You Are a Dog: Life Through the Eyes of Man's Best Friend

by Terry Bain

A hilarious, captivating commentary that gives us--finally--a true dog’s-eye view of the world.

• The Sofa: “The sofa is Position One. The sofa makes you feel as if you are with your people even when your people are gone.”

• The Toilet: “The advantage of drinking from the toilet is that the water is always fresh.”

• The Baby: “Often known as She Who Randomly Flings Food from the Table, the baby has the most flavorful, ever-changing face of all your people.”

“After reading You Are a Dog, you will start thinking like a dog.” --Bash Dibra, celebrity pet trainer and author of DogSpeak

“You Are a Dog should be the talk of every dog run in the U.S. With humor, and more bite than one might expect, Terry Bain helps us to see the world through the eyes of our dogs, and to look at their lives in fresh and insightful ways.” --Jon Katz, author of A Dog Year, The New Work of Dogs, and The Dogs of Bedlam Farm

“Terry Bain has cracked the canine code to demystify those charming, endearing, and occasionally bizarre habits our beloved dogs exhibit. You Are a Dog is equal parts witty and warm, sweet and sympathetic--read this and be destined to meet your dog at a richer, deeper level.”--Dr. Marty Becker, veterinary contributor for Good Morning America, author of The Healing Power of Pets

Genres: Dogs, Nonfiction, Humor, Animals

160 pages, Hardcover

First published October 19, 2004

About the author

Author of You Are a Dog and We Are the Cat. Husband, Father, Sock Wearer.

Reviews

[Sophia Bain · Rating 5 out of 5]

so do you actually have a dog?

[Pia · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book about dog-love, yes, but also an elegy to a lost child that's filled with Grace. Honest, tender and apt.

[Claudia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is on my shelf, signed by the author to my fuzzy ones, Ivan and Scout. Ivan died almost two years ago now and when I pick up this book I'm reminded of his dear doggy self.

[Cary · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you love dogs, you will love this book without a doubt. It was like having my dog talk to me.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a cute book. Some of the descriptions were funny.

[Kenneth · Rating 2 out of 5]

The premise for this book , describing life from the viewpoint of a dog is brilliant.
Imagine though, that you are at a comedy club and every other joke or pun from the entertainer flops.
That is this book.
I found some nice points that really hit home as a dog owner. But this book falls short with a lot of filler material.
A good editor would have suggested that this would have worked better as a long magazine article.

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good book.

The book is composed of many short clips/stories told from the dog's point of view. Many are funny or at least have humorous parts. But it felt fractured and I couldn't get a good flow. There isn't really a plot, as it isn't really a story. And perhaps that was my assumption coming into the book.

The author does a good job of personifying the dog. We see many of our interactions with our dog, from the dog's point of view (or at least, the author's interpretation of that view). I did enjoy many of the stories, and found it interesting to get the "ah" as I realized what was being portrayed.
This is a short book, and an easy read.

Unfortunately for this book, I read it right after reading "a dog's purpose", which was fantastic and should be read.

[Jeannie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this funny little book, in fact rolled on the floor during some of it! Written from the perspective of our best friend the dog, I especially loved when he explained why he likes to lick humans. Now I know why my lab, Bammie licks everyone, all the time. Aside from being hilarious, I did learn some things about my dogs that were quite interesting! A fast and fun read, if you love dogs you should enjoy this gem.

[Amy P. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book started out great. I loved it and kept reading it for a while. I highly agree with many of the things the book says, and the author definitely has a good sense of humor. After a while though, it started getting quite repetitive, so I stopped reading it for a while. With that said I still would recommend this book for reading of and on when you need a little bit of humor.

[Renee · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice light read about a dog's life from the dog perspective. It reads quickly and doesn't require much thought to understand. Made me laugh at parts in which it described things I see my dogs doing.

[Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

LOVED this book! Every dog-lover should definitely read!

[Arapahoe Libraries]

A short, humorous book written from the viewpoint of the family dog.

[Sara Daly Doran · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ehhhhh. I wanted to like it, but it got too philosophical for my tastes at the end. It did make me smile it parts though, so not a complete waste of time.

[Tara Wowra · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is pee your pants funny in some spots.

[Devon · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was cute, but as a dog-owner it was nothing I hadn't thought about in passing before. A fun read for waiting rooms or DMVs.

[Malerie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Coming from an absolute lack of knowledge of dogs or their thought processes, it was an amusing read, though I imagine much more so for a reader with greater dog experience.

[William · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very comical book re: a dog's view point!

[Donna Hunt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good book. I like the style of man talking to a dog about all the things of dogness.

[Deker Kneeskern · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun quick read.

[Laikin · Rating 5 out of 5]

"You are a Dig" has a very different point of view that I enjoyed.

[Jillybean · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. It helps that I have a Border Collie and could relate completely! If you are a dog person - read this book. Super fun read!

[Christy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute, intriguing idea. Got the gist early on. Would have been a better short story.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very entertaining read: The story of what life is like living in a "pack" comprised primarily of humans, as told from the dog's perspective

[Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

My dog does NOT like snow shovels either...I think of this book every time it snows. Hilarious!

[melhara · Rating 2 out of 5]

Can they not tell you apart from their own children? It's likely that they can. But they so often treat you and talk to you so much like they would treat and talk to the children that you sometimes have to wonder.

This started off as a pretty cute book about life through the eyes of a dog but I quickly grew bored of it's repetitiveness. Reading this book made me realize that I'm probably not the target audience since I've never been a dog owner and am more of a cat person. I think a lot of dog owners will find this book more amusing because it attempts to explain some of the strange dog habits that (I'm assuming) most dogs do (such as ear washes, sleeping on the couch, trying to dirty themselves right after a bath, drinking water out of the toilet, etc.)

I read the e-book version so I don't know if the physical copy would differ but I think this book would highly benefit from photographs or more illustrations to accompany the text (there were a few illustrations but nowhere near enough).

*** #12 of my 2019 Book Riot Read Harder Challenge - A book in which an animal or inanimate object is a point-of-view character ***

[Kristin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've had this book in my personal library for quite some time but hadn't gotten around to reading it. I felt compelled to start reading it a few weeks before we had to let our beloved Shaggy cross over the rainbow bridge, and I finished it a little more than a week after his passing. I thought some of the sections were quite cute and funny. Others I didn't really relate to with my personal dog ownership experience or I just didn't find amusing. It's a quick read. If half-stars were an option, I'd probably rate this a 2.5. I just wasn't as enamored by it as it appears other Goodreads readers were.

[Noemi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would recommend this book to any dog lover. It's incredibly simple, but so funny and so heartwarming. There were many parts where I would laugh and many parts where I would simply smile at the beauty of having a dog.

Dogs are great. And this book just proves it.

[Lindsay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute. Simple. Quick read.

[Vicki · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some parts are very funny, others quite touching.

[Neil · Rating 4 out of 5]

The final message of this warm and delightful dogs-eye book broke me. Just a beautiful message that even this car person (who loves dogs too) completely understands and wept at ❤️