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A firsthand exploration of the extraordinary abilities and surprising, sometimes life-saving talents of “working dogs”—pups who can sniff out drugs, find explosives, even locate the dead—as told through the experiences of a journalist and her intrepid canine companion, which The New York Times calls“a fascinating, deeply reported journey into the…amazing things dogs can do with their noses.”
There are thousands of working dogs all over the US and beyond with incredible abilities—they can find missing people, detect drugs and bombs, pinpoint unmarked graves of Civil War soldiers, or even find drowning victims more than two hundred feet below the surface of a lake. These abilities may seem magical or mysterious, but author Cat Warren shows the science, the rigorous training, and the skilled handling that underlie these creatures’ amazing abilities.
Cat Warren is a university professor and journalist who had tried everything she could think of to harness her dog Solo’s boundless energy and enthusiasm…until a behavior coach suggested she try training him to be a “working dog.” What started out as a hobby soon became a calling, as Warren was introduced to the hidden universe of dogs who do this essential work and the handlers who train them.
Her dog Solo has a fine nose and knows how to use it, but he’s only one of many astounding dogs in a varied field. Warren interviews cognitive psychologists, historians, medical examiners, epidemiologists, and forensic anthropologists, as well as the breeders, trainers, and handlers who work with and rely on these intelligent and adaptable animals daily. Along the way, Warren discovers story after story that prove the capabilities—as well as the very real limits—of working dogs and their human partners. Clear-eyed and unsentimental, Warren explains why our partnership with working dogs is woven into the fabric of society, and why we keep finding new uses for the wonderful noses of our four-legged friends.
Publisher : Touchstone; Reprint edition (March 10, 2015)
Language : English
Paperback : 343 pages
ISBN-10 : 1451667329
ISBN-13 : 978-1451667325
Lexile measure : 860L
Item Weight : 12 ounces
Dimensions : 5.5 x 1 x 8.38 inches
Customers say
Customers find the book engaging and informative. They appreciate the well-researched content and insights into dogs, handlers, and relationships. The writing style is described as well-crafted and honest. Readers also mention that the book provides useful information about scenting and cadaver dogs.
AI-generated from the text of customer reviews
Jo Perry –
Read this formidable and brilliant book.
When a nervous, self-focused singleton German shepherd puppy enters journalist Cat Warrenâs life, the usual doggy activities are not enough to challenge or focus her new dogâs prodigious energy. Thatâs when Warren discovers that nosing out the missing dead perfect for her dogâs talents and temperamentâand also congenial to her sharp eye and lively intelligence.Dogs. Death. Murder. Mystery. Decomposition. Trust. Error. Life. Loss. Love. Discovery.Theyâre all hereââwhich is why WTDK can be read, among other things, as an extended meditation on human mortality and self-consciousnessâtwo topics Iâm drawn to. Warren has enlarged my sense of the possible ways to die: There are so so many ways to go (Be murdered and left to rot along a highway; get murdered and buried under a dead animal to throw off searchers, or simply to succumb to being lost.) And once one has departed, there are many ways, some slow, some fast, to fade from the earthââbeer-bloated and submerged, or reduced to a yearsâ old oily smudge broadcasting a sweet, acidic scent through the godforsaken woods. As Warren explains, âwe cease to exist,â but we also âstubbornly stick around.âBut cadaver dogs like Solo and handlers like Warren are important and incredibly interesting just because of who they areââsolvers of mysteries, assuagers of grief, providers of endings to tragic stories of accidents or murder, and bringers of justice.Of course, Solo, Warrenâs canine partner, isnât thinking about any of the above. Heâs fully engaged in the here and now, focused finding and following deathâs sweet scentâânot its implications. Heâs an expert in what Wallace Stevens called the âthe.â Stuff. Running through it, around it, sensing it, sniffing it out, muscling through it. And as Soloâs partner, Warren must tune into this powerful canine mindfulness, tooâor as she puts itââshe must trust her dog:âIf the drugs or the gunpowder or the bone is actually there and a handler tries to move on? The dogs learns how to âcommit,â to plant himself stubbornly and ignore the handlerâs prevarications or even a slight jerk on the lead to come off the scent, a pull that a less-evolved working dog might respond to.Itâs not mystifying. Itâs not eerie. It is a beautiful sight, a dog trusting his nose, ignoring his handlerâs efforts to get him to unstuck himself from the flypaper scent that heâs stuck to. The dog who ignores the handlerâs gaze, which is irrelevant to the task at hand. This is what real faith should look like—hard and unwavering. This is what the co-evolution of a working dog and handler should look like. The dogâs commitment to the truth in the face of your moving away. Thatâs real teamworkâthe dog pointing his nose or paw or entire body at the scent, telling his handler. You bloody idiot! Itâs here!âDo you think you see where this is going? Well you canât. Well, Cat Warren is much too smart for any trite and saccharine âMy Dog Saved Meâ or âMy Dog Taught Me To Really Embrace Lifeâ bulls***. Instead we see the hard work, the misunderstandings, the errors in attention or translation that inform the dog-human partnershipâor as Cat Warren would call it, the work. She even includes stories of notoriously fraudulent handlers just to remind us of the human predilection for lyingâto ourselves and others.For training a dog and oneâs own head to find the occult dead is hard. Very difficult work. Important work. Scary work. Dangerous work. And Iâm so grateful that Cat Warren and Solo and people and dogs like her have taken on the job. Itâs an honor to get to know them and to read Warrenâs very fine and brilliant book.
Al Whitehead –
Superb science reporting and a love story
What the Dog Knows is a rare book of many virtues. It is as much a love story as a model of science reporting and the themes are so deftly interwoven as to be inseparable, an accurate reflection of the reality described. The love story, comprised of a sequence of carefully chosen, well-integrated parts, is about relationships between human and canine persons and between humans enriched by the former. While sentiments are gracefully expressed, there is no sentimentality. Warren never forgets that although dogs and humans are important in each others lives, their minds are profoundly different from one another, and it is this that makes their work together so rewarding and perpetually fascinating. While not written as a dog training manual, even highly experienced trainers can learn from the very careful accounts of training presented.The author is familiar with nearly all, if not all, relevant scientific research (including unpublished material) and has excellent judgment about which research is worth taking seriously.There are two parts of the book of which note is often not taken in book reviews but which deserve special praise: the acknowledgements and the index. The acknowledgements show how real gratitude ought to be expressed and make evident the authorâs own (probably excessive) modesty. The index is one of the best that I have seen in any of the thousands of books that Iâve used; the author obviously cares about her readers and wanted to make her book as useful as possible.One neednât have had dogs in oneâs life to learn a great deal from this remarkable book.
Scoots –
Informative beyond the Obvious,Cleanly Edited
Of course one expects to learn the ins and outs of training and use of cadaver dogs when you pick up “What the Dog Knows.” I was delighted to get that, plus much more in this well-researched work. Cat Warren’s scientific journalism background was put to good use as she shares the history of cadaver-searching dogs and scent work on historical remains. I found the references to bone searches in Thomasville Georgia; for Civil War casualties, during slavery and in Vietnam fascinating.”What the Dog Knows” is a comprehensive book, coming in at 350+ pages. Well edited and organized, it is a compelling read.The author does an exceptional job of telling great dog stories while giving readers an understanding of the complex world of canine scent detection. The end of the book includes author notes and research references for readers who want to learn more. I give it 4.5. stars!
TheFisch –
Engaging and thoroughly researched
What a wonderful book! Cat Warren has extensively researched working dogs, cadaver dogs in particular, and interviewed a large number of active and retired dog handlers. Some included sections are on the history of the body dog, training with police K9 units, using cadaver dogs to find military dead in war zones, the difficulties of searching over water versus land, and using cadaver dogs for archeological body searches. Among all this Cat threads in her own experience with finding a job for a difficult singleton German shepherd puppy, deciding on cadaver dog work with no previous experience, ongoing training for both her and the dog, and graduating to active searches – all as a volunteer. Solo, for his part, does all this for the joy of working, the thrill of finding the scent, and the ecstasy of winning the prize tug toy. All this makes for very captivating reading – even more so if you are at all interested in dog training. Having had 6 German shepherds myself with 4 in the house at the moment (snoozing around the living room after a hike), I understand that keeping an intelligent, strong, resourceful dog mentally and physically busy is very necessary. Cat apparently has the ability to do that as well as research thoroughly and write engagingly and with humor. It was a pleasure to read her well written book.
P. P. –
Das Buch ist sehr interessant und gut zu lesen. Und man lernt immer was dazu
Merlin –
Excellent condition book and prompt delivery
R. Q. Metz –
I you are a dog lover and handler a must read. the more you know about your dog the more the two of you will enjoy many activities together.
Josephine –
I enjoyed this book, recommended to me by my Scent Work trainer. An interesting account of training methods, but in the context of personal experience.
Icarus –
Wonderful descriptive book on how dogs can sense things better than humans. A great read for dogs lovers of all kinds.