What the Dog Knows: Scent, Science, and the Amazing Ways Dogs Perceive the World

A firsthand exploration of the extraordinary skills and shocking, typically life-saving abilities of “working canines”—pups who can sniff out medicine, discover explosives, even find the lifeless—as advised via the experiences of a journalist and her intrepid canine companion, which The New York Occasions calls“a captivating, deeply reported journey into the…superb issues canines can do with their noses.”

There are millions of working canines everywhere in the US and past with unimaginable skills—they will discover lacking individuals, detect medicine and bombs, pinpoint unmarked graves of Civil Warfare troopers, and even discover drowning victims greater than 2 hundred toes under the floor of a lake. These skills could seem magical or mysterious, however writer Cat Warren exhibits the science, the rigorous coaching, and the expert dealing with that underlie these creatures’ superb skills.

Cat Warren is a college professor and journalist who had tried every little thing she might consider to harness her canine Solo’s boundless vitality and enthusiasm…till a habits coach steered she strive coaching him to be a “working canine.” What began out as a pastime quickly grew to become a calling, as Warren was launched to the hidden universe of canines who do that important work and the handlers who prepare them.

Her canine Solo has a positive nostril and is aware of learn how to use it, however he’s solely considered one of many astounding canines in a assorted subject. Warren interviews cognitive psychologists, historians, medical experts, epidemiologists, and forensic anthropologists, in addition to the breeders, trainers, and handlers who work with and depend on these clever and adaptable animals each day. Alongside the way in which, Warren discovers story after story that show the capabilities—in addition to the very actual limits—of working canines and their human companions. Clear-eyed and unsentimental, Warren explains why our partnership with working canines is woven into the material of society, and why we preserve discovering new makes use of for the fantastic noses of our four-legged associates.

Writer ‏ : ‎ Touchstone (March 10, 2015)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 343 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1451667329
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1451667325
Lexile measure ‏ : ‎ 860L
Merchandise Weight ‏ : ‎ 11.4 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 1.1 x 8.38 inches