Rating: 
Summary: Atrociously ill-meant and foolish
Review: This book might be okay if you hadn't read any other dog breed references, and if your primary interests were in a) celebrities and their dogs, and b) the psyche of the book's author. Okay, I take it back: if you haven't read any other breed references, this book will actually be counterproductive, now that I think of it...Where to start? First off, at least half of the text in this thing is taken up with the rich and famous and their preferred breeds. Um, who cares? Jimmy Stewart was a "warm" guy, so he liked Golden Retrievers. Hoop-de-doo. Wading through this junk takes up a lot of reading time. Once you fight past your indifference to all the eagerly-related inside celebrity scoops, you realize Mr. Coren is attempting to use a personality inventory approach to dog selection. He has you take a little set of personality exams -- a quite rudimentary example of this sort of test, about on the level of an article in Cosmo or Women's Day -- and then use the results to choose a breed. As I said, the test is irritatingly incomplete. As another reviewer here has mentioned, the results you get are ridiculously biased against certain groups of dogs, too. It's impossible to score well for certain groups, and almost inevitable that you'll score well for others. A comparable test is included in Daniel Tortora's "The Right Dog for You," only that one's more well-rounded. Did I mention the way the dogs are grouped? Other books -- "Paws to Consider" by Kilcommins and Wilson, for example -- use interesting systems to group dogs. "Paws" uses groups like Nine-to-Five dogs, or non-shedding dogs, as a counter to the AKC's "Working Breeds" and "Terriers." Why We Love... tries the same thing, but it's trying to group dog personalities in a really reductionistic way. Believe me, if you love a particular breed, you'll feel vaguely insulted at the way this book tries to stomp that breed's personality flat. The most thorough personality descriptions of the different breeds are probably in "The Right Dog for You," which uses 16-some personality traits for each dog. This book describes one. "Steady." "Warm." Gee, does that mean it's territorial? Dog-aggressive? What DOES it mean? Finally, don't even get me started on this author's strangely compulsive revelations about his own personality. The cats chapter, which amounts to a really insulting, embarrassing tirade against cats AND their owners, is probably the worst example. I can honestly say I learned much more about the author's romantic life from the chapter than I learned about cats. He phrases a fair chunk of the chapter in anecdotes about a former girlfriend, whom he is plainly misquoting and insulting throughout. No, I'm not pulling your leg. This girlfriend supposedly tells him at one point that cats are good for older people because they won't care when their owners die. Does that sound plausible to you? If what you want is excellent, carefully written, well-rounded descriptions of different breeds, my personal recommendation is "Paws to Consider" by Brian Kilcommins and Sarah Wilson. They get to a breed's essence without writing like a ponderous encyclopedia. If you're really into the personality test approach, you'd want a copy of "The Right Dog for You" by Daniel Tortora. The tests in that book are sort of half-put-together, but they'll actually help you think about dogs, which this title doesn't do. If, on the other hand, you want to learn about this author's internal life and whether Zsa Zsa Gabor prefers Great Danes to Yorkies, well, here's your title. I wouldn't use it to choose a dog, though.
Rating: 
Summary: Nice biography of Celebrities and their dogs but...
Review: This book was a nice biography of celebrities and their dogs but failed to find the dog that matched my personality. According to this book I should get an Irish Setter or Saluki or one of several other big, active dogs in the "independent" category. The problem is I'm not an active person, I'm positive getting one of these breeds would be a disasterous mistake for myself and the dog. I was left feeling very discouraged after reading this book.
Rating:
Summary: Not worth the time--Not worth the money!
Review: This was a very poorly written and researched book. I found many mistakes and inconsistencies. The books idea is to rate your personality and find a dog that would be an ideal match. A good idea, but this book won't help you find an answer. Just a small example of the books problems is the dog groups matrix. It is absolutely impossible to get a higher score than "2", (meaning not a good match) for the "consistent" breeds (his name for most toy dogs.) Although he plainly says that Elizabeth Taylor rated a "3" (which is impossible.) I can only think he made a huge typo and carried the error thoughout the whole book. Then I can take the other example about what he calls the "clever" dog group. It is much easier for a man to rate "higher" for the clever dogs than a women. And, yes, he makes a distinction between dogs suitable for men and others for women. If a woman is an extrovert she could be happy with an Akita, yet if the man is an extrovert, he should get a clever dog like a poodle. Go figure. I certaintly can't see where he is coming from....or where he is going for that matter. Oh, and although this isn't my last complaint about this book, it is the last I'll mention--the chapter on "cat people" is truly humiliating for both the cat, and the cat lover. Don't waste your money on this book. The only interesting thing in it is its list of famous people and the breed of dog they owned. If your looking for a good book to help you choose your next dog, try "The Perfect Match" by Walkowicz, "The right dog for you" by Tortora, or "Choosing a Dog" by Baer. They are all good books with excellent information.
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting but sloppy; not useful for breed choice
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Dangerously misleading for the novice
Review: While I applaud Coren for encouraging people to put more effort into selecting the appropriate breed for their lifestyle and personality, there are major inconsistencies in this book that could lead to disastrous results for the novice dog owner who might accept the results of the quizzes as gospel truth. Although Coren has some interesting ideas and a wealth of anecdotal, self-reported evidence to back them up, overall this book represents much better social science than it does a practical manual for selecting a canine companion. Very few breeds are considered, and a crucial fact is overlooked: while (amongst good breeding lines) there is absolutely some similarity of temperament within each breed; within each litter of pups there exists a broad range of personalities. Without the assistance of a reputable breeder who knows his/her lines and litters well, one can easily select a puppy who won't fit into one's lifestyle or household. This book won't teach you how to recognize a reputable breeder, however, unlike Michele Lowell's "Your Purebred Puppy: A Buyer's Guide," which is a much more useful and comprehensive guide to a similar subject.
Rating:
Summary: Enjoyed, but cannot agree with half the book
Review: While Stanley Coren seems to me to have excellent insight into dogs, I am quite concerned about his matching of owner personality to dog personality. In particular, the sort of owner to whom he would recommend a protective dog such as a Rottweiler is far too often the sort who winds up with a tragic mismatch, the dog euthanized after someone has been bitten. A strong protective dog needs a confident, assertively training owner.
| 
