gilda_elise

Canines and humans have depended upon one another for tens of thousands of years. Humans took the initial steps of domesticating canines, but somewhere through the millennia, dogs began dramatically to affect the future of their masters. In A Dog's History of the World, Laura Hobgood-Oster chronicles the canine-human story. From the earliest cave paintings depicting the primitive canine-human relationship to the modern model of dogs as family members, Hobgood-Oster reveals how the relationship has been marked by both love and exploitation.

Canines have aided and been heir to humankind's ever-increasing thirst for scientific advancements, empire building, and personal satisfaction. They have tested equipment for space exploration, fought beside us in war, and advanced countless industries. But Hobgood-Oster reminds us that, just as canines would not have flourished without humans, humans would not have flourished without canines.

They have been our healers, licking wounds and providing therapy to the sick and troubled for countless years. Weaving together archaeology, history, and literature, Laura Hobgood-Oster conclusively shows that humans would not be what they are without the presence and influence of canines, that the human-canine relationship has never been one sided, and that humanity's temptation to exploit canines is never far away.

This was both an easy and a hard book to read. Easy because it presents the information in an organized manner; each chapter covers a distinct part of the human/canine relationship.

But also hard, because much of that information doesn’t present humans in a very good light. Too often, dogs have gotten, and still get, the short end of the stick. We use them for so many things, many of which put them in danger. At the same time, too often we discard them as if they were little more than trash.

My only disagreement with the author’s information is when they hypothesize about how the dog became the dog. Or, more to the point, how wolves did. They describe the pack as having an alpha male and female, without making it clear that that pair is the mother and father of the rest of the pack; even the lowest of the pack is treated well. If a wolf is killed, it’s by a wolf from another pack. It’s hard to imagine that any wolf would leave its pack in order to be even lower on the totem pole with humans.