The Word of Dog: What Our Canine Companions Can Teach Us About Living a Good Life [Hardcover]

Dogs, Mr. Rowlands arguesby way of several deeply moving and lyrically written accounts of his own dogs, especially his German Shepherd, Shadowhave access to a kind of joy and immediacy we humans do not . . . An engagingly written primer to some of the major questions of the discipline, deftly avoiding impenetrable jargon and simplistic reductions. A charming confirmation of my heretofore inchoate suspicion that Kafka is infinitely better than I am. . . . Indeed, dogs are often better moral agents than we are. As Rowlands points out, they never make resolutions that they fail to keep; they never ask why they are running after squirrels or realize, to their chagrin, that there is no definitive reason to prefer hunting to herding or Frisbee. They are never paralyzed by indecision, despair or existential malaise. When they see their cherished humans in danger or they perceive a squirrel scurrying by, they act without a moments hesitation. . . . [A]n entertaining and affectionate exploration of dogs and their distinctive mode of being. Rowlands... offers not so much revelations of the inner workings of our faithful companions, but a philosophical message on how we can live a more fulfilling life inspired by the unselfish joy dogs experienceeven in repetitive tasks such as chasing a ball. In his new book, Mark Rowlands argues the case that a dogs capacity for joy, for meaning, for wholesale commitment to being, far exceeds that of humans. A professor of philosophy and a serial dog owner, Rowlands has written a profound and funny examination of what it means to be fulfilled, both for canines and humans. By the end, you will envy your dogs every waking moment&You dont need to be a dog loveror even a dog ownerto enjoy this book, but it helps. That way, when youre standing in the garden at five oclock in the morning, watching a tiny dog bark at a broom instead of attending to its toilet, you can think: well, at least one of us is happy. The message from this gl3¨