REVIEW: Dogs of the World: A Gallery of Pups from Purebreds to Mutts (nonfiction book) by Lili Chin

Dogs of the World is nonfiction. I bought my copy new.

Review:

"See and love the dog in front of you, instead of the one in your head." (39)

The above quote is something Chin says she heard from a lot of dog behavior consultants, and I felt like it was a thread woven through the book, even as Chin wrote about the general characteristics of various types and breeds of dog.

Chin starts out with chapters about the origins of domesticated dogs, dog breeds, dog types and their roles, and then moves on to a list of dog breeds, landraces, and mutts by geographical origin, each of which includes an illustration and brief description. It's both a celebration of all the different kinds of dogs out there, and a recognition that every last one of them, whether they're an officially recognized breed or a mutt, is a good dog and worthy of appreciation. 

I picked this up because I've enjoyed Chin's illustrations in other books. While I enjoyed the personality and emotion in the illustrations in her dog and cat communication book more, her illustrations here were still really charming, and I loved the sheer number of dogs she tackled.

REVIEW: Kitty Language: An Illustrated Guide to Understanding Your Cat (nonfiction) by Lili Chin

Kitty Language is nonfiction. I bought my copy new.

Review:

Kitty Language, like Chin's Doggie Language, is a heavily illustrated guide to your pet's body language and vocalizations. It's designed to help cat owners better understand their cats. It emphasizes taking into account the cat's whole body in action, as well as the context and your cat's own individual characteristics - if your cat is a Scottish Fold, for example, its ears won't provide the same cues that other cats' would. Chin pays particular attention to body language that's often misinterpreted, like rolling over and exposing their belly.

REVIEW: Doggie Language: A Dog Lover's Guide to Understanding Your Best Friend (nonfiction book) by Lili Chin

Doggie Language is nonfiction. I bought my copy new.

Review:

This book is primarily illustrations of dog body language, accompanied by short paragraphs or bulleted lists highlighting the important aspects of what you'll see a dog doing and what their body language likely indicates, along with additional details to note (context, what's going on with the rest of their body, etc.).

I'm pretty sure my first exposure to Chin's work was her dog and cat body language posters, both of which are freely available to download and print on her website (along with lots of other really helpful graphics, many but not all of which animal-related). You can probably get a lot of the same information found in this book via Chin's free downloads, but this book has it all in one place, in a format small enough to be tucked away in a bag. I'd have appreciated something like this back when my parents got their first dog. I'd grown up around cats but not dogs - dogs seemed loud and aggressive in comparison, and while I ended up loving my parents' dog, I'm still not always comfortable around dogs in general.

As Chin notes, dogs can have very different body types (curly tails, stubby tails, floppy ears, etc.), which can affect what certain body language details look like. Where possible, she illustrates what certain behaviors might look like in different dogs - for example, relaxed vs. alert ears in a Boston Terrier (upright ears) vs. a Dachshund (floppy ears).

All in all, this is a nice little book, and the illustrations are, as expected, great.