What Is a Dog?

I'm really glad I found and read this book. Great biology and behavioral ecology. It is a bit heart breaking to learn what happens to 96% of the unrestricted adolescent dogs in the world.They did an excellent job of highlighting the differences of the different animals in the genus "Canis". I found it amazing that the wolves and jackals stay with their offspring until they are fully mature vs the dog who abandons them after 70 days and are left to fend for themselves forcing them to adopt as a survival strategy. It left me with the question about the consequences of interbreeding among the different subspecies; the Etheopean wolf for example. If conservationists are not successful in stoping dog genetics from creeping into the wolf genes, will that ultimately impact the pup raising behaviors of the Ethiopean Wolf and make them more dog like? That would not be good for that subspecies I gather from reading this book.This book leaves me wit more questions unanswered and wanting to learn more. The Coppingers are definitely world class experts and have contributed much to our understanding of the our beloved dogs.This is not an emotional feel good book about dogs. It is based on years of research, observation, and practical experience with canines. If you want to learn the science this is worth the time and investment. If you are looking for a happily ever after Lassie Come Home story, you might want to pass. This book is based on careful fact gathering nothing more, nothing less.A million thanks to the Coppingers for sharing their expertise with a wider audience. It has sparked many conversations at home. And I really do understand wolves differently now and can look at that issue with new eyes.

We are indebted to researchers. If the scientific community waited for me to do the work this book tells of, intelligence would be set back to, we would be headed for existence like troglodytes. I love our dogs.

This was an excellent, insightful book that I found very interesting as a dog owner. The Coppingers' thesis is that dogs are basically parasites on humans. To support this thesis, they draw on evidence from dogs' reproductive biology and nurturing behavior, as well as from field studies of village dogs.However, after reading this book I had no way of knowing whether this point of view is widely accepted, or whether it is supported by other evidence from fields such as molecular biology and archaeology. For example, collagen from paleolithic canids has been analyzed and used as evidence that they ate different foods than their human contemporaries. This is the sort of evidence that the Coppingers simply fail to discuss.

For those who truly love, appreciate and are amazed by dogs this book is a must read. The book describes reality as it pertains to dogs in a biological, evolutionary sense. In true Coppinger form it is unapologetic and unsentimental which is what is so refreshing. When most 1st world country citizens think of dogs they think of dog breeds and how those breeds make them feel (loyalty, bravery, unconditional love...etc). We are raised in a modern culture with talking cartoon dogs, movies and stories of dogs that evoke strong emotion, but how your dog makes you feel is not what "dogs" are. What this book points out so well is that the natural dog is not a dog breed. They are a dog and are beautifully designed by nature. If you ever wished you could sit down with someone who has traveled around the world and studied "real" natural dogs in their natural environment you will find this book useful. It seems other researchers are more focused on intellectually interesting but practically useless information like: Dogs evolved from the Gray Wolf. Or no, now its the European Wolf? Or wait this just in dogs evolved from the Alsatian jackel coyfox! Now we can all enjoy dogs so much more.

I greatly enjoyed "Dogs" years ago and re-read it recently. I was delighted to see this new book recently released and ordered it right away. Their earlier book taught me a lot about dogs as distinct creatures from wolves with unique behaviors. This new book really nails down what it means to be a dog, meaning what biological niche it is that dogs occupy.From a Mexico City dump to African villages to American living rooms, the Coppingers show example after example of how distinguishing reproductive traits, behavioral traits (e.g., the ability to eat in front of humans), and physical shape have led to the outstanding success of dogs among the canids. It also works to dismantle the hubristic notion that humans somehow seized dogs out of nature and made them into dogs. The book makes the case that for most of the world's dogs, their brand of symbiosis with humans is commensalism, not mutualism. The authors also argue powerfully that the typical dog is not the reproductively controlled, physically confined dog, that "strays" and "feral dogs" are really the overwhelming norm throughout most of the world. I feel like I understand dogs much better after having read this book.This is really an incredible book, well worth the reader's time and money.

Excellent!

It is much more like a science textbook going in depth on how populations, niches, and species work. The author’s main arguments are that dogs domesticated themselves, wolves, jackals, dogs, coyotes are all the same just adapted to different niches, the idea that breeds were developed for certain functions is a fallacy, dogs actually serve no real purpose for humans, and that keeping them as pets/companions is really dull and awful for dogs when they could be living in villages doing what they want and breeding all the time. I think it was his last point that really made this book more “eh” . But I guess when you believe that an animal’s only purpose for living is to pass on its DNA, I can see why the author would think pet dogs are pointless. However, I believe there are many things science can’t explain or account for and maybe man’s relationship with dogs is one of them.

Excellent book for animal lovers

After adopting a Street dog nearly two years ago, or to be precise, European Village Dog, I started to wonder what breeds where in him and what made him him. So when I came across this book in an article and wanted to know more. What also made me buy it was hearing 3/4 of the worlds dogs are fending for themselves.The more I read the more I realised westerners are so geared up to ‘what breed do you have’ and ‘most dogs live as pets’ that it’s light bulb moment, that most dogs aren’t . I was asking what was breed was in my dog, when actually he is a race of dog naturally selected. It’s not a sentimental book and talks matter of fact about the hardships that adolescent street dogs face, ie 96% don’t make it.It was also an eye opener as a raw feeder and hearing it preached ‘it’s what wild dogs ate’ well now I’ll be asking those people what is a wild dog? Dogs can eat most things they scavenge raw, cooked or poop! They will not fight over low value garbage but will over high value like raw meat. I’m still feeding raw but will not be preaching it’s what dogs in the wild would eat. Dogs are not wolves they have different breeding ecology and niches

I loved this booked, because it gave me a totally different perspective of "man's best friend". We tend to believe that pure breeds are the "real" dogs, when actually they are in many respects simply inbred abominations with all manner of associated diseases and other problems.

The book gives a much broader view of dogs in general, historically, genetically, behaviorally and environmentally. Very enjoyable and highly recommended.

A great book for anyone wanting to delve more into dogs