Customer Reviews

What Do Dogs Dream?

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The author of this book has clearly heard lots of people describe dreams, and knows dogs well, too. It was so much fun to look at the ideas she came up with for various breeds, and touching that the "mutts" got star billing, too. I have, and will, give this book as a gift.

For any one who loves dogs, this book was so funny and true. A great stocking stuffer for Christmas

Apparently what dogs dream about is being either human, or having the circumstances of their lives switched. Many humorous ones occur in this well-done book.

For example, "I dreamed I showed up at the park and I was naked, only the other dogs were, too -- Angel, Pekingese, three." This is clearly a dream that a human would have. The dogs are coyly posed to cover their more private areas with daffodils and such.

On the other hand, a Dalmatian dreamed "I was black with white spots" which is another type of reversal, while still being a dog.

Sometimes the relationship with humans is reversed to take a dog-centered approach as in this dream about training school, "[W]e were learning . . . how best to annoy cats."

The human reversal shows up with a sheep dog who "was taken off the farm and given a desk job."

The reversal of roles with humans shows up in a cartoon of dogs eating in a restaurant while noting "our people had to wait for us [outside], and it was raining."

The cartoons are cleverly and beautifully done by Alison Bechdel and add much to the book.

I have two complaints which led to the book being graded down two stars. First, the style is nicely done so that it could appeal to adults or children. The only problem is that some of these cartoons have "adult" humor in them in the form of sexual references, which make the book inappropriate for children from my point of view. That was a shame since children like to have fun with cartoons even more than most adults. If you want to show this to your children, be sure to censor those parts.

Second, cartoon books greatly benefit from an introduction to put the work into context. Since I always grade down The New Yorker cartoon books for this, I felt that I must do so for this one also. By the way, The New Yorker dog cartoon collection is better than this one both because it has more cartoons and because they are on more varied themes. On the other hand, this one is much less expensive if you are on a budget for a gift. Almost any dog lover would enjoy this book, except those who are easily offended by sexual references.

The idea of role reversals is an interesting one. I suggest that you think about your spouse, sibling, or best friend, and imagine reversing roles with that person. What humorous situations can you think of? What improvements in your life come to you?

Keep laughing! Laughter is very healthy for you according to Dr. Dean Ornish.

First of all, I'd like to say the concept of the book is a good idea. The format isn't even too bad, but the sunject matter is poor. Some of the dreams suggested are even pretty good. The problem is that the book is written in an almost child's book fashion and yet still contains offensive material. I was shocked to find that a book protrayed to be lighthearted contained a nightmare from a standard poodle where she was "made to be with" a male apricot poodle without even being able to get to know him and "everyone was watching." What an awful thing to put in a book of this nature. Perhaps the author was trying to make some sort of statement with this, but I think it was in poor taste.