The Social Lives of Dogs: The Grace of Canine

10 reviews for The Social Lives of Dogs: The Grace of Canine

1. 

   Amazon Customer – March 3, 2025

   Disagreeing with the critics
   I felt this book gave an incredible inside in the lives of dogs. I disagree with the critics who appear to be breeders. The author has decades of scientific experience, truly observing and getting to know how dogs behave and should behave. It is straight forward. I enjoyed every line, even the heartbreaking ones. I see my dog with different eyes now. I am more convinced that breeding of any animal is wrong and sick. I can absolutely recommend this book to any pet owner or future one. Leaving a review without even finishing the book seems judgmental to me. I also like the way the author writes. It is coming from conviction and the heart. She also provides several sources that either support or contradict her views. Very professional.

2. 

   Mireille – March 3, 2025

   A good read.
   Fairly well written by an experienced dog owner. The author mixes personal observations with known scientific facts, and while some of the interpretations of the observed behaviors are speculative, they non-the-less have a ring of truth. For a fellow dog-lover, the anecdotes are endearing. Worth the time and cost.

3. 

   Sueman – March 3, 2025

   No credibility as an animal lover
   The author shares some interesting observations about relationships between animals and humans, and status hierarchies. Interesting, but not relevant unless you have a menagerie of ten plus animals like she does.Where she lost all credibility for me was when her old dog started suffering, became paralyzed, was in constant pain. She does not believe in euthanasia as long as a dog still wants to eat. Her dog could not move from his pillow, was lying in his waste, but was always hungry. Yet so ill that he could not eat, even though he wanted to. She made this “beloved” dog suffer for many months when it was clear he had no quality of life except pain. He was in such pain that he would bite his family when they tried to pet him. Yet she refused to make that tough decision that so many of us have had to struggle with. Finally she called in the vet, but she waited far too long. It made me sick how she made that dog suffer to justify her “philosophy”.Another example is a newborn kitten who was killed by another of her dogs. Bad enough that she failed to anticipate the danger and protect the newborn. But instead of burying him, she left his poor baby body under a bush, to be more “natural”. So natural that some nearby wild animal snatched him. What kind of animal lover is this?

4. 

   S Huston – March 3, 2025

   A Good book for anyone who loves animals.
   The only bad thing about living with pets is they usually die before you do with the exception of parrots. That being said I was sad at the distressing parts of this book and so identified with the interacting parts. I enjoyed the observations by the author in keeping with my own experiences with owning a vagabond dog who seemed to enjoy everyone’s company but mine. I would have enjoyed having Ms Thomas for a neighbor. Perhaps she could have helped me understand my vagabond better. This is a good escape read.

5. 

   M. Swinney – March 3, 2025

   For the Animal in Us All
   I fairly consumed this book reading it from tip to tail in the course of a few days. It was so engaging in fact that I read it in between my wife’s contractions while she was well under way in early labor delivering our son, Connor. One hand massaging the back, one hand keeping the pages of Elizabeth Marshall Thomas’ engrossing book open. They both worked well towards wonderful outcomes.Thomas’ title to her book may be somewhat misleading. Though it does focus on the social lives of dogs, it more so focuses on the social life of her zoo-like household of a multitude of dogs both permanent and transitory, cats and more cats, parrots, macaws, oh my, and a husband thrown in there somewhere. The book is more anecdotal than scientific which makes it infinitely more readable but less studied and definitive. Her fuzzy science pleases though drawing you in to her mixed-species household and you find yourself pulling for Sundog the ever-obedient confident alpha, Misty the wary, Ruby the jester, and Pearl the ebullient life-affirming lost car-finding heralder of all things barkable.It’s just hard to not love a dog, the wolves among us. Reading Thomas’ book will cause you to love and appreciate them that much more.

6. 

   Carole D – March 3, 2025

   Fascinating
   The author has keen powers of observation which she employs, along with her curiosity and analytical skills, to understanding dogs and inter species (cats, dogs, and human beings) relationships. The book is fascinating and an easy, compelling read.

7. 

   Sharon A. Hill – March 3, 2025

   Could not finish, can’t accept this as credible info
   As many reviewers have noted, this book is misleading. It is a collection of anecdotes and opinions from the author, not a fact-based book on the social lives of dogs. But I accepted that and hoped for a good read anyway. I started to get a feeling this was tanking early on when I thought the author took ill-considered actions towards her animals. Example, why let dogs and cats roam outdoors unrestrained by even a fence in a rural setting when they seem to regularly get into trouble with other animals (like skunks) and run away periodically causing problems for neighbors. Her house seemed (too) full of animals. She makes unwarranted assumptions about their inner thinking. I became less and less able to buy into her extraordinary stories. Finally, she noted “in all recorded history, there is not one verified case of a wolf making an unprovoked attack on any person anywhere”. This is false, perhaps it applies to modern US, but not historically. There are hundreds, maybe thousands of predatory attacks in history that are well documented. Usually, babies or children are taken by wolves. So, at that point, I gave up and deleted the book. I don’t accept that she is a very responsible dog owner or an expert in the subject she is talking about.

8. 

   ルイボスティ – March 3, 2025

   もちろん元々の著者の本がすばらしいと思うが、訳者の力量も大変すばらしいです。まるで著者が日本語で執筆したような臨場感があり、言葉選びも的確で飽きません。素晴らしいです！

9. 

   南方熊猫 – March 3, 2025

   「犬たちの隠された生活」は、観察者としての記述が前面に出ているが、これは、観察もさることながら、その奥にある心からの愛情がどうしようもなく溢れ出ている本である。訳者のあとがきを借りれば、人間を含めて「種の異なるもの同士が、種のちがいを超えて他者とともに生きることを望み、たがいに本性をまげることなく、それぞれの分をわきまえながら、心をかよわせる集団を形づくっていくようすが克明に記されて」いるのだが、その驚くべき交流、交感の深さは、それだけ深い愛情と研ぎ澄まされた「他者の声」を聞こうとする心があって初めて可能なのだろう。犬（やその他の動物たち）から見た人間や世界の姿はどうなのだろう、という発想にも感銘を受けた。訳文もいい。自然で、わかりやすく、リズムがある。今までに読んだ犬に関する本で最高の１冊。繰り返し読みたい本である。

10. 

    Cam – March 3, 2025

    This book is horrible. As a professional dog trainer this book spouts a lot of incorrect information and non-sense. The author seems not to have researched the subject she is writing about, and perhaps she should write about people, not dogs.