Celebrating the bond between man and dog

Dogs Make Us Human By Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson and Art Wolfe (Bloomsbury, RRP $50) Reviewed by Jillian Allison-aitken Dog have been getting some bad press lately, with a few wayward canines making headlines for all the wrong reasons.

However, as the author of this beautiful book points out, the companionship of a dog is the oldest of all human/non-human bonds.

I grew up in a home full of kids and pets and the first pet I really remember is Tinker, our old dog who was part german shepherd, part cavalier King Charles spaniel and (according to legend) was the grandson of a prize-winning kingese show dog.

In other words, he was a streetcorner special and very much a part of the family.

I still remember when he died, (well into his teenage years in human time, so positively geriatric in dog years) one of my brothers quite rightly pointed out to me that Tinker had been in the family longer than I had.

Art Wolfe began photographing people with their dogs in 1984, during his first visit to Tibet.

Since then, he has continued to travel the world as a wildlife photographer and in those travels he was struck by how the bond be-

pe- tween human and dog is global.

This book looks at that bond around the world, with beautiful photographs that will bring a smile to your face and show the pure joy that comes from caring about another creature.

Oh, and there are even some cats, goats and donkey or two chucked in for good measure.