Willing Dogs & Reluctant Masters: On Friendship and Dogs

by Gary Borjesson

Gary Borjesson explores what it means to be friends — really friends — with a dog, and how that relationship can illuminate and inform the other friendships in our lives. "We can learn much about friendship by examining our relationships with dogs, partly because of what we have in common with them, but also because of what we do not. Our differences put friendship and its terms in striking relief. The resulting perspective is especially valuable given how easy it is for dogs, friendship, and other familiar aspects of our experience to escape our notice." —from the Preface Dogs are remarkable creatures. More than any other animal, they share with humans a deep interest in friendship, cooperation, and justice. (That's probably why we love them so much.) In Willing Dogs & Reluctant Masters , Gary Borjesson explores the source of—and justification for—our authority in the master-dog relationship, while inviting readers to ponder the role of authority in friendships among people, as well. Willing Dogs & Reluctant Masters will delight dog owners as they see themselves and their dogs in Gary Borjesson's account of human-canine relations. And it will encourage all readers to wonder anew about how friendship enriches our lives. Since 1999, Gary Borjesson has taught at St. John's College in Annapolis, Maryland, where he and his wife, Cindy Boersma, live with their German shepherd, Atkis.

Genres: Nonfiction

250 pages, Paperback

First published June 12, 2012

About the author

Gary began his career as a philosophy professor. After 15 years as a professor, and as a tenured member of the faculty at St. John’s College in Annapolis, MD, Gary returned to graduate school and earned an MA in Mental Health Counseling. He is currently a psychotherapist in private practice. He has a PhD in philosophy from Emory University. In 2012 his first book, Willing Dogs & Reluctant Masters: on friendship and dogs, was published. He is currently finishing his second book. Its working title is Come Together: the art, science, and philosophy of cooperative alliances.

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Reviews

[Catherine Adler · Rating 5 out of 5]

With Willing Dogs and Reluctant Masters, Gary Borjesson’s Spirited Brilliance radiates with an articulated warmth, encouraging us forward into the fierce yet gentle art of Friendship, not only with Mans’ best friend, but with those humans we hope to find a true sense of home with.

Borjesson, an Applied Philosopher, guides us to think with deep feeling, about our every day interactions with all the animals in our lives, thus elevating the mundane to the extraordinary. Willing Dogs and Reluctant Masters is a must read for all those hoping to be, not only worthy of their dogs, but humble enough to be instructed by them.

Gary Borjesson uses his fluid grasp of Hegel, Plato, Nietzsche and his deep friendship with Aristotle to gift his readers with assimilated and absorbed experiences both with his dogs and with his life. This particular sort of generosity has a lineage; it develops confidence in the reader and as Borjesson so beautifully articulates, it is through this confidence that we become courageous, humble and noble ourselves.

As a psychotherapist and clinical supervisor I really can’t recommend this book highly enough, it really should be at the top of the reading list for new clinicians and us old dogs alike, grounding us in the life of the mind illuminated by our wild hearts.

[Graham Gordy · Rating 5 out of 5]

The great beauty of Borjesson’s book, and what separates it from any other books about dogs and dog-training, is that it starts and ends with an important premise: in order to train a dog, we must first train ourselves. Borjesson has very craftily written a book that has a much broader application into our lives and all of our relationships, the ultimate thesis being that good humans make better dogs, and good dogs make us better humans.

[Kristi · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a refreshing read. Part memoir, part philosophical exposition, and part training manual, this book is not easily categorized. While you may not get a lot of nuts and bolts of dog training through this book, what Borjesson gives you is so much better: a nuanced framework for approaching our relationship with dogs, understanding canine nature, and gems of wisdom for the relational process of dog training and dog befriending.