I liked that Dr Clive Wynne was not hesitant to describe and denote the scepticism that exists, and that he himself first felt, as the work he embarked was part of one that would and does challenge some established and popular theories about pure behaviour essentialism, cognitive specialism and his own initial reluctance to scientifically accept the strength of dogs' capacity to bond. Reading the evolution of Wynne's own ideas as research progressed added richness and dimension to the text.

Canine science has enjoyed a resurgence in the past two decades, much of it extolling dogs' smarts.There's just something about dogs that makes you feel good. You come home, they're thrilled to see you. They're good for the ego." – Janet Schnellman Another study showed that dogs’ brain activity went through the roof when they listened to happy sounds, like praise. The same study also showed many similarities between the way both humans and dogs process sounds.

And indeed my own dog wasn’t a puppy when we got her. She was already 14 months old when she became part of our family. And yet if you were to come and visit now, you would never for a moment guess that she hadn’t always been with me. It’s very obvious how much she cares about me and my wife and my son. So dogs can much more easily move into new relationships, which is a great thing because otherwise what would we do with adult dogs who’ve lost their original human family? It would really be a problem. It would be difficult to go to an animal shelter and adopt a dog that’s already an adult, if it were the case that dogs grieve like people do and take years to recover from losing beloved family members. I certainly didn’t mean to suggest that dogs get tired of the people they live with and love, no. All I’m saying is that I think if a dog is forced to move on to a new human being that they can more readily do that than we would expect to see in our own species. Clive: It’s one of the lines of research that really show us the affectionate bond between people and their dog. I think of it in my own mind as how the heartbeat becomes synchronized, how they’re just so attuned with each other. Their whole biological systems are just attuning with each other. Now that we’re talking about it I wonder why nobody’s actually done an experiment combining those things. I think of it as connected to the research out of Japan where they look at the hormone oxytocin. People call oxytocin the love hormone because it spikes when two individuals are together and looking into each other’s eyes, individuals who have a very strong emotional connection, like mothers and infants or newly-enamoured couples; not old married couples but newly-enamoured couples. When they look into each other’s eyes you see these spikes in the levels of oxytocin, on both sides – the dog and the person. So the heart rate and the heart beat synchronization and the oxytocin studies are very similar lines of research. They point us very much in the same direction. They show us how, at a quite deep biological level, people and their dogs show this biological connection to each other.Clive: What I meant there was that if fate forces you to be separated from your dog for whatever reason, then I think that the dog will recover from that in time. That’s what I was getting at there. I don’t think that dogs as they get older lose the capacity for affection or lose affection for the people they love. But a new book argues that, when it comes to dogs, the word is necessary to understanding what has made the relationship between humans and our best friends one of the most significant interspecies partnerships in history. Chapter Two: What Makes Dogs Special? This is a chapter about how dogs came to be the way they are, and details some cognition experiments people have done with dogs. The author goes into more detail into his wolf enclosure adventure, and talks about some of the difference between dogs and wolves, especially with regard to tameness and their interest in humans. I really enjoyed this chapter, and it spurred me on to watch some absolutely adorable wolf videos on YouTube. Jamie Richardson, a veterinarian and medical chief of staff at Small Door Veterinary, says that merely hearing your name will be enough to get some dogs excited. "Over time, dogs learn to recognize human names. If they hear a loved one's name mentioned who isn't present, they'll get excited at the thought that they might appear," said Richardson. 3. They follow you around

The love of a dog is a pure thing. He gives you a trust which is total. You must not betray it." – Michel Houellebecq, French author

Sociality genes are associated with human-directed social behaviour in golden and Labrador retriever dogs. PeerJ, 6 (2018): e5889 Like many other much-loved humans, they believed that they owned their dogs, instead of realizing that their dogs owned them." – Dodie Smith, author of The Hundred and One Dalmatians Wynne is an advocate for the trash heap theory, which holds that the precursors to ancient dogs congregated around human dumping grounds, slowly ingratiating themselves with people before the enduring partnership we know today was established through joint hunting expeditions. Bridgett M. vonHoldt1,*,†, Emily Shuldiner1,2,*, Ilana Janowitz Koch1, Rebecca Y. Kartzinel1, Andrew Hogan3, Lauren Brubaker4,

Did you know that there are over 300 words for love in canine?" – Gabriel Zevin, author of Margarretown Know that a dog's breed is not a completely accurate predictor for personality—each dog is unique, so take the time to get to know the dog before you make assumptions. The poor dog, in life the firmest friend. The first to welcome, foremost to defend." – Lord Byron, poet of Epitaph to a Dog My idea of absolute happiness is to be in bed on a rainy day with my blankie, my cat, and my dog." – Anne Lamott, American novelist and political activist Dogs' lives are short, too short, but you know that going in. You know the pain is coming, you're going to lose a dog, and there's going to be great anguish, so you live fully in the moment with her, never fail to share her joy or delight in her innocence, because you can't support the illusion that a dog can be your lifelong companion. There's such beauty in the hard honesty of that, in accepting and giving love while always aware that it comes with an unbearable price." – Dean Koontz, author of False MemoryThis is one of the best books I've read on dogs. The title sounds "touchy-feely", pretty anthropomorphic, traits I avoid in dog books. I'm interested in dogs for what they are, not as furry humans. They are unique, unlike other creatures in the ways they relate to our species. The human/dog bond is like no other. It is the nature of this relationship that Clive Wynne explores in this book, written for the general public but based on the latest scientific research on dogs and their relationships to other species, including our own. There are times when even the best manager is like the little boy with the big dog—waiting to see where the dog wants to go so he can take him there." – Lee Iacocca, former president and CEO of Chrysler You’re only second place when there’s food involved. A pup that loves you will prioritize you above all—except a big bowl of food. That’s the only time they’ll be totally and completely smitten with something else. What Science Says About Puppy Love I liked its exploration of dogs around the world as they live within different human and canine interrelationship structures, from Moscow, Ethiopia's and India's stray dogs, to the hunting dogs of the Mayangnan people and how findings on canine evolutionary and behavioural patterns could be seen here - at the same Wynne empathically and strongly highlights the duty of care we have and how and where we fall down.