Bandit: Dossier of a Dangerous Dog

Rating:
Summary: Among the Best Books in my Library
Review: An extended and beautifully written book on an insight of Hannah Arendt's, that goodness that goes public turns into the worst sort of evil.

Emmanuel Levinas, at the end of an essay on Heidegger's Nazism, ``The diabolical is not limited to the wickedness popular wisdom ascribes to it and whose malice, based on guile, is familiar and predictable in an adult culture. The diabolical is endowed with intelligence and enters where it will. To reject it, it is first necessary to refute it. Intellectual effort is needed to recognize it. Who can boast of having done so? Say what you will, the diabolical gives food for thought.''

This book is some of that intellectual effort towards the future of dogs.

Rating:
Summary: Great Dog, Difficult Book to Process
Review: I respect Vicki Hearne, I like this book. Bandit, and his case that Vicki fought for so well was a very important watermark in exposing the myths and half truths that cause so many local authorities accross the country to blindly deem certain breeds of dogs as dangerous. I want to love this book because of this, however, for me the book was to difficult to read. Vicki uses extremely complicated sentence structure and seems to enjoy putting the reader through the wringer before she makes her point. I had to come back to this book a few times to finish it. I believe this is a story we all should be aware of, unfortunately the style of writing alienates it from a good deal of it's prospective audience. If you're well read, go for it, if not just expect to go through a mental obstacle course before the book is finished!

Rating:
Summary: Great Dog, Difficult Book to Process
Review: I respect Vicki Hearne, I like this book. Bandit, and his case that Vicki fought for so well was a very important watermark in exposing the myths and half truths that cause so many local authorities accross the country to blindly deem certain breeds of dogs as dangerous. I want to love this book because of this, however, for me the book was to difficult to read. Vicki uses extremely complicated sentence structure and seems to enjoy putting the reader through the wringer before she makes her point. I had to come back to this book a few times to finish it. I believe this is a story we all should be aware of, unfortunately the style of writing alienates it from a good deal of it's prospective audience. If you're well read, go for it, if not just expect to go through a mental obstacle course before the book is finished!

Rating:
Summary: About time
Review: Ok, ok, Hearne can be annoying with the long philosophical musings. (She comes across as someone who's been made to feel small by academics and is putting on airs.) But, Honey, Vicki Hearne knows dogs. She also has a great gut instinct about people and tells this gripping story well. (Skip the "phiosophy" which seems weirdly inserted into this facinating story anyway.) Hearne has done the research. She understands and communicates the mydrid elements of the pit bull and dangerous dog hystaria. You'll come to the end of _Bandit: Dossier of a Dangerous Dog_, a well informed citizen on the issue of blanket, breed specific, dog bans. Your heart will be touched by old Bandit's story too. You might not take dog ownership quite so much for granted either. You may find (god forbid)you need this information in your own town. As for the reviews above mine... you have to understand (or admit) everybody's an expert when it comes to dogs. The backbiting in the dog world... well, it's no pun. Vicki, you go girl.

Rating:
Summary: I don't agree with the other reviews, so
Review: This book should be required reading for anyone interested in the problem of biting dogs. It is extremely well-written, researched, referenced, and very informative.

My one reservation is that the author advocates the use of choke-collar training. There is so much to be gained from modern psychology and operant conditioning when training an animal. Pain in animal training is totally obsolete.

But this one small quibble doesn't spoil an otherwise engaging and thought provoking read! Very few fiction or non-fiction dog books can hold a candle to this one in scholarship and quality of writing.You will need to read it at least twice to absorb all the subtleties.