[.ca] Why We Love the Dogs We Do: How to Find the Dog That ... (ISBN 068485502X)

From Amazon.com:
"Why is it that some people form lasting and warm relationships with their dogs, while others get no joy at all from their pets?" Dr. Stanley Coren, author of The Intelligence of Dogs, asks this question in Why We Love the Dogs We Do: How to Find the Dog That Matches Your Personality. Coren sets out not only to answer this question--an extremely worthy one considering that 4 out of 10 dogs fail to last the first year with their adoptive owners--but to revolutionize the way people think about prospective pets. Relying on his background in psychology and dog intelligence--as well as the input of several animal experts--Coren created seven new groups of dogs based on canine characteristics that "had the most influence on people's satisfaction and lifestyle": friendly, protective, independent, self-assured, consistent, steady, and clever. Coren then asks that you calculate your personality using a pared-down version of the Interpersonal Adjective Scales--a personality test that measures in terms of extroverted/introverted, trusting/controlling, dominant/no-so-dominant, and warm/cool. The findings of this test, when coupled with Coren's new canine classification system, pinpoint the dog/dogs perfect for your personality. Sprinkled throughout Coren's fascinating scientific discussion are a multitude of entertaining tales--which serve to further illustrate Coren's findings--including Sigmund Freud and his well-suited chow chow, Jo-Fi, who attended Freud's therapy sessions; playwright Eugene O'Neill and his beloved dalmatian, Blemie, for whom O'Neill bought a four-poster bed; and novelist John Steinbeck's poodle, Charlie, who accompanied the Nobel Prize-winning novelist on his travels across the United States. Both informative and highly entertaining, Why We Love the Dogs We Do paves the way for a mutually beneficial owner/dog relationship.

Nice anecdotes, but hardly unbiased science:
I really did enjoy the little anecdotes in this book -- the ones about James Stewart and his dogs were especially sweet. It's worth browsing for some of those little gems, although frankly I don't think there's much here that hasn't been reported elsewhere. I can't answer for the structure of the "find your breed" quizzes, although I thought it weird that different breeds were recommended for men and women of the same personality "type." ...\oI\ct seems odd that no breed falls into two categories -- surely some are *both* "friendly" and "clever"? Where Coren drops the ball and then trips over it is when he discusses people who dislike dogs, and people who like cats. ...I think it's worth taking a closer look at exactly what he does in these two chapters. Apparently, people who dislike dogs have no other redeeming features. It's interesting to see Harry Truman discussed solely in light of his failure to enjoy the company of dogs. Apparently, Napoleon grew up a dictator because he lacked the love of a good dog. This is superficially convincing, until you remember that Adolf Hitler was apparently capable of being fond of at least ONE dog in his misbegotten life. What Coren is doing here is playing to the prejudices of animal lovers, who sometimes believe we're superior to people who don't like animals. Specifically, though, it's to any inherent feelings of superiority experienced by dog lovers. The chapter about cats and cat people is even worse -- and again, it's worse for an interesting reason. In his far superior book, *The Intelligence of Dogs,* Coren is at great pains to point out that "obedience intelligence" is only one kind of intelligence, that dogs bred for different purposes think in different ways, and just because a terrier is not as biddable as a goldenn retriever, it does not make the terrier "dumb." Then he uses the word "dumb" to characterize cats -- repeatedly. It never occurs to Coren that an animal which is not a dog might legitimately behave in a way different from dogs. And it's obvious he doesn't know much about cats, because he mouths all the stereotypes (aloof, unfriendly, doesn't socialize with its humans) in a manner to make anyone who knows a well-socialized cat howl with laughter. ("You rarely see cats during the day." Sure, you rarely see mine, unless you happen to be near me and looking down -- they're almost always underfoot!) Coren then quotes from a "study" he did of cat and dog owners. He doesn't reproduce his survey instrument, so there is no way of knowing whether it's reliable, but he uses it to characterize cat owners as cold, aloof, unloving people -- far inferior to the nice warm dog people! Then, just in case we haven't already lost all faith in his scientific impartiality, he proceeds to relate an anecdote from his past, in which a single, neurotic woman with obvious attachment issues is made to represent all cat people. (And yes, he says she is the quintessential cat person.) Now, if half of what he says about this poor woman is true, she was a mess -- but I know dog owners who treat their unfortunate pets in the very same ways. Turn them into picky eaters and then feed them an unbalanced diet of people food? Some dog owners do it all the time. Fail to socialize their pets and then make excuses when Fluffy bites someone? Again, plenty of dog owners do this. Let your pet run loose and then shrug when it comes to a tragic end, because "that's the natural way"? I've known several dog owners who did that, with a series of dogs. Coren's attempt to characterize these flaws as "typical" of cat people make it clear that he is unable to overcome his own dislike of cats, and either lacks the insight to realize it, or hopes to foist his agenda off on his readers. Me, I like dogs. I like cats. And I enjoyed his earlier book. But after he's exposed his own unacknowledged prejudices to this extent, how am I supposed to believe his discussions of different breeds of dogs carry any less bias? If the only criteria he has for dismissing cats as pets is his own opinion (and he does, in fact, offer his unsupported opinion that owning a cat is just slightly better than coming home to an empty house), what if he doesn't care for a particular breed of dog? Will that influence the groupings he creates? This is pop psychology of the most shallow, facile sort. Read this book for the anecdotess about Jimmy Stewart, but for heaven's sake don't hope for any insights into animals or people!

It works!:
I admit, I went into this book thinking it couldn't possibly work - that I would know just by reading dog descriptions what dog I wanted. But I have been there - I have gotten a dog and it just didn't work - so I tried this. I read the book, I took the test. I examined the types of dogs that he recommended - I did further research and then I bought one of those types. WOW was he right on - this has been the best fit yet! I am an absolute fan of this book and recommend it to anybody who tells me they are thinking of getting a dog. Most people don't really know much about the different breeds - they know what looks good to them - and what looks good is NOT what fits into our lives. Try it - you'll be surprised by what he comes up with - and I bet it will be a match for life!!

This guy has a PhD?:
I own a dog and two cats so I was interested in reading about my breed of dog in this particular book. I was shocked and appalled to find that "Doctor" Coren dedicated a chapter to bashing catsd. While I get that people have personal preferences, his thinley veiled attempt to disguise a personal bigotry with weak research was disgusting and it truly reflected an extraordinary ignorance by a man who obviously has had litle encounters with cats. Where did he get his PhD? From one of those spam emails on the internet?

Interesting but sloppy; not useful for breed choice:
While full of fascinating anecdotes, this amusing book is only =useful= if you already know a great deal about dogs. And cats, may I add; cats, too, come with differing personalities depending on breed/type, and are social domestic animals. The entire chapter spent cat-bashing was totally uncalled for, not to mention wildly peculiar. I've been to both dog and cat shows, and let me tell you, cat shows do NOT smell and are NOT full of yowling cats. The statement that dog shows are quiet was sort of mindboggling. And most unfortunately, the editing on this book was incredibly sloppy, resulting in such howlers as the statement in an opening chapter that Queen Victoria was George IV's daughter! I wouldn't use this to research the Right Dog For Me, but it's an amusing bedtime read.

Extremely sloppy, but entertaining:
I bought this book while browsing through the bookstore, because it seemed to have some interesting anecdotes about celebrities and their dogs. I already am a dog owner, so I didn't need the book to help me find a dog. Coren's main premise is that he can match owner personalities with dog personalities. This might be doable, but Coren does this in a very sloppy manner. He takes a bunch of historical figures and celebrities, and presumes to figure out their personalities. For example, he rates Josephine, the wife of Napoleon as medium for extroversion and dominance. Hmmm. Given that she lived two hundred years ago, how accurate can he really be? There's a lot of stuff like this in the book - Coren figuring out personalities based on secondary information. The second problem with the book is that the groupings of the dogs is very broad, making this exercise almost pointless. How useful is a grouping when Shih Tzu's are grouped with terriers? The books that I think are much better are: Your Purebred Puppy by Michele Welton and Understanding Dog Mind by Bonnie Bergin.