If Dogs Could Talk: Exploring the Canine Mind [Paperback]

Vilmos Csányi (Author), Richard E. Quandt (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 27, 2005

"This book is endlessly enlightening and entertaining . . . will appeal to all dog owners." --Ann LaFarge, Taconic News

How do dogs think? Short of breeding a talking dog (not as impossible as it sounds), the best we can do is to carefully observe and record their behavior. And after a decade of research, the internationally renowned ethologist Vilmos Csányi has brilliantly captured the high degree of mutual understanding and empathy that exists between humans and their proverbial best friends.

Drawing in part on close observations of his own dogs, Flip and Jerry, Csányi argues that the long-standing alliance of dogs and humans arose from the problem-solving and communications skills evident in wolves, from which all modern dogs are descended. These basic intellectual skills were refined and enhanced as dogs and humans evolved together over tens of thousands of years. And because dogs were bred to be mankind's helpmates, the dog owner who knows what to look for can interpret their thoughts, desires, and motivations.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this intriguing book, Hungarian ethologist Csányi approaches the question of canine sentience using more science and less wishful thinking than one usually finds in the pet section of the bookstore. "Individual dog stories or anecdotes must be handled with considerable care when we want scientific proof," he warns. Even with this in mind, however, Csányi is most willing to see intelligence in his own beloved dogs, Flip and Jerry, who romp through the pages in charming anecdotes. So how smart are dogs, really? "The average dog living in a human environment understands at least forty to fifty expressions... and is able to act appropriately even in complicated situations." Csányi draws parallels between human and canine evolution in terms of reasoning ability, visual observations and other brain functions. Just as in early humans, individual bonding and group dynamics are the emotional and intellectual drivers for dogs, Csányi notes—a fact that will come as no surprise to pet owners. He demonstrates that dogs can imitate us, feel emotions, cooperate and obey commands, but he follows Darwin in recommending that we not assign morals to animal behaviors. Dogs will develop morals when they develop speech, he says, and he's actually quite enthusiastic about the prospect, going so far as to recommend a breeding program to produce talking dogs. Illus.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

This book by canine ethologist Csanyi has been popular in his native Hungary and is now translated for American readers. As the author points out, canine ethologists must also have familiarity with human behavior, as the natural environment of the dog is human society. To be successful, the proto-dog had to develop the ability to understand and empathize with what humans expected of it, and these basic intellectual skills were honed and refined over the thousands of years that dogs have been domesticated. The author substantiates this alliance of two minds, as he calls it, with synopses of his own research, the findings of other scientists, and anecdotes from the behavior of his own dogs and other pet dogs. Csanyi is a careful scientist, but also a dog lover, and his attention to the coevolution of human and dog behavior provides a very different view of dogs from what is found in standard dog books. Nancy Bent
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: North Point Press; First Edition edition (December 27, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0865477299
• ISBN-13: 978-0865477292
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #924,174 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Compelling Information -- Thought Provoking, March 13, 2008

By 

Nico James (Philadelphia, PA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: If Dogs Could Talk: Exploring the Canine Mind (Paperback)

Mostly, "If Dogs Could Talk" is book which explores many aspects of how to approach the complex issues that surround studying what dogs might be thinking and feeling. Csanyi is Hungarian, and one of the world's foremost ethologists studying canine behavior. The book is well-translated, in that it is quite readable, in spite of its many challenges.

By far, the most exciting aspect of the book concerns the examples of his own and other dogs he has known. I found that I learned to think about dogs and their behavior in wholly new ways: what they might be trying to "say" to me through their physical indications -- this was the most valuable aspect of the book for me.

On the flip side, Csanyi is dismissive in his discussion of some of the most famous ethology work done with primates and birds. I suspect that this negativity, though it is not overtly stated, seems to stem from the time that the study of individual animals takes in these cases, and that only many trials with many subjects yields real data. However, he might have explored his bias rather than diminishing the work of others and had a much better outcome.

One of the other Amazon reviewers said that even with its problems, he learned so much more than from reading anything else he had to give this book a high rating, and after all my reservations, I agree with him.

10 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Book, March 28, 2005

By 

D "D" (Davis, CA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: If Dogs Could Talk: Exploring the Canine Mind (Hardcover)

Learned a great deal about the mental abilities of dogs. The book gets into great detail with experiments that are not easy to follow for the non-science reader. I gave it 5 stars because I learned so much more from this book than anywhere else.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Should be required reading for dog owners, November 24, 2010

By 

Ellzeena (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: If Dogs Could Talk: Exploring the Canine Mind (Paperback)

I'm a certified applied animal behaviorist with many (far too many) years experience in my field. I've seen literally hundreds of dogs with problem behaviors (and the majority with active aggression, since that is my specialty). Almost every single dog suffered from the result of poor or inappropriate training, lack of socialization, poor breed or breed type choice by owner, careless or mindless supervision and just your basic seat of the pants ignorance on the part of the owner(s). A basic understanding of the origins of the domestic dog and its more than obvious ability to think, problem solve, plan, feel and communicate, is absolutely necessary if a person is to have the sort of relationship and experience with the dog that s/he hopes to obtain. This isn't a textbook. It's filled with extremely interesting information much in the same way an undergraduate class in Ethology might be, but it's also useful. If you have an interest in training and dog behavior, this book belongs in your reference pile. Your dogs will thank you, your clients will thank you, and a whole new world of seeing and understanding the dog at your side will present itself.