The Dog Who Couldn't Stop Loving

July 5, 2010
Masson (When Elephants Weep) explores the unique bond between humans and dogs in a humdrum and highly repetitive book that is illuminated at points by the author's odes to his own companion, Benjy, a failed guide dog with an unrestrained capacity to love people. Masson ruminates on the mutual interdependence between the two species—a love affair going back at least 15,000 years—and examines ancient myths and new research that suggest how man and dog have evolved together. He juxtaposes our emotional similarities to dogs and to our other domesticated animals, including cats, horses, parrots, and pigs. Even if the material seems stretched and familiar—fans of the genre will likely have encountered many of Masson's observations in Animals Make Us Human by Temple Grandin and Inside of a Dog by Alexandra Horowitz—Masson is at his most personal and appealing in this book, especially when he writes about Benjy.