If a dog could write a book of philosophy what would it contain? If you have spent part of
your life with a dog you may find certain questions popping unbidden into your mind. Is my
dog living a fulfilled life? Is my dog a good dog? Does my dog love me? This however only
scratches the surface of a canine philosophy. Drawing on his life lived with dogs (two
German shepherds the amiable Hugo and his dark twin Shadow Brenin a wolf hybrid and Tess
his wolf dog daughter and Nina a German shepherd malamute mix) on the ideas of philosophers
from Socrates to Hume and Sartre and on the cutting edge psychology of canine cognition
philosopher Mark Rowlands explores the way dogs experience the world to bring us closer to an
understanding of ourselves. While dogs feel unparalleled joy and focus in the moment humans
are burdened by the disquietude of anxiety doubt and even anguish. Happiness for dogs can be
achieved in the daily chase of a squirrel for humans it is much more elusive. Digging deep
into their morality freedoms consciousness intelligence and love of life Rowlands discovers
that dogs have a unique way of existing which amounts to a different philosophical outlook
altogether - if they could write such a thing - and that they may have better answers to the
meaning of life than we do.
