With Dogs at the Edge of Life Hardcover – December 8, 2015

I found this book to be remarkable--provoking, tender, and very insightful about the bonds that connect dogs and humans. It is part memoir, part deeply probing analysis of the world dogs inhabit--and the violence with which humans often intrude in it. It is a very moving book that opened for me new avenues of understanding what sustains the deep connection between dogs and their humans.

With Dogs at the Edge of Life by Colin Dayan is an uneven work, essentially by design. The three main topics, each treated separately, include a memoir about the dogs in her life, a discussion/argument about Pit Bulls (or the dogs referred to as Pit Bulls), and a discussion about stray dogs in various parts of the world. The writing itself was fine, perhaps best in the personal section.I was likely one of many readers who became conflicted reading her section on Pit Bulls. Her argument about the way the breed has been scapegoated by the legal system as well as society in general is both well-researched and clearly presented. When she turns her attention to dog fighting I went from agreement to a surprised sense of disappointment. I found her arguments for legalizing dog fighting to be every bit as well-researched yet seriously flawed in logic. She argues against municipalities killing indiscriminately any dog it believes is bred for fighting (as in the breed is bred for fighting as compared to a breeder breeding for fighting), then turns around and says we should allow dogs to do what they are bred for, thus allow dog fighting. The same arguments about danger and being bred to fight were also leveled at German Shepherds, Dobermans, Rottweilers and other breeds over the past 50 years or so, the common denominator not being the breeding history but the rise and fall in the popularity of each breed among those who like to make dogs mean, whether to compensate for their own shortcomings or for organized dog fighting. A particularly weak attempt at comparison is between cultural value of Spanish bullfighting and Japanese dog fighting. The strawman she sets up claims bullfighting is culturally valuable but dogfighting is not. However, most people who are comfortable with one is comfortable with the other and similarly those uncomfortable with one is uncomfortable with the other. While many of the facts she brings up are indeed important (class difference being a factor in what is acceptable or not, for example) they speak to the need to be more equitable in protecting against the abuse of animals across cultures rather than sinking to the lowest common denominator and advocating for cruelty toward animals.I think this book is valuable for getting a glimpse into several areas where dogs and humans intersect in contemporary societies. I have to admit to losing about 99% of the respect I had gained for the author during the first part of the book when I read what I clearly believe to be a very week argument that can only serve to encourage more animals to be tortured and abused for the enjoyment of deranged human beings. That respect never returned through the rest of the book in spite of the last part being both interesting and reasonable. Read it critically whether you agree or disagree with her. Decide for yourself the degree to which you find her arguments to be well-formed and logical. But remember that this intellectual gymnastics concerns itself with the lives, torture, abuse and deaths of sentient beings that feel many, if not all, of the basic emotions we do.Reviewed from an ARC made available by the publisher via NetGalley.

Colin Dayan is a beautiful writer. Dogs is a provocative and timely book. Anyone interested in our place in the hierarchy of creation should read this wonderful book. The way she describes interspecies and mammalian relationships through our very flesh will make you shiver!

This book is written at a very high level, which I can't decide if I enjoyed or found annoying. Maybe some of both. Also, she seems WAY more concerned about pit bulls living happy lives with their choke collars than she does about other breeds of dogs, and indeed human beings. I'm probably going to get trashed for this comment, but I feel like I have to say something. Pit bull lovers will love this book; victims of serious dog bite attacks will be re-traumatized by this book; everyone else may benefit from reading this book but should probably balance it out by reading other books about dogs, since Dayan's perspective is pretty extreme. She has some valuable things to say about ethics, just, not necessarily correct things. So yeah, read this but take it with a can of salt.

Good!

I found this book to be beautifully written and even poetic at times. Ms. Dayan's love for dogs is something that I could really relate to. Especially her love for a breed that is considered dangerous and even outlawed in some areas. The Staffordshire Terrier does get a bad rap, I agree with Ms. Dayan that the Pit Bull isn't a true Staffordshire Terrier yet it stems from the same foundation.This book opened my eyes up to some of the injustices that have been done to breeders who simply raise pit bulls. I don't know if I agree with some of the things that are pointed out in the book. I hated the way the police just assumed that this elderly man who had been raising these pit bulls his entire life, who I'm sure raised them to fight when it was legal in that state, but he wasn't doing it now. He was in his twilight years and to have his entire kennel exterminated no questions asked was beyond comprehension. The killed puppies that didn't even have their eyes open. Not the mention the fight to keep himself out of prison. On what basis did the Louisiana government have to do that to him, after all, these years? The answers to that question were ridiculous. He was poor, he was an elderly man of color who wasn't a bother to anyone.The Michael Vick's case still makes my blood boil, he had to have known about the activities done on his property and they didn't come in and kill all of his dogs, they even tried to rehabilitate some that had been in fights! I understand that it's because of who he was, he got a slap on the wrist and spent some time in a country club prison, then is back out on the football field.The book did get a bit dull when she went into how the legalities and the legal battles that some of the owners were going through just to keep their dogs. Some of the stories about how dogs have been treated since beginning to time were hard to read. Ms. Dayon points out some of the most interesting facts regarding dogs taken right out of some religious texts that left me dumbfounded. It's very interesting, she really opened my eyes to a lot of facts regarding the history of dogs.I'm really glad I read this book, I learned a lot about dogs in this book, She referred to some of the same ideology that my trainer uses. I've heard him say the same exact things. So when I look into the eyes of my Belgian Malinois which is a so-called scary breed I see that she's allowing me into her world. I agree with Ms. Dayan that having a powerful dog that allows you into their world is an exceptional feeling, one that you don't want to take for granted. It made me love my dog more if that was possible.If you are a dog lover or just love history as I do. You would enjoy reading this book, it's really was a true learning experience about humans and canines.I would like to thank Columbia University Press and NetGalley for providing me with an e-galley of this book for my honest review.

I read this for a class focused on the culture surrounding dogs. Most of us agreed that this was by far the best book we read for the class! Beautifully written.

Very disappointing. I hoped for something that would enlighten me about the peripheral edges between human perception and our social, legal and moral constructs... I was promised an introduction into that place where we can step back and examine what makes us human; what makes us first and foremost so violent and how we need to unpack our very human perceptions of what Law is. How do we institutionalize legal frameworks to continue punishing, killing exterminating both nature beast and man?Instead I got a rambling, narcissistic, unfathomable, personal memoir about ( yet again) "a punishing mommy and world-weary daddy" and how again and again, our author found comfort and solace in her "rescue" dogs.I know this writer is a brilliant academic...but really, who, in truth, is she writing for...?