A First Guide to Dogs

Starred review from June 23, 2023

Gr 2-4-This charming piece of expository literature from a dog expert and animal welfare scientist shares fascinating canine facts inside a sweet story of a fictional rescue dog named Rusty. Adopted by a light-skinned family of four, Rusty experiences a loving home life for the first time, enjoying walks to the park, a cozy bed, and affectionate care and playtime with his owners. Along the way, Bradshaw explains how dogs experience the world through their senses, primarily the sense of smell. Readers will be fascinated to learn how the inner workings of a dog's snout function, their millions of turbinates allowing them to detect smells that are days old and even determine the direction the animal they're sniffing out was traveling! Bradshaw also explains how dogs use their body language to communicate and how little of our language they understand, especially how our angry tones can be confusing for them. With sweet cartoon illustrations throughout, this sweet book helps narrative readers understand exactly how to build a strong relationship with their fluffy friend. VERDICT A paws-itively perfect pick for all early elementary collections.-Abby Bussen

Copyright 2023 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from April 15, 2023
How dogs think, feel, and make sense of their world. Introducing himself as a biologist who specializes in pet research, Bradshaw offers a dog's-eye--or, far more precisely, dog's-nose--view of human behavior by following fictive terrier Rusty Barker, a former shelter dog, through a cozy set of daily routines with a loving and sensitive family. As monochrome scenes and vignettes appear on nearly every page, Bradshaw explains how a dog's more than 800 supercharged olfactory detectors work together, trumping sight to help this lively pooch track and identify beloved humans, potential food, and other creatures both around the house and in the outside world. The author also focuses on how dogs communicate with both humans and other dogs, how they interpret body language and other cues, and how their memory differs in several respects from human memory. His overall message--even if most dogs are eager to please (and no matter how intelligent they are), they don't really think like us--comes through clearly and makes a solid foundation for a healthy relationship between pets and their two-legged companions. Bradshaw has a gift for making complex science accessible and absorbing, and his narrative is peppered with humor. Elsom expands her winningly expressive canine cast to include multiple breeds; Rusty's human family is light-skinned, though some dark-skinned dog owners are included, too. Perceptive and engaging--essential reading for anyone seeking greater understanding of their four-legged best friends. (interview with the author) (Nonfiction. 7-9)

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