"Inside of a Dog" is written by a cognitive scientist/animal ethnologist/behaviorist who studies dogs and she writes about them and their behavior in straightforward prose very accessible to laypersons (and possibly offensive to scientists by virtue of over-simplification). She doesn't just study dogs, she likes/loves dogs. So you can guess why I read this book. She begins by describing the evolution of dogs from wolves and their gradual domestication and association with human beings. Then she goes on to describe their senses of smell, hearing and sight to ours so we can better understand how they communicate and what they sense as compared to what we're probably sensing. Then she gets to actual behavior--always in the context of the sense and evolution. She's big on letting dogs be dogs (walk at their pace so they can savor smells we can't; don't run your dog as its only form of outdoor exercise (no sniffing!) and never run your dog on a bike. Alpha dog trainers (like Cesar) overdo the discipline in relationships with dogs when equally acceptable behaviors can be achieved by giving the dog a chance to exercise its innate desire to please. Walking the dog precisely at heel is excessive discipline (and boring for the dog) as long as the dog responds to voice command when it wanders too far. In other words, just the kind of discipline we practice with Jenny and Toby.... As well as I know my dogs and as clearly as we communicate with one another, this book helped me to better understand what they're saying and how they're trying to say it.