Wonderdog: How The Science Of Dogs Changed The Science Of Life

Jules Howard Bloomsbury Sigma £17.99 ★★★★★

During lockdown, searches for ‘puppies for sale’ doubled, but even before the pandemic, dog ownership was rocketing. Since 2000 in the US and the UK there’s been a 20 per cent rise in the number of pet dogs.

Millions are now wondering, what do dogs really think of us? What do they understand of the world? Do they really reciprocate the love we feel for them?

In Wonderdog, science writer Jules Howard explores how for centuries scientists have studied dogs – at first with the aim of helping humanity, later simply to understand the minds of these creatures who, despite being dangerous predators in the wild, are unique in the animal kingdom in bonding fiercely with their humans.

Through studying dogs, Ivan Pavlov discovered the Pavlovian response, where animals and humans are conditioned instinctively to react to something. But his experiments on canine digestive tracts were horrifyingly cruel.

Further work by Pavlov’s disciples was instrumental in sparking the antivivisection movement. From then, research became more humane and our insights into dogs grew incrementally. Like the Andrex puppy, Howard’s prose scampers off in all directions, sometimes making for a somewhat confusing read with several subjects tackled at once.

But many gems are there – such as the explanation as to why the ‘alpha dog’ theory favoured by ‘dog whisperer’

Cesar Millan, which posited that dogs were merely watered-down wolves who needed to be shown who was boss, was temporarily all the rage. Research now shows the gulf between the two species is far wider than first thought and it’s better to ‘reinforce’ good behaviour with treats. With enormous patience and love, scientists have recently trained dogs willingly to enter MRI scanners, revealing their brains lighting up at the sight of their owner. Other studies show how, after a cuddling session, both dogs and owners see a spike of 130 per cent in the oxytocin ‘love hormone’ in their urine. Proof positive that our dogs really do love us as much as we love them.