How Dogs Love Us

A Neuroscientist and His Adopted Dog Decode the Canine Brain

De: Gregory Berns

Narrado por: LJ Ganser

The powerful bond between humans and dogs is one that’s uniquely cherished. Loyal, obedient, and affectionate, they are truly “man’s best friend.” But do dogs love us the way we love them? Emory University neuroscientist Gregory Berns had spent decades using MRI imaging technology to study how the human brain works, but a different question still nagged at him: What is my dog thinking?

After his family adopted Callie, a shy, skinny terrier mix, Berns decided that there was only one way to answer that question - use an MRI machine to scan the dog’s brain. His colleagues dismissed the idea. Everyone knew that dogs needed to be restrained or sedated for MRI scans. But if the military could train dogs to operate calmly in some of the most challenging environments, surely there must be a way to train dogs to sit in an MRI scanner.

With this radical conviction, Berns and his dog would embark on a remarkable journey and be the first to glimpse the inner workings of the canine brain. Painstakingly, the two worked together to overcome the many technical, legal, and behavioral hurdles. Berns’s research offers surprising results on how dogs empathize with human emotions, how they love us, and why dogs and humans share one of the most remarkable friendships in the animal kingdom.

How Dogs Love Us answers the age-old question of dog lovers everywhere and offers profound new evidence that dogs should be treated as we would treat our best human friends: with love, respect, and appreciation for their social and emotional intelligence.

An Audible for Dogs Pick: Make your dog's day. Cesar Millan shares how audiobooks can make dogs happier and calmer. Learn more.©2013 2013 by (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

Reseñas de la Crítica

“This book’s abundant appeal and value come from following Berns through the challenges of constructing the experiment and especially of training his dog to participate. ‘Like a catcher and pitcher,’ he writes, he and his dog ‘became a team.’ The satisfaction of that relationship perhaps explains why our two species have lived together so long and happily.” ( The Boston Globe)

"A neuroscientist wonders what goes on in the minds of our pet dogs: Do we delude ourselves when we believe that they love us? [ How Dogs Love Us is] a solid introduction to an appealing new area of research." ( Kirkus)

"The book is as much a scientific exploration of how the canine brain might function as it is a deeply personal story about Berns's relationship with dogs as pets and colleagues. Ultimately that connection is what makes the book compelling." ( Scientific American MIND)

took a while to get going

there is a lot of information about how they did the study but to get to the meat of the story you had to get to chapter 20...seems too long to wait to get to the point to me.

Very scientific but very interesting

What did you love best about How Dogs Love Us?

I love the passion the author has for his dogs and the passion for science. Only true dog people, not to be mistaken with dog owners, would understand why he did what he did.

Were the concepts of this book easy to follow, or were they too technical?

As a RN with 5 years of Neurology experience, it was easy. I am sure that if you know nothing about radiology or neuroscience, it will be a little hard to follow.
I know that because my husband was a little (a lot) lost.

Which scene was your favorite?

Kelly chasing the ducks by the river and when she cuddled with the author (awwwww).

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

I would not make a film about this book. Unless the movie was for Vet, Radiology or Neuroscience students.

Any additional comments?

If you are not into medical terminology and scientific studies, skip to chapter 23. Before that, the content is 90% study. VERY INTERESTING but, if you are looking for a mushy confy book, skip to chapter 24.

A little slow but well worth the read.

Sometimes I got a little disinterested in this book but for the most part I really enjoyed it. I'm a huge dog lover and it has helped me see my adorable Jack in a clearer light.

This book was really insightful!

This book was very scientific and sometimes difficult to follow but really excellent! The story was really interesting and I definitely recommend it if you love dogs.

Wonderful book and narration!

Everything you would ever need to know about MRIs (I have had questions) and dogs brains right here in one book. I was fascinated by this book! I love dogs. I was amazed to learn of the challenges posed in creating the studies about the bonds we have with our beloved canine companions. 💜 Much appreciation!

Great

This book goes for little and big.I'm a deep thinker so it was easy to read and listen.

Details Research Methods for the Geek in Us.

Would you consider the audio edition of How Dogs Love Us to be better than the print version?

I think about the same as the print version. With the whispersync, you can read along with the audio.

Were the concepts of this book easy to follow, or were they too technical?

It was a bit technical but the author did a good job of explaining his research.

Have you listened to any of LJ Ganser’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

This is my first book by LJ Ganser. He read a bit technical book in a interesting manner.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

When the dog learned how to cooperate with the experiment. The intelligence and loyalty of a dog is special.

Any additional comments?

The techniques of the research and how they trained the dogs for the experience was interesting. The book focus more on the research and less of the results. The book is not going to give you any glimpse of your dog's individual behavior. Your observations will help you understand your dog more than reading the book. However, it was interesting read.

Not technical

Seems like he doesn't understand the science. Author comes across very sure of himself and how the world works all the science people in my life focus on probability and getting closer to the truth.

His experiments are cool but just sort of dumbed down the science and didn't tie it together with overdone family anecdotes.

3 stars.

Dog research dog lovers will enjoy

Gregory Berns loves dogs. So does the rest of his family, but he's the neuroscientist, He decided he wanted to know if his dogs really loved him, and if he could determine how and why.

This led inevitably to training the newest addition to their family of six (two adults, two daughters, two dogs) a terrier mix they named Callie, to enter an MRI, assume a scannable position, and remain motionless for long enough intervals for useful brain scans.

Just getting the necessary permissions and approvals to bring pet dogs, rather than "purpose-bred dogs," mostly beagles bred only to be lab animals, into the lab or even onto Emory University property, was a challenge. There are good reasons, for many kinds of research, for using purpose-bred animals, including dogs. It's not the best choice in every case, though, and for at least thirty years the trend has been to eliminate research animals altogether whenever there are alternatives that give good results. Real alternatives to animal haven't yet reached to point of making lab animals completely unnecessary, but the need has been dramatically reduced over the course of my working life.

And while this particular research project necessarily involved real dogs, there was no need at all for them to be purpose-bred lab animals. Pet dogs calm enough to be trained for the MRI tests were arguably a better choice, because they would have a more normal relationship with humans, and that's what "the dog project" was all about.

So Berns kept pushing, and inventing work-arounds for the demands of the research office and the legal office, and got his project approved.

Then came figuring out to train his own terrier mix, Callie, and a border collie, McKenzie, to accept the MRI, the noise of the MRI, and keeping still in the correct position for the scans. All this just to get to the proof of concept stage, proving they could do useful MRI scans on animals as different from the normal MRI subjects (humans and other primates) as dogs are.

And it's unexpectedly fun to read this section, before they ever get to the tests they want--can they tell from brain scans whether dogs actually like humans, and not just the fact that we're a reliable source of food and toys?

It's a great account, further enlivened by Callie herself, the Berns family, and the other Berns dogs, both Lyra the Golden retriever they had at the same time as Callie, and the pugs, especially Newton, who preceded them. And yet, that leads to the one part of this book that bothered me.

The other standout personality here besides Callie, is Newton. Pugs are generally happy, affectionate personalities, really great companion dogs. Except, of course, for the fact that their skulls are so short and their faces so flat that often they can't breathe properly. The snorting, the snuffling, the snoring, that many people, including Gregory Berns, think is so cute, is in fact a sign of a dog who is suffering from not breathing properly. It's not fun to breathe that badly. It's exhausting, compromises sleep, is at best uncomfortable and often painful.

This is something that can be avoided, or at least greatly minimized, by being really careful in selecting a breeder to get your dog from. But the Berns family prefers to adopt from shelters, which is good and much to be encouraged--but if you adopt pug or another brachcephalic dog from a shelter or rescue, and you have, like the Berns family, an at least upper middle class income, you should be asking your vet, first thing, whether a soft palette resection is right for your dog. If your dog is one of the dogs of this type that has significant difficulty breathing, and you have the resources, you should be talking to your vet about whether your dog can be helped. It may not be possible in every case, but when, like Gregory Berns, you know that "cute" snorting and snoring is in fact very hard on your dog, you ought to at least talk to your vet about possible help for the problem. And yet Berns, who clearly really loves his dogs, and who tells us that Newton couldn't breathe properly and it was a problem for the poor dog, never mentions talking to the vet about it.

I really do feel that even if Newton couldn't be helped, Berns could have devoted a paragraph to telling people that the snorting and snoring isn't cute, and that if they have the means they should at least talk to their vet about it. He doesn't.

And yet.

This is a really good book about research that any dog lover will love.

I should, in fairness, warn those who need to know that yes, dogs, including Newton and later Lyra, the Golden retriever, do die during the book. But these are the deaths at a reasonable age of dogs who were loved and happy members of their family. They're not awful tragedies that come out of nowhere to smack you in the face for the sake of extracting emotion from you.

And yes, you will love the research and its results.

Recommended.

I bought this audiobook.

for every dog lover

awesome science based story for those of us who have ever wondered if our dogs love us