Rating: 
Summary: A Good Read by an Excellent Author
Review: Dog lovers who enjoyed A DOG YEAR and RUNNING TO THE MOUNTAIN are forewarned. THE NEW WORK OF DOGS is not a walk in the park, though author Jon Katz indulges readers with a few anecdotal romps. This is a call to arms. Pet people around the world will reluctantly learn about the underbelly of the dog world, the realities that lurk outside the realm of most fenced yards, and bedrooms where dogs and cats lounge like royalty. And it's a hard pill to swallow, though Katz, through his wonderful writing, softens the blow.From the cocoon of his home in Montclair, New Jersey, a wealthy suburb where many dogs and kids are pampered, Katz takes readers on a sad yet real journey into a world where dogs are thrown from cars, battered by their owners, and discarded like trash. This is the story of what happens to them if saints of the dog world, people who form organizations like Save the Pets, find them. And it is the story of what Katz calls "the new work" of dogs --- to fill the emotional voids created by a culture in which television has replaced community, where work dominates schedules and friendships fill in the gaps. THE NEW WORK OF DOGS is a good read by an excellent author about a topic that will break the heart of any animal lover. With statistics that startle any compassionate person, let alone a dog person, the book delves into the realities of the world we have created --- a world where most dog owners call themselves mommy and daddy and spent $29 billion on their pets in 2001; the same world where between 8 and 10 million dogs enter the U.S. shelter system and close to 5 million are killed "because there are no homes for them," says Katz. A true journalist, Katz follows a few dog owners to discover their motivation for owning dogs. And while they are all good-hearted and well intended, the discoveries that he makes will tug on heartstrings when readers realize that dogs have entered a whole new realm of existence. These are dog owners who have unwittingly delegated the responsibility of companionship and personal fulfillment to four-legged creatures whose only charge should be eating, sleeping, perhaps a bit of obedience training and, well, relieving themselves. "�During many interviews, it seemed that the people I was talking to had holes of one sort or another in their lives; they were hoping that a dog might fill it," says Katz, who did a tremendous amount of research for this book that prompts readers to delve further. What readers discover in this 223-page book is that, while some dogs are loved more than ever before --- in the form of hired dog walkers, gourmet dog food, and high-end pillow beds --- they are purchased to alleviate emotional needs of their owners, an unfair prospect for the sweetest of canine companions. A widow who will ultimately remarry and relegate new-found best friend to a small yard without daily walks, a workaholic who is unable to relate to his children or wife, a single woman who focuses her attention on a small dog after being continually disappointed by friends. These are some of the folks you meet in the pages of THE NEW WORK OF DOGS, a book that is difficult to pick up and even harder to put down. It is a story that will stay with you. --- Reviewed by Heather Grimshaw
Rating: 
Summary: Flexible & Adaptable Best Friend?
Review: Dogs seem to be able to adapt and put up with tasks it would not seem they were bred and equipped for. This is the thesis that Katz explores in this well written work.
Dogs traditionally were for work: hunting, herding, guarding, etc. Now they seem to be moving towards work that is anything but what they were bred for. To get humans through difficult situations: divorce, loneliness, old age, etc.
This the author does without bias and very well balanced presentation. His exploration is up close and he is able to probe and captivatingly for the reader present the evidence.
The reader senses the author has compassion for the dogs and their owners. What primarily comes forth is that training is truly called for, not for the dogs but for their owners who need to learn how a dog thinks and reacts. Our motivation for having a dog is many times suspect, and leads to the dog reacting in ways that further estrange this masterful creature from its normal, giving response.
A book that will help many in this regard also: "Latchkey Dogs: How The Way You Live Shapes the Behavior of the Dog You Love" by Jodi Anderson.
Katz is truly the dog lover's friend and this well researched and written work provides much to ponder and admire in these amazing canine friends.
Rating:
Summary: A Must-Read
Review: For anyone who has a dog or is thinking of adopting one, this is absolutely a must-read; but I'd recommend this book to anyone, animal-lover or not. It is a quick and easy read - I devoured it in a couple of days. It is beautifully written, blending real-life stories and personal accounts with psychological and behavioral theory. This book will evoke emotion in even the most cynical reader, but not through sentimental manipulation. In fact, the beauty of the writing is that it does not weave sappy tales, but simply presents its human- and dog-subjects in a very real and honest way. I appreciate the author's journalistic style and reservation of judgement. This is the first work by Jon Katz that I have read, but it will now not be the last.
Rating:
Summary: A Must Read!
Review: I have been in dog rescue for 2 years now and believe this book is an eye opener for the general public and therefore is a must read. The majority of people are not exposed to what effects there choices, good or bad have on there pets, they don't see the repercussions of their actions. This book gives them no choice but to wake up and take notice. There are some very touching stories of pets and their humans in this book, but Mr. Katz does not sugar coat the harsh realities either, and for that I applaud him. If only more people would read this book, maybe one day our shelters would be empty of dogs, who were only being dogs, and could not live up to the unreal expectations that we as humans place upon them.
Rating:
Summary: Though-provoking treatise on human dependence on dogs
Review: In the "New Work of Dogs,"author Jon Katz expands his scope from focusing on his relationship with his dogs---a topic he has detailed in previous books---to examining the canine-human relationship on a broader scale.
Informed by arduous research (a two foot stack of papers, books, journals), he sets out and succeeds in making a case that dogs, by-and-large, are doing different work from their traditional herding, hunting, and guarding. We have pushed our canines into new territory as emotional companions, therapy dogs, even extensions of our egos to help us cope with an increasingly complex world.
The notion that we are growing increasingly isolated as a culture is not new, but seeing how humans are using dogs to cope with a society that no longer maintains the cultural bearings of "the greatest generation" is new (at least to me).
Mr. Katz visits with many dogs and their owners of various social economic strata who inhabit the enclaves of Montclair, New Jersey. More often than not, he found that dogs are being used as emotional surrogate, a classic situation noted in attachment theory but hitherto mostly applied to other people. Many of these dogs are pampered, untrained, and confused. Others are abused to some extent, whether through deliberate actions or through negligence.
The stories are alarming and informing. I see many of the mistakes I made with previous dogs laid out before me and wonder if my two Australian shepherds are as well-adjusted as they seem.
Many reviewers have commented, and correctly, that anyone planning to own a dog needs to read this book. Sadly, I think Mr. Katz will largely reach those people who already possess a great deal of knowledge about dogs---those who train their dogs, who buy or adopt breeds suitable for their living conditions or schedules, and who treat their dogs with consistent, loving authority.
Mr. Katz does not make harsh judgments on any of the circumstances he depicts but instead concludes by noting how many dogs are dumped in shelters where they languish or die. The numbers are staggering.
And he takes matters a step further with the thought-provoking idea that if we have dog rescue groups, how can we not also have their counterparts to reach out to those of our own species in dire need.
Rating:
Summary: We're Giving Dogs Work They Cannot Do
Review: Katz's insightful thesis is that as our society grows more fragmented and irresonsible many of us will suffer intense isolation, compelling us to look to dogs for substitute sources of friendship and family. As a result, a tragic paradox has inflicted the canine world: On one hand, dogs are now regarded with higher esteem but on the other hand our unrealistic expectations result in disappointment and frustration, resulting in the neglect, abuse, and anger against dogs, many of which are abandoned. Katz isn't saying we shouldn't lavish love on dogs. Rather, he is saying we should be aware of the kind of emotional needs we're requiring our dogs to make and to perhaps not fall into the trap of overdoing our dog obsession. To make his point, he provides about a dozen in-depth profiles of dog owners, many lonely and alienated from society and shows the pressures their loneliness puts on their dogs.
Rating:
Summary: Harsh thesis, gently argued
Review: Much has been written about the downside of the highly mobile, rootless, media-dominated country America has become in the last 50 years. Katz looks at how the loss of community and the creation of a nation of strangers affects how we treat our dogs. Dog ownership is exploding, and Katz shows very persuasively how dogs have become substitutes for absent human relationships. People are projecting their longings, loves, and attitudes onto dogs because they have no one else OR they treat dogs as another piece of property, like a video game console or a new toy - having no emotional connection at all. Katz profiles people and their dogs in sympathetic, yet honest ways that raise troubling questions about people's relationships not only to dogs but to one another. The writing is thoughtful and evocative. I think he is too pessimistic about the future of dogs as companions doing "emotional work" for humans rather than physical work like herding sheep or guarding property, but his analysis of the issue rings true.
A thought-provoking and well-written book. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Harsh thesis, gently argued
Review: Much has been written about the downside of the highly mobile, rootless, media-dominated country America has become in the last 50 years. Katz looks at how the loss of community and the creation of a nation of strangers affects how we treat our dogs. Dog ownership is exploding, and Katz shows very persuasively how dogs have become substitutes for absent human relationships. People are projecting their longings, loves, and attitudes onto dogs because they have no one else OR they treat dogs as another piece of property, like a video game console or a new toy - having no emotional connection at all. Katz profiles people and their dogs in sympathetic, yet honest ways that raise troubling questions about people's relationships not only to dogs but to one another. The writing is thoughtful and evocative. I think he is too pessimistic about the future of dogs as companions doing "emotional work" for humans rather than physical work like herding sheep or guarding property, but his analysis of the issue rings true.
A thought-provoking and well-written book. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Not just pulling sleds any more
Review: Not many dogs pull sleds these days, and only a few fight crime. But that doesn't mean dogs aren't working. Not according to Jon Katz, whose latest book, The New Work of Dogs, explores the less documented duties canines have assumed within family life.
Katz's previous book, A Dog Year, was a popular personal account of the 12 months he spent with two crazy border collies and a pair of laid-back labs, animals that had a transformative effect on his life. Now, with his new book he takes a look at other people's pets, compiling the stories of men and women who have hit a wall in their lives and found comfort in the family canine.
According to Katz, the new work of the American dog is to be companion, counselor, nurse, even surrogate child. One of his subjects, Sandra Robinson, is divorced, miserable and thwarted in her dreams of having children. She fills the void with a new puppy, Ellie. Rob Cochran feels walled in by the demands of his family and his high-paying job. Through his dog, Cherokee, Cochran vicariously experiences the simple, uninhibited life that eludes him personally.
These are lofty roles for our furry friends, but, as Katz shows, they're up to the task. His list of working dogs is as varied as his register of the people who need them. One chapter tells of the Divorced Dogs Club, a group of divorced women who get together and embellish their list of ways that dogs are better than men.
Perhaps the most moving story he tells is of Donna Dwight, a cheerful, dynamic woman dying of cancer whose Welsh Corgi, Harry, accompanies her almost to the gates of death, providing love and companionship all the way. His true work is to save her from feeling alone in the most dreadful hours of her life. And he never flinches, as would so many humans, in the face of cancer's ugliness. "He might not have wanted to push sheep around, but he was ready to work with Donna," writes Katz. As his touching new book proves, a good dog's work is never done.
Rating: 
Summary: what's new about this?
Review: Other reviews of this book have done a good job of summarizing its thesis, which is that dogs were "previously" bred for physical labor and are now primarily in the business of serving their owners' emotional needs.
I've really enjoyed some of Katz's previous books. I am not a "dog person," but I have found his analysis of dog/human interactions to be well-documented and surprising. This book, however, was a big disappointment. Katz provides little evidence for his historical generalizations, and, by focusing largely on suburban owners who have unbalanced relationships with their canines, he overstates the significance of the "new work" he identifies for dogs.
Katz focuses almost exclusively on middle-class American dog owners, with little attention to urban dwellers (save one chapter)or rural dog-owners who still use their dogs for farm labor or hunting, not "show" sheepherding. What about dogs in other countries and locales, who still perform work in a variety of contexts? We don't even have to leave the US for examples. How are dogs in Alaska or Wyoming or the Jersey Pine Barrens different from dogs in the smug 'burb of Montclair?
Dogs have labored as part of the family for centuries, and they still do in many parts of the world. But that doesn't mean they also haven't served as loved and loving companions as well. Literature from previous eras is full of examples of how domestic pets have meant more to their humans than just "go get the sheep, Spike." (And not just in children's books; check out poet Christopher Smart's seventeenth-century poem "In Praise of my Cat Geoffrey.") Katz doesn't talk about the history of dog/human relationships in depth; he simply argues by assertion that dogs were "previously" used for physical labor and are are "now" primarily engaged in emotional labor.
I think a wider perspective and a "both/and" focus would be more informative for Katz to pursue. Today, serving humans' emotional needs may be the primary task of suburban dogs - but it's not the ONLY THING. Sometimes humans' relationships with dogs are balanced rather than pathological or subtly abusive (like many of the owners he portrays in his book). Some dogs aren't just "used" by humans, but develop powerful attachments to people - in spite of Katz's assertion, based on advice from a breeder friend, that dogs will forget a vanished human almost immediately.
Finally: when humans observe emotional responses in animals, this doesn't necessarily mean we're anthropomorphizing. Perhaps emotions aren't a uniquely human province. Perhaps humans as a species aren't as exceptional as we like to think we are. Perhaps there is a much wider territory out there than Katz maps here.
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