[.ca] Dog Eat Dog: A Very Human Book About Dogs and Dog Shows (ISBN 0684838923)

horror show:
A more apt title might be "Human Eat Human" because the dogs in this book are civilized. It's the people who are vicious. This book is meant to be a light-hearted romp through the wacky world of dog shows, but I found it downright depressing. Dog show competitors are a strange breed themselves. They seem to look upon dogs as decorative objects born to win them ribbons (and to suffer whatever consequences go along with that). The people involved in dog shows are closely akin to those who drag their kids around the country in order to compete in beauty pageants: cold-blooded, calculating, back-stabbing competitive. Show dogs lead an unnatural, lonely life stuck in a kennel when they're not on the road in a trailer headed towards the next competition. There might be some merit to it if the contests were honest, but there's back room politics involved and it seems to have more to do with seducing the judge, putting the right makeup on your dog, or getting a judge that happens to like your dog's body type or breed than honest competition. Mimi, the main human character in the book, works at her local animal shelter and visits retirement homes with retired show dogs. So you would think she should know better because of her exposure to the plight of homeless animals. But apparently not. And she supposedly loves her dogs, but I suspect she loves them for what they can do for her ego in the show ring. And if they fail, as Rusty did at first, she has no qualms about giving him away to another trainer at very short notice. The obsessive mating (or artificial inseminating) of so-called "purebreds" (the bullmastiff, the main focus of this book, has been so genetically manipulated that its lifespan is only about nine years) in order to sell puppies to equally obsessed clients who have a "thing" about the look of a certain breed is nazi-like. And considering the huge number of healthy, available dogs in shelters and with rescue groups in this country, it's insane that breeders continue to produce often physically and psychologically impaired purebreds for the market (and to appear on the dog show circuit). Especially when you consider the fact that 15% of surrendered shelter animals are purebreds. At one point, frustrated in her attempts to produce a healthy litter, Mimi has a moment of enlightenment: "I am thinking of getting out of this business altogether. Purebred dogs are nothing but heartache. I just want nice mutts from the pound who live forever." Unfortunately, she doesn't follow up on this wish.

Pretty good--fast read!:
I really enjoyed this look into the world of dog shows. The author doesn't hide the truths of the ins and outs of the world of showing and breeding dogs. Quick read--I read it in a day. Very well-written. Great little book!

Interesting and not always in a good way:
This book would have benefited from an editor with a knowledge of dog shows, as there are quite a few inaccuracies. It also paints a very ugly picture of some of the people that supposedly "love their dogs". Not all people who show dogs are obsessed with "winning" to the detriment of their dogs.

Fun Read!:
This is an easy read - very entertaining. These folks know the dog world inside and out; they present it in a hysterical light.

'Dog Eat Dog' is the 'Orchid Thief' of the dog show world:
'Dog Eat Dog' is the 'Orchid Thief' of the dog show world, but the obsession in this case is with Bullmastiffs, not orchids. Jane and Michael Stern have written an interesting, sweet, and sometimes sad book about the 'dog eat dog' competition in the American dog show ring. The sadness comes in when the authors describe the problems that we humans have wrought upon our best friends, by breeding for a particular and possibly arbitrary trait (size or hairlessness) and ignoring the consequences (hip dysplasia, deafness, birthing problems). The authors suffered from the purebred dog syndrome themselves: "Some couples dream of a house, others of a baby; we could think of nothing more enriching to our tender relationship than the companionship of a drooling, flatulent Bulldog." Richard, the Bulldog was an utter failure in the showring but if he was the genesis of "Dog Eat Dog", then he was a very successful Bulldog, indeed. Please read this book. It is a droll, ingratiating, doggy slice of Americana.