The Happiness of Dogs

Brilliant

As a dog lover and owner this book made me smile every time I read it. There are some parts which are quite heavy weather as they get into philosophy at a fairly high level but overall it is a great read.

Thoughtful & thought provoking..??

Gerd Neuman is a court prosecutor who has a dilemma. His 16-year-old son, who desperately loves Gummi Bears, killed a friend who stole just one of his little candies. It’s clear a crime was committed. But should he now be tried as a juvenile or an adult? This question dwells on whether Gerd’s son ca…

Gerd Neuman is a court prosecutor who has a dilemma. His 16-year-old son, who desperately loves Gummi Bears, killed a friend who stole just one of his little candies. It’s clear a crime was committed. But should he now be tried as a juvenile or an adult? This question dwells on whether Gerd’s son can reflect on the circumstance and understand his actions as well as the legal consequences. After all, it was just for one Gummi Bear. A deeper analysis of how philosophers from early Socrates to contemporary Sartre, among others, would deplore or justify such an act is quite revealing. But what we easily can see about his son’s thinking is that “the evidence for meta-cognition in dogs is even sparser.” Oh, suddenly something about dogs — but very little. Except for that direct quote from the book, I made up everything else (the first 7 sentences and half of the eighth). Similarly, Mark Rowlands slews through real philosophies and real human examples, but only to maintain some relevance to the book’s title he throws in some reference to dogs at the end. Dogs become more a distraction than happiness. I stopped reading the book on page 138 because I was simply bored hearing about philosophers, especially Mr. Rowlands favorite one, Jean-Paul Sartre, who he refers to without end. But what I wanted to read about were happy stories about dogs, dogs, dogs...yet only to be heavily immersed in human philosophy — and how it often does not relate to dogs. The author frequently refers to one of his dogs that always chased iguanas during their daily walks. But what about the unexamined life and thinking of other dogs: circus dogs, seeing-eye dogs, hunting dogs, therapy dogs, security dogs, rescue dogs, sheep dogs, herding dogs, etc. I wanted to read stories, stories, and stories about dogs and their thinking. Maybe that came from page 139 to the end on page 240, but I doubt it. Even though I have a university degree in psychology (and not philosophy), I do not recommend wasting money on this book.