blueboyluca]

For instance, a litter of six puppies will be individually tested on their reaction to a novel stimulus like an umbrella suddenly opening. Let’s say puppies one and two are not spooked in the slightest; they wag and investigate the umbrella. Puppies three and four spook first and then investigate. Puppies five and six spook but don’t come around to investigating by the end of the testing period. What have we learned about the temperaments of these puppies? The standard test interpretation would read that puppies one and two are very stable, puppies three and four are a bit spooky and puppies five and six are definitely spooky. The reality is that we haven’t learned anything about puppies one and two, puppies three and four have demonstrated reactivity but excellent bounce-back and puppies five and six have demonstrated reactivity and some lack of bounce-back. Puppies one and two haven’t been tested yet. Remember, the test is to determine the reaction of a dog to something that frightens it, not the puppy’s attitude about wet weather gear. Before it’s possible to see how well numbers one and two respond to a fearful stimulus, you first have to supply one. All that can be concluded from the test is that pups one and two aren’t afraid of umbrellas. We still don’t know how they will react when they encounter something that scares them. They may react as did three and four or they may be like five and six or worse. The jury is still out.

— Jean Donaldson, The Culture Clash (1996)

[godzilla-reads]

I am very attached to some of my vintage dog-related books. I have a couple Lassie adventure books, and I love love love anything by Albert Payson Terhune and his collies. Actually I’m very attached to collie books, but dogs are amazing and I love them all.

[sceneshepherd]

i got this book quite a while ago but i finally got around to reading it and so far its really good <3 i got it from target & i recommend you guys to read it if you are feeling especially wolfy :)

[darkwood-sleddog]

this might be a longshot and tw for death but theres a childrens book i read about a sled dog team when i was younger and the only thing i remember is i think the lead dog was female and pushed themself so hard during a race that they experienced heart failure. was wondering if by any chance you'd know what that book was because i loved that book but cant for the life of me remember its name or anything else about it

It’s called “Stone Fox” and was also one of my favorite as a kid. I’ve talked about the book a bit on this blog before but do be warned that this book doesn’t really hold up as well as nostalgia would like you to think it may. It has a serious issue with the way it represents and writes its titular Native American character.

[sonyabrightbooks]

I borrowed four picture books from the library this afternoon, and it wasn't until I got back that I realised three of them were about lonely, depressed dogs!

[bones-n-bookles]

Photos from Охотничьи Лайки (Hunting Laiki) by А. Т. Войлочников (A. T. Voylochnikov) and С. Д. Войлочникова (S. D. Voylochnikova).

Top image is a tailless Karelian Bear Dog. Below is a Norrbottenspets.