Living a Dog's Life

So what are they?
They're family and companions. To take on a dog is a huge undertaking, down to the little details of how much it costs. And it's not a thing that anyone should take on lightly at all—that's an insult to the dog. They can, in a sense, be your baby. They're creatures in their own right.

Like that last response, you spent much of the book anthropomorphizing Stanley and Sophie. Have you faced any criticism?
We did this big publicity tour and there was this one Australian radio journalist who kept saying, "Look at all the animals, humans are quite different than dogs." True, my dogs don't read. But they love music. To calm my dogs, I would dance around with them. I can't say what their taste in music is, but they use music to calm pit bulls down.

How do monkeys compare? You raised two while living for Bali for a bit.
I was actually the only one who never wanted a monkey. I was never a primate person; I didn't follow all those Jane Goodall shows. But monkeys are much more unpredictable as they grow up. Monkeys have 94 percent of our genes but they don't have lots of impulse control—I guess some humans don't either. But if people think having a monkey is a pet, it's not a good idea at all! Monkeys should be in the jungle, and we should be doing everything we can to make sure the jungle stays there. They were bored with us, but they would have just been eaten if we hadn't bought them.

Monkeys share genes, but as you address in your book, aren't dog owners often said to resemble their dogs?
Sometimes they do. But I think in the case of border terriers, owners want no-nonsense dogs. We don't want a dog with frills, so we probably are like that in our own appearance. On the other side, there are very fancy breeds with fancy owners, but it does border on insanity when you're paying a thousand dollars for a leash. The amount of money one can spend on a dog can be quite mind-boggling.

Especially with competitions and the whole dog-show world.
I'm critical of that: we're talking about people who are really obsessive. Breeders are going for looks and not for character. It's lunatic.

What about these dog-borrowing services, where people can rent a dog for a set period of time?
The dogs must get very confused. Borrowing a dog? That can't be good for the dog. I guess it might be good for families who want to try out dog ownership and see what it is like. Dog ownership is a huge responsibility in many ways—and don't even think about monkeys.

© 2008