Rating: Summary: A book to make you appreciate your dog even more Review: This was a wonderful book. I'm not a non-fiction reader by nature, but I absolutely loved every interesting, loving, thoughtful chapter. I found the many anecdotes so touching, and often found myself envying Masson's freedom to spend so much time with his dogs (and cats) every day. I enjoyed his writing so much that I plan on reading another of his books, "Why Elephants Weep: The Emotional Lives of Animals."If you love dogs (and/or truly love animals in general), and, like me, berate yourself for sometimes not appreciating our canine friends as much as you should, read this book. I believe people who gave it a bad review are letting their cynicism color their judgement. The fact remains that dogs love us in spite of our flawed human selves, and God bless them for it.
Rating: Summary: I enjoyed this book immensely Review: Touching, interesting and helpful, this book is is a treasure of information about dogs. I enjoyed the look inside the behavior of dogs and the humor Masson used to share these insights. I work at a pet rescue and also write columns for pet rescue newsletters. The factual information in this book allowed me to research the reasons for behaviors of dogs and I feel confident that the information in Masson's book is correct. I also like the warm and fuzzy stories about pets and their owners Masson uses to support or introduce his subjects. You can't go wrong with this book.
Rating: Summary: I enjoyed this book immensely Review: Touching, interesting and helpful, this book is is a treasure of information about dogs. I enjoyed the look inside the behavior of dogs and the humor Masson used to share these insights. I work at a pet rescue and also write columns for pet rescue newsletters. The factual information in this book allowed me to research the reasons for behaviors of dogs and I feel confident that the information in Masson's book is correct. I also like the warm and fuzzy stories about pets and their owners Masson uses to support or introduce his subjects. You can't go wrong with this book.
Rating: Summary: I loved this book!! Review: Understandably, I wanted to love this book; we all want to love books about subjects that interest us and that we paid for. And, I hate to criticize other people's work. So I've never dwelled much on this book since I've read it. But now that I've read the many negative reviews of this book posted here by readers, I have to admit that they represent most of my impressions. I might as well not bother adding my own, but directing you to those with the lowest numbers of stars. Needless to say, many people loved it, and I'd still lend it to anyone who wants to read it. I'm not sure I'd even discourage anyone from reading it; I just wouldn't lend it out or recommend it without revealing that many people, myself included, have not found it to be so wonderful. I do want to counter something said by at least one who reviewed it negatively. Someone criticized the fact that the author didn't even have a dog, but went out to get several of them to write the book. I'm not sure that's so bad. To do it the other way might have me thinking, "oh this author is just so crazy about his dogs that he wants to write about them just like I'm so crazy about my dog that I want to write about him and tell the world how much I love him" even if there's not really a book in it. So, yes that's a thought, but I don't think I really agree that that factor was such a negative. If you haven't read it and you're curious or interested, go for it (but maybe to the library), BUT - find the negative reviews here first and consider if you want to read the stuff that these readers say the book contains. Because they're mostly right.
Rating: Summary: Unfavorable Review: Understandably, I wanted to love this book; we all want to love books about subjects that interest us and that we paid for. And, I hate to criticize other people's work. So I've never dwelled much on this book since I've read it. But now that I've read the many negative reviews of this book posted here by readers, I have to admit that they represent most of my impressions. I might as well not bother adding my own, but directing you to those with the lowest numbers of stars. Needless to say, many people loved it, and I'd still lend it to anyone who wants to read it. I'm not sure I'd even discourage anyone from reading it; I just wouldn't lend it out or recommend it without revealing that many people, myself included, have not found it to be so wonderful. I do want to counter something said by at least one who reviewed it negatively. Someone criticized the fact that the author didn't even have a dog, but went out to get several of them to write the book. I'm not sure that's so bad. To do it the other way might have me thinking, "oh this author is just so crazy about his dogs that he wants to write about them just like I'm so crazy about my dog that I want to write about him and tell the world how much I love him" even if there's not really a book in it. So, yes that's a thought, but I don't think I really agree that that factor was such a negative. If you haven't read it and you're curious or interested, go for it (but maybe to the library), BUT - find the negative reviews here first and consider if you want to read the stuff that these readers say the book contains. Because they're mostly right.
Rating: Summary: Good for some, not for all Review: When I get into collage, I want to get a degree in animal behaviory, so I like to read books like this. But if your not really interested in that kind of stuff, you probably would think it was boring. However, I AM into that stuff, so I really liked it. So, if you are a dog trainer, you would like this book.
Rating: Summary: The books a nice read, but I was expecting more. Review: When I learned that the content of "Dogs Never Lie About Love" was about the author's observations of his 3 dogs and 2 cats, I was very excited. I too have 3 dogs and 2 cats. Like the author, I also have German Shepherd Dogs. And like the author, I truely love my dogs. With that, I couldn't wait to dive into Chapter 1. It didn't take me long to figure out that the author had very little to say. His basic messages of "dogs are pure emotion" and "dogs love" are repeated over and over. There are also endless references of ancient quotes. My favorite quote was from Napolean as he witnessed a dog attending to his fallen master. Most however are easily forgotten. I would only recommend this book to the true dog lover, with the understanding you probably are not going to read anything you don't already know. I already know dogs love. I happily live with it every day.
Rating: Summary: The books a nice read, but I was expecting more. Review: When I learned that the content of "Dogs Never Lie About Love" was about the author's observations of his 3 dogs and 2 cats, I was very excited. I too have 3 dogs and 2 cats. Like the author, I also have German Shepherd Dogs. And like the author, I truely love my dogs. With that, I couldn't wait to dive into Chapter 1. It didn't take me long to figure out that the author had very little to say. His basic messages of "dogs are pure emotion" and "dogs love" are repeated over and over. There are also endless references of ancient quotes. My favorite quote was from Napolean as he witnessed a dog attending to his fallen master. Most however are easily forgotten. I would only recommend this book to the true dog lover, with the understanding you probably are not going to read anything you don't already know. I already know dogs love. I happily live with it every day.
Rating: Summary: Written with the attention span of a puppy. Review: With a new dog in the house, I'm looking for every book I can get my hands on to give me some insight into this wonderfully mysterious, yet childlike addition to the family. I'm glad I read the New Skete Brothers first, because wading through this book reminded me of grading term papers by students who lacked focus, direction and real reason for writing. I had a roommate in college who used to quote Jethro Tull and Yes in term papers and dim witted profs would give him high grades for his utilization of contemporary (non-traditional) sources for literary pursuits. Truth be told, he had absolutely no idea what Ian or Jon Anderson's lyrics actually meant - but he knew he could snow the profs for a decent grade. They wouldn't call his bluff. Seems like what's going on here. A little Nazi history, a little Buddhism, or was that Zen? Sorry, I got lost wandering around in one shaggy dog story after another. I kept turning pages waiting for some profound truths to emerge, or at the very least, a couple useful insights. But what I got instead was story after story about the author's dogs, the author's friends dogs, dogs the author met and dogs the author read about. That's the other huge problem with this book; 200 pages, probably 20% of which is material copped from other sources. I've got nothing against term papers. I just hate paying $20 to read them.
Rating: Summary: The Thoughts and Feelings of Dogs Review: Written with the goal to study the emotions and inner thinking of dogs, this book is a fairly interesting write- up on one man's observations of his canine companions. The author's name is Jeffrey Masson and he is a dog lover extraordinaire- a man who thinks the world of his dogs and wants to share with everyone on the planet what he feels he knows about canine thinking.
Masson spends his time in this book talking about his three dogs and explaining the behavior he has observed in each of them. He talks about how his dogs react to different people and different situations. He presents examples of canine loyalty and heroics from known events in the past. This all makes for some pleasant enough reading, even though it gets a little repetitive after a while.
One thing that makes this book a little less valuable than it might otherwise be is the author's lack of any scientific research to back up its claims. Masson really likes dogs and he feels pretty certain that his observations bear some resemblance to absolute truth. But he offers nothing to back up his claims. He only offers observations, without any scientific or original research to prove himself.
Masson gets sappy from time to time in this book, so be prepared to read about his dogs giving him kisses, sleeping at the foot of the bed, showing their uncontrolled enthusiasm when he gets home, etc. It's easy to see that Masson is a lover of dogs, but his book is only average. I can relate to how he feels about our canine friends, but in the absence of any scientific experiments or original research, this book is only half as good as it could have been.
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