From Amazon.com
Elizabeth Marshall Thomas, who has written evocatively on the ways of dogs (
The Hidden Life of Dogs) and cats (
The Tribe of the Tiger) at large, here turns her attention to the particular canines--and other animals--with which she shares her home.
Marshall's narrative begins with the arrival of an unfortunate, highly intelligent creature named Sundog, who, excluded from the somewhat constricted worlds of her older dogs, is forced to take his place in the next available pack--that of Marshall and the other human inhabitants of her New Hampshire home. "Perhaps we were not his first choice, but he took us," Marshall writes of Sundog learning his proper place in their order and they in his. Much as domestic dogs enjoy each other's company, Marshall hazards, when in the presence of humans each becomes a competitor for attention and food. Humans, in that world of small rivalries, become not so much alphas or pack leaders--as so many books have it--as they do "sources of life," providers of food and security. Such power can corrupt, of course, and at points Marshall observes that popular methods of dog training--or dog control--can do more harm than good, at least as far as a dog's emotional well-being is concerned.
Through her tales of Sundog, Misty, and her other dogs (and cats, and parrots), Marshall explores how fulfilling a life among animals can be. A little softer on the scientific explanations that drive her other books, Marshall's narrative shares the anecdotal richness of her earlier work. Any human who is curious about how dogs think and how the worlds of dogs and people intersect will find much of value in her pages. --Gregory McNamee
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Publishers Weekly
As she proved in her bestselling The Hidden Life of Dogs, no one writes with greater emotional intelligence about man's (and woman's) best friend than Thomas. Like that marvelous book, this worthy sequel reports on the canines in the author's life, beginning with Sundog, a large white dog Thomas found abandoned in Cambridge, Mass. Upon moving into Thomas's New Hampshire home (which also embraces cats, parrots and several humans, including the author's husband and aged mother), Sundog was ostracized by the three dogs already there and so bonded with Thomas and her husband, as "the first member of our household to cross species lines." As time and pages go by, Sundog is joined by Misty, a purebred sheepdog raised by an earlier owner under horribly rigid conditions; Pearl, an Australian shepherd-chow; Ruby, a maladjusted mix who leaks urine; and Sheila, who's probably part dingo. In narrative as dramatic as good fiction, but rooted in careful observation of animal ways, Thomas recounts how household members adjusted to one another, forming various groups and jockeying for position within and among groups; one extraordinarily gripping section details how Sheila, who as the household's newest member should have occupied the lowest position among the dogs, worked her way up the canine ladder through aggression and guile until Pearl came up with a diplomatic "solution" to her challenge. As enchanting as Thomas's stories are, the most potent magic in her charismatic, opinionated book comes from her ability to lead readers into a fresh world, one that allows animals their own minds (where, for instance, a dog might try "her best to charm us with her pleasant ways"). Anyone who cares about animals will relish joining Thomas in that rich and happy place. Illus. by Jared Taylor Williams. (June)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
by Elizabeth Marshall Thomas
