Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, October 1, 1995 TAG: 9509290109
SECTION: BOOKS PAGE: F-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
By Colin Vogel, B.V.M. Dorling Kindersley. $24.95.
The Encyclopedia of the Dog.
By Bruce Fogle, D.V.M. Dorling Kindersley. $39.95.
Two new large format books have been offered by British publisher Dorling Kindersley. I previously reviewed their "The Encyclopedia of the Horse" and these two volumes reflect the fine quality this publisher offers.
In "The Complete Horse Care Manual" veterinarian Colin Vogel offers the best single volume on horse care I have read. Illustrated by high quality photographs, the book covers the natural history of the horse, general care of the stabled and turned-out horse, proper feeding methods, proper tack and tacking methods and first aid requirements. Vogel even has an interesting discussion on proper shoeing. There have been two well-thumbed reference on horses on my bookshelves - "How to be your own Veterinarian" and "Horse Keeping on a Small Acreage." Now there are three.
In "The Encyclopedia of the Dog," veterinarian Bruce Fogle offers photographs and descriptions on more that 400(!) breeds of domestic dog. In a 55-page natural history section, Fogle traces the development and evolution of the dog, explores how dogs and humans entered a covenant of mutual benefit, gives the basic anatomy and physiology of the dog, and describes canine traits and how they are used in training. Then comes the meat of the book - photographs, histories, and descriptions of more breeds than I believed existed. Each description includes a key to describe how well the breed adapts to children, apartment living, climate extremes, training, and other dogs. The breeds are classified by type - gun dog, terriers, sight hounds, etc. It was in these classifications I found some editorial sloppiness. Under livestock dogs, a picture of a pumi was misidentified as a puli, a breed known more as a gun dog than a herder. This sloppiness was evident in the earlier reviewed "The Encyclopedia of the Horse" when a Clydesdale was misidentified as a Percheron. These errors which are trivial to the casual reader and apparent to the practiced should not prevent anyone interested in dogs from buying this extraordinary volume.
The Intelligence of Dogs.
By Stanley Coren. Bantam. $17.95 (trade paper).
This is a paperback re-publication of the book which pitted dog owners against dog owners in the eternal argument "My dog is smarter than your dog!" On pages 182-183 of this trade paper edition are the tables which place the border collie first and the Afghan hound last on a "Ranking of Dogs for Obedience and Working Intelligence."
Before these notorious pages Coren describes the natural history of dogs, and why they act as they do. He then offers an IQ test to check how intelligent you dog is. The whole book is destroyed by the arbitrary rankings of intelligence based on conformance to AKC obedience requirements. Dogs have been bred over millennia to do certain jobs man is too lazy, too scared, too slow, or too smart to do. In the last 100 years, the AKC has come on the scene with a new reason to breed dogs - to generate registration fees. By publishing confirmation standards for dog breeds, the AKC has propagated the big lie that pretty dogs are perfect dogs. What has happened is that dogs have been bred which can get lost at the end of a three-foot leash lacking any of the working traits which defined the breed.
Most interesting is the fact that the border collie whose breed registry is suing the AKC to prevent them from placing this working dog on the show bench places first in Coren's rankings while the happy idiot Afghan hound - bred for years to have a slim pointed head with no place left for brains wipes up the table with its beautiful leg feathers and tail. Forget these arbitrary ratings. A dog gives his owner absolute love because a dog never judges. Reciprocate.
Larry Shield trains dogs and horses in Franklin County.
by CNB