How Dogs Really Work!

by Alan Snow

A humorous look at why dogs do what they do

Genres: Picture Books, Animals, Childrens, Dogs, Fiction

Paperback

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

Alan Snow is an award-winning children’s book illustrator and designer who has worked on more than 160 books. His novel, Here Be Monsters was made into an animated film, The Boxtrolls, which spent several weeks at the top of the UK box office. Alan has won numerous awards for his work as a children’s book illustrator as well as for design and computer animation.

Reviews

[Stephen Wallace · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book so much I am putting it in my category for favorite dog books. As I currently have no grandchildren (STILL!!!), I have to imagine reading to a small child like I fondly remember when my boys where little. And for me, it is all about all the details and quirky things to read and discuss with that child. This is a great book for that. So many quirky details and intricate drawings would make it a joy to look at over and over again. Then if your dog had to go to the vet, you could go to that page in the book and talk about how the vet goes in to fix the internal parts.

Here is the from the start of the book:

What is a dog?
A dog is a four-legged animal that eats, sleeps, runs around, and smells when wet! It has a nose, a tail for wagging, and strange ears. These ears can hear food from half a mile away, but cannot hear 'NO' from three feet. If you throw something for a dog, he may go and get it, but he's not very likely to give it back - this is called "Fetch." Dogs also make a lots of noise, have wet noses, sticky tongues, and many disgusting habits.

[Betsy Ellor · Rating 4 out of 5]

George can study the illustrations for hours. We've checked it out from the library three times which means it's time to buy it. The writing is a good jumping off place to talk about how bodies work; a jumping off place because the writing is humorous rather than educational. The writing humor went way over my 5 year-olds head but really this book is about illustrations. It's not a story. It's not a read aloud. But when my pre-readers wants to 'read' in bed before going to sleep this is one of his favorites.

[Ambrose Miles · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute book. Good art work. I especially liked the definition of a dog: ...can hear food a half mile away, but can't hear NO at a distance of three feet...

[Kirsty · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is really extra-ordinary because it is a picture book, but set out as a non-fiction information book. It isn't factually correct, but the alternative style may make it appealing to different children. It's playing with the norms of picture books.

[Natalie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sort of an adult or older-kid children's book. Our 3 1/2 year old was mystified by the cogs and things inside the dog... 'where are the muscles?' and some of the narrative is too sarcastic for a little kid to get: like the part where the vet finishes up and then the dog wakes up and bites him, 'as a way of saying thanks.' That one came up over and over again. "Why did the dog bite him to say thanks?"....

[Sandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Humorous, tongue-in-cheek illustrations show how a dog "works," with cogs and gears and things like that. Reminds me a bit of David Macauley's artwork. For older children who don't take things literally. A winner of the New York Times Book Review award for best illustrated children's book.

[Laura Filtness]

I once had a student make me a poster based on the illustration of this book. I loved it. How fun would it be for students to do make their own version- "How friends really work" (as written by Sheldon Cooper) or "How could students work" etc.

[Beth · Rating 2 out of 5]

Normally I love dog books but this one was much too busy and difficult to follow.

[Emilyrhodes]

i like thisebook

[Suz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great illustrations. A fun great for adults as well as children.

[Helen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book for kids and teens who love to explore small details in drawings! It shows the anatomy, family tree, and behaviors of dogs, with fake/funny drawings of these things.

[Healthy Dose of Self-Destruction · Rating 2 out of 5]

★★★✩✩✩✩✩✩✩
3/10 Ruim

[Laura]

This is a book I would have in my class library for students to read on their free time. It basically is a guide of how dogs work, as if they were machines. The illustrations are very nice and the book itself catches the readers' attention.

[Ульрике Дарк · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is by far one of the best illustrated children's book I've ever read. The whole book is a fun and cute analogy between dogs and any kind of machine that needs an operation manual, so it's perfect for pre-teens and adults who love animals and technology.
Younger children can also enjoy it as long as they are supervised by an adult, and have shown to have enough common sense to distinguish between real information and fictional situations.
I've owned this book since I was 12, and still love it.