Dogs Never Lie about Love
By Jeffrey Masson.
This book was personally responsible for me getting a dog and that's really saying something! Not that I've been unkind to dogs in any way previously but I had fostered an unconscious attitude to them, like many people who had previously only classified themselves as a "cat" people. Having read Masson's book about the emotional life of dogs changed all of that though. I started noticing dogs in the park and it changed my attitude towards them and forced me to look at them in a new light -- and what remarkable, giving creatures they are too. Their joie de vivre for living and sheer ebullience could show a human a thing or two on how to live. Masson recalls, even getting this work published caused him trouble from scientists and vivisectors alike who among other vicious retorts hurled his way included that old accusation of "anthropomorphism" when all else fails. I have often wondered why the thought processes of Descartes (philosopher and vivisectors friend) who is quoted as saying that animals are only automatons, can be relevant and prevalent today but sadly there are many people who have allowed themselves to be persuaded by Descartes' opinion over the centuries for whatever reasons.
But we in the Animal Liberation movement have a friend in Jeffrey Masson. Masson's logic in dealing with the emotional life of all animals, not just dogs, is formidable as well. His knowledge is based empirically upon observation and rests upon the premise that there is no royal road leading us directly to the inner feelings of other humans so why should there be one for dogs? We can try to imagine what we would feel if in anothers' shoes, we can watch the expression of their eyes, and notice the movements they make in their body and he concludes rightly, in my opinion, that what we come up with is no more flawed in the case of a dog than it is with another human being.
This book is written with a warm heart and is generous in its appraisal of dogs and their loving natures. This is not a book about animal intelligence, which is a pointless activity to Masson. To measure the intelligence of one species against another is repellent and furthermore, demeaning to them (and us).
He leaves us with some unanswered questions that you might care to ponder. For example why does a dog wag its tail? What is it in the dog that makes it want to be close to their guardian all of the time? Such unswerving loyalty even after a dog has been mistreated and abused - why is that?
I put it to you that Jeffrey Masson went in search of a dog's soul and you know what? He found it. Compassion is the essence of a dog's life and Masson puts forward a convincing argument as to why. Read it and find out. It'll move you to tears.
Footnote: Also by Jeffrey Masson and Susan McCarthy is the book "When Elephants Weep" about the emotional life of wildlife. Price 19.95.
These books draw together for the first time a vast range of case histories which show the extra-ordinary world of animals and the emotions that govern them.
Jeffrey is currently working on a book about the emotional life of farm animals. Look out for that one.
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