What the Dog Knows

The Science and Wonder of Working Dogs

De: Cat Warren

Narrado por: Cassandra Campbell

Cat Warren is a university professor and former journalist with an admittedly odd hobby: She and her German shepherd have spent the last seven years searching for the dead. Solo is a cadaver dog. What started as a way to harness Solo’s unruly energy and enthusiasm soon became a calling that introduced Warren to the hidden and fascinating universe of working dogs, their handlers, and their trainers.

Solo has a fine nose and knows how to use it, but he’s only one of many thousands of working dogs all over the United States and beyond. In What the Dog Knows, Warren uses her ongoing work with Solo as a way to explore a captivating field that includes cadaver dogs, drug and bomb-detecting K9s, tracking and apprehension dogs - even dogs who can locate unmarked graves of Civil War soldiers and help find drowning victims more than two hundred feet below the surface of a lake. Working dogs’ abilities may seem magical or mysterious, but Warren shows the multifaceted science, the rigorous training, and the skilled handling that underlie the amazing abilities of dogs who work with their noses.

Warren interviews cognitive psychologists, historians, medical examiners, epidemiologists, and forensic anthropologists, as well as the breeders, trainers, and handlers who work with and rely on these remarkable and adaptable animals daily. Along the way, she discovers story after story that proves the impressive capabilities - as well as the very real limits - of working dogs and their human partners. Clear-eyed and unsentimental, Warren explains why our partnership with dogs is woven into the fabric of society and why we keep finding new uses for their wonderful noses.

©2013 Cat Warren (P)2013 Simon & Schuster

as captivating as a novel

a beautiful story, well many great stories. informative and inspiring. read beautifully. makes me want to train my dog.

Dog lovers will learn a thing or two

Cat Warren does an amazing job relating her life with dogs to her studies and skillfully illustrates them to the reader throughout her story. Great listen! Perfect for long road trips!

Wonderful and delightful to listen to.

Excellent storyline. Great narration Not too overwhelming But engaging. I have listened to her twice Each time is it Better experience.

Wonderful for a dog training enthusiast.

I'm not even sure where to begin. I typically find myself extremely picky with narration, but Campbell was top notch.

The book itself was great. Hearing about the negative parts of raising a working dog felt like it will help with future training of dogs. I wouldn't change a thing. To handler and handler hopefuls, this is a must read!

Loved it

I thoroughly enjoyed this book during my long commutes back and forth with work. Great narrator!

Fantastic - stories plus and education

Cat Warren has written a fabulous book. A talented scholar and a hard working humble dog handler with a big heart, she has crafted a fascinating account of scent dog history with dozens and dozens of accounts told as short stories. Expertly written. I loved it so much I was stunned when it was over. I am wishing already another book!

Lot's of information and interesting!

Not only a good read, educational as well!! From K-9 SAR in training I listened and listened again

Ended to soon

What better thing can you say about a book then it ended to soon. This is as much a scientific study on scent detection with dogs as it is a story about a woman and her dog. Still it is touching.
Before warned dad this is about a dog trained to find bodies dead bodies. And it does get a bit morbid in a few places. But these places are easy to skip over if you are extremely squeamish. The book is overall highly recommended

Loved this book

I love books about dog behavior and their accomplishments, and the teamwork with their handlers, and this book does not disappoint.

Excellent book about cadaver dogs!

Perhaps I love this book because, like the author, I am a civilian cadaver dog handler. Like her, I have a real job but love doing cadaver detection with my German Shepherd. I started my first dog around the same time she did and now also have a young dog in training. That's my bias.

I think this book would be fascinating to anyone who is curious about what humans and dogs can do together especially the quirky work of finding the dead.

The author's explanations of why this work is so satisfying rang true as did her description of the parts of it that haunt a handler (probably not what you think). Her account of her and Solo's training and development into a working team described the joys and pitfalls common to human-canine teamwork. That story is interwoven with chapters on scientific and historical information about working dogs in general with a focus on sniffer dogs especially cadaver dogs. There is some fascinating material on the work that was done to investigate using other species to do detection work (such as bees, snakes and pigs).

This isn't a training book, but there are quotes from many good trainers and descriptions of problems that will perhaps inspire your training.

Recommended!