I would like to revise my original book review on this book.

This book is outstanding and I would highly recommend it for EVERY dog owner and POTENTIAL dog owner.

In addition to discussing the reasons why people choose pets, as well as discussing traits of pets themselves, the authors address other very important topics. Some of the topics discussed are: euthanasia; dog bites -- causes, statistics, solutions; strays -- how to identify them from wandering but owned dogs, and the health problems strays pose; dog packs -- how they operate and the dangers of packs. The authors included a table, The Urban Stray Dog, which is helpful in identifying the difference between an 'Owned Dog' and an 'Unowned Dog.' Also addressed are the diseases that dogs and pets can pass on to humans, their occurrence, and solutions to these disease threats. Not left out are issues such as dealing with people who have too many pets -- and how this type of multiple ownership causes problem for other urban dwellers; the traits of these multiple pet owners are also discussed. Dog laws are also discussed as are poop scoop laws.

The back of the book lists books and articles that the reader might find helpful under various topics discussed in the book; also listed are resource to be found on the internet on topics such as Pets in Therapy, Pet Information, Animal Behavior, Animal Care, Pet Loss, and Veterinary Education and Professional Services.

The book discussed other companion animals as well, but as a dog owner, I tended to focus my review on those issues relevant to me. I do not mean to bias you against the book by excluding mention of other companion animals addressed in the book. This book is probably one of the most comprehensive books I have read about companion animals and the issues surrounding them.

This book covers issues not dealt with in any other book I have read -- yet knowledge of these issues is necessary for being a responsible pet owner. No matter what your pet, you ought to give this book a read. It is a very easy and interesting read, the balance between active and passive voice tends to draw you into the context and makes it hard to put down. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

This book is a "must read" for those who consider their pet a close friend or family member.

The book is an easy read, and I found myself 3/4 of the way through it the first night. Not only is the topic interesting, but the writing skill is commendable -- it is written with a nice balance of active/passive voice.

It explained to me, in easy layman terms, the physiological benefits of pet companionship. It also explains why we psycologically find pet 'ownership' so satisfying.

Other books have explored this human-pet relationship through pictures -- "Guys and Dogs", "Woman's Best Friend", "New York Dogs" and they have done a fine job with the pictures.

The authors of "Between Pets and People" have now given us the words and facts to explain our feelings for our pets, And through the facts and explanations emerges a legitimacy for the pet-people relationship that didn't exist before. As you read the book you discover as much about yourself as you do about animal companionship.

This book belongs on your bookshelf!

A seminal work of Thomas' experience living with the Kalahari !Kung hunter-gatherers in the 1950s. This is an intimate, personal account of her experience plus a colorful look at quite possibly how all of our ancestors once lived, including how this culture has, since the '50s, basically been destroyed by civilization. A valuable lesson in 303 pages.

This is a simple account, yet honest and very entertaining. It describes a people almost totally uninfluenced by the advancements and vices of the outside world. The stories held my attention without fail. While classified as anthropology, it is not written in a scientific manner and is approachable for anyone looking to experience a wholly foreign culture.
The last chapter, which describes the people after thirty years, is discouraging, but gives some insight into our own ways of life. This is probably the best non-fiction "story" I have ever read.

A very comprehensive book; everything from dog behavior in the wild, to your pet's behavior, to how to take care and train your pet. I own 2 dogs and have obedience trained them and this book was correct on so many points that are so important to a successful pet/owner relationship. Wonderful photos and captions emphasize all the learning points. I especially liked the Dog Care section that showed basic health care for your dog. Overall a wonderful and broad range of topics that helped me understand my dogs even more.

Simply one of the most fascinating books I've ever read. Easily the best invocation of what life may well have been like for our hunting and gathering ancestors, and a stupendous illustration of of animistic modes of experience, and of the reciprocity between human beings and the living land. Brilliant insights into the sensorial worlds of other animals -- wolves, mammoths, and others -- as well as into mysteriously beautiful styles of thought and awareness still common among many indigenous, oral peoples. An anthropological and deeply ecological classic -- and yet its a novel! Its not for those who like their nature sentimental and sweet, but if you care about the wild otherness so rapidly dissappearing from our world, don't miss this astonishing book.

One thing, I thought the clan of the cavebear lacked, even though it was an excellent book, was the raw sensations of living in a primeval world.
This book does give you this impression, and it is a lasting one. In this book, you are cold, and hungry and lost in a world full of predators. The brutality of each day is brought out to it's fullest, the emptiness of the space around you. The winters are freezing, and the summers are brief and fleeting and bittersweet.
The relationships between the characters are for the most part, well done. The one between Yanan and her sister Meri was especially well done. In the beginning, Yanan looks at her as spoiled brat. Later on, in the journey home they bond rather well. The book demonstrates this to us and does not tell this to us.
Another thing worth mentioning is how well Elizabeth Marshall Thomas writes the various animals that inhabit the tundra. You can almost see the mammoth storming across the plains and the yellow gleam of a wolf's eyes. Yanan, after she becomes a spirit, (she introduces herself as one in the beginning of the story) takes the form of various animals and their habits are well described and thought out.
This is a story about death, but also about life, and what hasn't really changed after billions of years.

Simply one of the most fascinating books I've ever read. Easily the best invocation of what life may well have been like for our hunting and gathering ancestors, and a stupendous illustration of animistic modes of experience, and of the reciprocity between human beings and the living land. Brilliant insights into the sensorial worlds of other animals -- wolves, mammoths, and others -- as well as into mysteriously beautiful styles of thought and awareness still common among many indigenous, oral peoples. An anthropological and deeply ecological classic -- and yet its a novel! Its not forthose who like their nature sentimental and sweet, but if you care about the wild otherness so rapidly dissappearing from our world, don't miss this astonishing book.

This book gives an excellent overview about cat behaviour and care. It is very direct and not complicated. However I did not give 5 stars because I wish they would have detailed more about feline diseases such as FIV and leukemia. For those who already have cats (like me) the book makes clear certain attitudes that we all know such as lots of sleeping, hissing, feline intelligence, the way they show their love and so on.

On the other side, if you plan to get a cat/kitten from your shelter or any other place have this book first, it has an excellent section on how to choose the right cat. And also a good section why you should not declaw your cat and all the care you will have with your feline companion.

After owning my first cat, I decided to read about cats. I found "Wild Discovery Guide to your Cat" very helpful in understanding more about my cat. I discovered why my cat behaves the way he behaves and how to treat him if he becomes sick. This book made me understand my cat a lot better and to be able to make a better home for him. The book ranged from topics on the different types of cats to how to help a cat adjust to a new home. I especially enjoyed the sections on what to do when a cat is sick or injured, particularly what signs to look for in a sick cat. Of course, the pictures of the various cats were great and helpful in understanding various situations with cats. Overall, I was very impressed with the book. I plan on purchasing the book for friends who are cat lovers.

Who could be better qualified to write about the hearts, minds and souls of dogs than Elizabeth Marshall Thomas? Not only is she the celebrated anthropologist who was the first to chronicle the lives of the Bushmen; not only has she studied and published scientific and popular articles on animals from African elephants to Arctic wolves; but she quite literally grew up among dogs. As we learn in the first captivating sentences of this splendid, surprising book, one of her most attentive caretakers as a child was a Newfoundland dog, whose job, as the dog saw it, was to keep the helpless human child from drowning in the sea while the dog's group, her family, lived at the beach. The dog was actually her nanny, writes Thomas--the sort of insight that at once makes perfect sense and yet takes one's breath away, and the sort of insight that characterizes this book. The Social Lives of Dogs is as wide-ranging and as deep as Thomas' best-selling The Hidden Life of Dogs. That book asked the simple and profound question: What do dogs want? The answer: other dogs. But the social grace of dogs is such that they are capable of forming deep, lasting, complex and highly individualized relationships with many species other than their own (including birds, who are, as Thomas points out, more closely related to dinosaurs than to dogs), and this is the fertile ground explored in this riveting new book. In it, we meet a great new cast of characters: brave, stoic, soldierly Sundog, a former stray; Misty, a victim of AKC breeding who grew up in a crate and didn't understand grass; curly-tailed Pearl, who made an art of barking. The Thomas household is, as she writes, a "churning cauldron" of (at its high point) five dogs, a dozen cats, five parrots and a varying number of people. There's a dog-chasing cat named Rajah and a cat-biting cockatoo named Carmen. These animals don't always behave in the ways we think they "should"--they are far too creative, inventive and individual. And that's the delight of their keenly-observed stories--stories which collectively form a rich biography of their relationships with one another. Although The Hidden Life of Dogs was highly praised by some of the world's top animal behaviorists, including George Schaller, in some circles the book was controversial, as The Social Lives of Dogs will surely be. A few scientists still consider the mere suggestion that animals think is "anthropomorphic." But for the rest of us, who know that non-human as well as human animals may enjoy rich inner lives, this book offers profound evidence that our closest animal friends still surprise us--and have much to teach us about social graces.

For those who are already fans of Elizabeth Marshall Thomas and her fine anthropologist's approach to studying animal culture, THE SOCIAL LIVES OF DOGS may be the finest jewel in her crown of works. This book chronicles an approximate fifteen-year study which included, in the order that they came to live in the Thomas household, Sundog, Misty, Pearl, Ruby, and Sheilah--dogs of varying breeds and mixes. Thomas tells, in her own beautiful and compassionate way, the story of each dog's incorporation into the lives of the other dogs, people, cats, and birds in her home. She succeeds beautifully in her sincere effort always to explain her animal observations and then to try to understand and interpret from the animal's point of view. What more could one ask of an anthropologist/ethologist?

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 scala natura 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!

This is an excellent book about dogs, readable even by those who do not like them. Elizabeth Maxwell Thomas writes fascinating stories about daily life with her pets, anecdotes both humorous and sad. As I read about her wonderful dogs--the incredibly intelligent Sundog, sweet Pearl, confused Misty, and goofy Ruby--I found myself looking at my dog, wondering why she wasn't nearly as interesting as Thomas's. (If I had to choose a favorite dog from the book, the human-like Sundog would be my choice.) There are also scientific bits about how wolves gradually became domesticated and why, dogs of Third World nations, and so on. This is a great book, one that everyone should read.

"Certain Poor Shepherds" was given to me as a Christmas gift by a friend several years ago. I treasure this boook and have gone back and read it several times over. I have also purchased it several times over as a Christmas gift to friends. It is a moving tale from the animals' point of view and although I consider this a story for adults and teens, it definitely requires a reader who has a love for animals and for fiction that taps into one's imagination.

This book is a little treasure and one of my favorites. It's the story of the night of Christ's birth as perceived by the animals. It is told with great sensitivity by reknowned animal lover Elizabeth Marshall Thomas and as such it is filled with eye-opening empathy and poignant beauty. It has an interesting take on angels as seen by animals, showing them to be very non-human and free of human stereotypes. Perhaps our perceptions of ourselves do color our perceptions of angels as well. It taught me a lot about the way animals might perceive the strange, crude doings of humans and helped me view my relationships with animals with more thoughtfulness. In that sense alone, it is a worthy addition to any library and especially to a holiday collection. I love this book very much. The hard cover is out of print but is pleasingly compact and makes a wonderful heirloom that is worth searching for. This paperback edition is nicely affordable and will make a perfect gift for anyone who loves and lives with animals.

This is one of the most wonderful stories I have ever read. I read it every year. It brings back the true meaning of Christmas.

It is sad, but very beautiful. My husband gave it to me on Christmas Eve when it was first published, which also makes the book very special. I have a dog named Sabrina, which reminds me of Lila.

Average Clan of the Cave Bear clone with the usual hunting action and incidental paleontology education.

This is a well written and entertaining book (though perhaps not as interesting as the author's other prehistoric novel, Reindeer Moon. It's quite different from some other more popular novels set in early human history, in part because Elizabeth Marshall Thomas is better able than other authors to get inside the heads of people very different from ourselves. It's not great literature, but it is certainly an interesting, engaging book.

These two books could have been one book really, they are very much alike. Instead of the girl Yanan telling her story we have the boy Kori, son of the shaman Swift from "Reindeer". A good summer read, well worth it.

I generally liked her other book, the Social Lives of Dogs, and in fact read it twice over the course of the previous year. I felt as though I learned a lot about canine behavior and their social organization. This book however was a terrible disappointment for me. I checked it out of the library after giving one as a gift to a friend, only to find that there was very little written about house cats (my primary interest), and all the talk of big cats and anecdotes from the author's many years in Africa seemed indulgent and not even terribly insightful for those interested in these topics.

I'd urge you to look for a copy in your local library or bookstore and scan through it before commitment to the cover price.

This book is filled with very interesting information on our feline friends. It starts from the prehestoric age and moves on to the modern day cats. It provides a lot of info on the big, domestic felines as well as their big wild cousins.

But apart from a very detailed and documented journey into the feline world, this book is filled with anectodes that will make you laugh, will make you sad and will make you think.

And one thing is certain: After having read this book, you'll never look the same way at your cat.

This is a book that anyone interested in natural history and/or animal behavior ought to read. The author has an almost poetic command of the English language combined with a thorough understanding of the methodologies of the social and natural sciences. Her (radical?) contention that animals, particularly cats, have culture - a series of learned and transmissible behaviors - is demonstrated to the point where it should at least be taken seriously by the scientific community, and perhaps to the point of being as proven as possible outside the established boundaries of scientific methodology. Her observations of the interactions of the Serengeti populations over time, both lions and people, have certainly convinced me that animals have culture. And at the same time they've broken my heart just a little bit more at what we humans are doing to one another and to the other species that share this world.

I have read this book at least four times, cover to cover, and smiled and wept a little and been further enlightened during each read. I've bought it as a gift for several friends and have two or three copies of my own at home. A reviewer said of this work: "Wonderful book. Formidable woman.", and that pretty well sums it up - her voice is quiet, but I believe you will find it resonating with you for a very long time indeed.

In its own small way, "The Tribe of Tiger" is every bit as much of a classic as "Origin of the Species" or "Silent Spring" (or "Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats"!).

When "My Dog Tulip" was first published in 1956, it elicited both praise and derision from England's literati. Ackerley's colleague E. M. Forster hailed the book; Edith Sitwell declared it "filth." The most balanced and reasonable reading may have been from the novelist Julia Strachey, who noted in a private letter, "though entirely about dogs, [it] is a veritable little marvel of brilliance and shockingness. I don't know when I read anything so indecent, disgusting, touching, beautiful, and stylish." In spite of the critical attention, however, the book sold abysmally: two years later, half the first printing was still in storage, and no American publisher would touch it for nearly a decade. (Most of these details are culled from Peter Parker's excellent biography of Ackerley.)

Although many people consider it a classic (and I too found it moving and extraordinarily witty), "Tulip" has only recently found an audience. The reticence and revulsion that even today greets this little book is usually in three forms. First, Ackerley wrote neither a cute book for dog lovers nor a user's manual; most of the book describes the sex life (real and frustrated) and excretory functions of his dog (whose real name was Queenie). Like Ackerley's other books, this one is intended to shock and occasionally disgust, and Ackerley seems positively obsessed with Tulip's libidinous needs and toiletry habits--so much so that his British publisher submitted it for legal review before printing it. Second, many of today's animal lovers are upset by a scene in which Ackerley considers killing some of Tulip's offspring. Never mind that he ultimately doesn't have the heart to do it: this practice was all too common fifty years ago, when neutering was not widely available. And, third--and perhaps most seriously--Ackerley certainly comes across as a curmudgeon (if not a downright creep), and his scorn of the "working classes" is harsh on egalitarian ears.

But this book ultimately won me over. From the descriptions of Tulip's inopportune venues for defecation to Ackerley's hysterical attempts to find the proper mate for his beloved Alsatian, the humor, warmth, and playfulness of "My Dog Tulip" should appeal to most readers and especially to dog owners.

Ackerly is a Brit through and through, and what I loved most about this book was the contrast between his ever-so-proper British prose and it concomitant stiff-upper-lip attitude and the explicit biological facts of living with (and breeding) an animal. Loved it!

So much more than a book about a man and his dog--I laughed, I cried. I laughed more than I cried as the author's way with words grew on me. Several months ago I heard about this book and author for the first time. The book was out of print and I could not find a copy online. I stumbled upon this new edition while browsing online and am so glad that I "waited" for this new version. The book is very attractive and unusual and I enjoyed the introduction which is new too. I'm now reading another book in this same new collection about the author's life--My Father and Myself--it puts My Dog Tulip into a new perspective and I may have to re-read it and if I do, I think I might cry more than I laugh this time around. Although when I looked again at the cover I had a private laugh. I'd recommend this book to almost anyone of any age. Parental guidance perhaps for My Father and Myself.