"Literate, light, and lighthearted."

Richard Bernstein | New York Times

“A very superior commonplace book of canine characteristics, the mixture of Grenier’s own anecdotes with quotations from other intellectuals making it far from the average gift-shop item—as if Roland Barthes had opted for domestic animals rather than for fashion or photography.”

John Stokes | Times Literary Supplement

“Beautifully written . . . the prose flows like poetry. The market has been flooded with a plethora of popularly written books attempting to explain canines and why people love them, yet this book . . . raises the subject to a higher plane. A gem.”

Library Journal (starred review)

“With whimsical humor and mordant wit, Grenier applies a broad and deep knowledge of literary dog lovers from Homer to Flaubert. . . . This slim volume will make lovers both of literature and canines sit up and take notice.”

Publisher Weekly

"To call this magnificent work a book about dogs is to shortchange it; it is about a delicate and sensitive relationship between different kinds of living beings—dogs and ourselves. Though it looks like a small book, its appearance is deceiving, because it is in fact huge and multidimensional. It will be my Christmas gift to all my favorite people."

Elizabeth Marshall Thomas, author of "The Hidden Life of Dogs"

"An alluring book full of philosophical and literary musings. Not since Vicki Hearne's Adam's Task have I found a book about dogs so meaningful to me. I enjoyed it immensely."

William Wegman