Dogs

by Yann Arthus-Bertrand

Celebrate man's--and woman's--best friend with an extraordinary assemblage of color photography that captures the beauty, playfulness and boundless affection of our beloved canine companions. More than 220 pedigreed dog breeds are represented in this special, pocket-sized portrait collection, which also offers accompanying text that details the history, physical characteristics, personality traits, work and sporting uses of the breeds, and gives insights into the bonds between dogs and their humans. Many rare breeds are included, from the water-loving Pont-Audmer Spaniel to the protective Iceland Shepherd. The major groups are featured, including the Terriers, Scent and Sight Hounds, Companion and Toy dogs, Sporting Dogs, Herders, and Primitive types. Masterfully portrayed by internationally renowned photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand , whose book of aerial photography Earth from the Air has sold nearly one million copies, these wonderful photographs remind us of just why, no matter their size or shape, we truly love our dogs.

Genres: Dogs, Nonfiction

384 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1993

About the author

Yann Arthus-Bertrand was born in a renowned jewellers' family founded by Claude Arthus-Bertrand and Michel-Ange Marion. His sister Catherine is one of his closest collaborators. He's been interested in nature and wildlife from an early age.
From the age of 17 he became involved in the movie industry. He gave up the movie industry in 1967 to run the Château de Saint Augustin wildlife park in Château sur Allier (centre of France). He then left the country with his wife Anne when he was 30 (1976) to live in Kenya in the Massai Mara national park. He lived amongst the Massai tribe for 3 years to study the behaviour of a lions’ family and took daily pictures of them during those years. He thus discovered a new passion for photography and the beauty of landscapes when observed from above in hot air balloons. He understood the power of a picture and how to communicate using this means.
He came back to France in 1981, published a photography book Lions in 1983, and became an international journalist, reporter and photographer specialising in documentaries on sports, wildlife and aerial photography for French magazines such as Paris Match and Geo. He photographed ten Paris-Dakar rallies. Every year he published a book on Rolland Garros, the tennis French open. He also took pictures every year at the Paris International Agricultural Show, and of Dian Fossey and gorillas in Rwanda.
In 1994 Arthus-Bertrand started a thorough study on the state of the Earth sponsored by UNESCO. Therefore he made a picture inventory of the world’s most beautiful landscapes taken from helicopters and balloons. The book from this project, Earth from Above (‘la Terre vue du ciel’) sold over 3 million copies and was translated into 24 languages.

Reviews

[Stephen Wallace · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a big coffee table book with a nice picture of a little girl with a bulldog in her lap. The photographer is French as are the subjects and dogs in the pictures. They are all taken in his studio with a brown background and a large wooden box. Sometimes the dogs and people are on the box, next to the box, on the box, or in the box. The lighting and resolution are very nice. People's and dog's faces are always interesting to look at.

In addition to dogs you probably know, the book is filled with dogs that are rare and I don't remember hearing of. Many are regional dogs, which made me look up the relative size of France - Texas, the second-largest state in the U.S., has an area of around 695,000 square kilometers, while France spans about 551,000 square kilometers. It made me wonder about the size of regions that can develop their own dogs.

Along with the picture of the dog(s) and their owner or family, there is a small paragraph of text sometimes describing a bit of the history of the breed, and then a description. Rarely there was any more description specifically on the dog(s) in the picture other than the name of the owner and the dog(s).

The pictures are nice. If you are fond of pictures of dogs and need a book to put on your coffee table this book would fill the void to have sometime people can browse and enjoy the pictures.

My first reason for 3 stars is that the same brown setting got old for me, but I can understand how thinking of variations of the setting would have been a lot of work. My second reason is I would have hoped to have something more personal on the dogs to make it interesting to me. There was one bit early on that gave me that hope there would be more personal information, but at best there was only a handful more than history and description.

Here is the first bit I ran into that was a little interesting:

'Mr. Claude Adjadj’s two Laekenoises closely observe his slightest gesture or movement. The male, for example, noticed that his master turned a key in a lock to open doors, and tried to imitate him. He gripped the key in his teeth and shook his head to make it turn—but so vigorously that the key broke in the lock.

As for the female, Undine de |’Orchidée Noire, Mr. Adjadj regrets not having trusted her instinct when, upon leaving an exhibition in Belgium, he noticed that he had lost his wallet containing his identity papers. Feeling irritable, he stopped Undine from trying to crawl underneath a nearby vehicle, pushed her into his car and drove back to France. That night, the man who had been parked next to him rang him up to inform him that he had found his wallet under the car, and that his identity papers were safe in the Netherlands. If he had followed Undine’s indications, he would have saved himself the 540 mile trip he had to make to recover his papers.'

(did you also wonder why he didn't just have his wallet mailed to him instead of drive 540 miles back?)

There was another little bit on a Standard Bull Terrier:

'First Sitting Bull du Mackcastel’s behavior surprises Mr. Michel Gavvrit each evening he slips into the living room, collects the cushions from the armchairs and carefully takes them to the corner of the house where he sleeps, making o comfortable bed for himself. '

And then a little fact I didn't know on Fox Hounds:

'This English hunting dog descends from a number of different local breeds, who were themselves bred not for their build but for their ability to hunt foxes. The dogs do not officially qualify as belonging to the breed until it has been confirmed that they are descended from at leas! six generations of foxhounds who hove actively and exclusively hunted foxes. These are solid, durable dogs with strong constitutions. They have a powerful build, large skull, long neck, large back and a tail that must taper off. They hunt foxes in the open in an orderly, disciplined pack.'

I of course could be jaded as I have several other coffee table books, so others may appreciate this book more, but those are my thoughts.

[Grace · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really good read for anyone who loves dogs with lovely pictures and some great facts!

[Gloo The third · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every book that features the Schapendoes breed is a masterpiece.

[Kay · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the most beatifully photographed "dog" book I have ever seen. I say "dog" book because it is so unlike any other dog book in my collection. The photographs are almost always of dogs and their owners which in some cases is hilarious because of the similiarities between dog and owner. Then the descriptions...ahhh non-conventional, interesting and many times unknown facts about the breed.
A must have for the true dog lover!

[Deborah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lots of color photography that captures the beauty, playfulness and boundless affection of our beloved canine companions. More than 220 pedigreed dog breeds are represented in this special, pocket-sized portrait collection, which also offers accompanying text that details the history, physical characteristics, personality traits, work and sporting uses of the breeds, and gives insights into the bonds between dogs and their humans

What's not to love?