The Social Lives of Dogs (Paperback)

Anthropologist, novelist, and animal lover, Elizabeth Marshall Thomas writes of dog behavior with sympathy, insight and considerable humor. Following her bestseller, "The Hidden Life of Dogs" (which explored dog-with-dog culture), "The Social Life of Dogs," examines dog adaptation to human households, or, in the Thomas case, a multiple-species household.

At the time the book opens, Thomas and her husband, Steve, had three old dogs left from "The Hidden Life of Dogs" pack and didn't want any more. Steve "didn't want another animal of any description" and Elizabeth, while "always open to another dog," plans to wait until the old dogs died before getting an adult dog she can learn from, an Indian dog from Northern Canada, say, or a pariah dog from a Third World village. What she doesn't want is the white dog who quietly appears and won't leave - an American purebred cross.

Thomas does not approve of purebreds. "The important features of a dog are his brains and his persona," not looks. Still, unable to find the dog's owners, after a few days Thomas begins to ask herself, "what, after all, is really so wrong with a few purebred strains?"

And so begins her relationship with Sundog, the animal whose ashes will someday be mingled with her and Steve's. Her descriptions of Sundog's adoption of human mannerisms (the three old dogs rejected him totally) - his sharing of food, for instance, are touching and fascinating. Although Sundog did not like popcorn, the ritual of sharing was important to him - a kernel for Sundog, a kernel for Steve - until the bowl was empty. One evening Steve wanted to read without interruption. When Sundog took his usual chair at the table, Steve said "no" and put a handful of popcorn on the floor. Sundog, hurt, left the room. Although they swiftly followed him with the bowl, entreating him to return, Sundog never touched popcorn again and never returned to the table to share.

The next dog was a purebred (for what reason Marshall does not explain) purchased as a companion for Sundog. Having spent her first year of life without stimulation in a crate, the dog is a mess and Thomas buys her out of pity. Sundog rejects her. Misty's difficulties teach Marshall a great deal about the importance of early learning and Misty's insecurities about keeping "place two" lead to behavioral difficulties with visitors (canine or human), incoming cats and, especially, incoming dogs.

The third dog, Pearl, came from Marshall's son in Colorado and furnishes much of the book's hilarity and color. Protective, kindly and dignified, she disarms aggressive Misty by respectfully ignoring her furious antics. Over a period of four months she trains Marshall to rise at 4:30 am. She barks at everything and on a trip to the city barks herself hoarse at the strange cars until forced to take refuge on the floor. Distracted by the barking, late for a book signing, Marshall parks on an unfamiliar street and dashes to the bookstore, asking directions on the way. Only afterwards does she realize she has no idea whatsoever where the car might be. Marshall's description of Pearl's quick grasp of the situation and her take-charge solution is second only to the story of Pearl's knocking her headlong down a flight of stairs which ends, "Who could resist such a dog?"

When Marshall uses radio collars to find out what the cats are hunting (one is hurrying each morning to harrass a housebound cat through a window), Pearl accompanies her. When a radio collar fails, Pearl somehow deduces the problem and leads Marshall to the unappreciative feline.

The fourth dog is the incontinent, cat-chasing, chicken-killing Ruby, rescued from the Humane Society. Since her behavior is primarily unbearable to the other animals, Rajah the alpha cat and Rima the macaw train her swiftly, with none of Marshall's inexhuastible patience.

But Marshall delivers more than a collection of fascinating, poignant, hilarious anecdotes (though there is the rabbit who hunts squirrels with its dog companion, the birds who scold the dogs and summon the cats in Marshall's voice). A thoughtful, meticulous observor, she shares compelling insights into animal behavior, the social workings of groups (her own menage breaks down into smaller, multi-species units), and common difficulties with training.

So who is this book for? Dog lovers, obviously. But even dog fascists (her term) will appreciate the scope and grace of Marshall's writing, her abundant personality and forceful, controversial opinions. While focused primarily on dog behavior, the book is a delightful memoir of a very large, multi-species family, complete with belly laughs and tears.

For me, Thomas taps into something very deep and important--something that's difficult to find words for. But I know that it has to do with a message that says it's okay to feel deep emotions about your animals, to talk to them and hear their answers, and to sense and acknowledge their deep feelings. Even though many of us have known and felt this intuitively, it is neither the message that our Judeo/Christian tradition nor our Linnean <I> scala natura</I> science of classification has wanted to deliver to us.

In the introduction she poses the questions: "Can we understand the mind of an animal? . . .[do] animals have consciousness?" and then proceeds to say that for some scientists . . . "the view that animals are incapable of conscious thought, or even of emotion, has acquired an aura of scientific correctness, and at the moment is the prevailing dogma, as if some very compelling evidence to the contrary was not a problem." This reader is happy to say that her own experiences with animals have certainly provided "compelling evidence to the contrary."

On a final note, THE SOCIAL LIVES OF DOGS, even though written around the lives of the canines concerned, reads a little bit like Thomas's personal memoir. She puts a lot into perspective in the excellent epilogue, which I found to be the real icing on the cake. Even as Thomas finds "grace" in canine company, so does she tell their story with much grace. This book is a wonderful read!