BOOKS: Dogs For Dummies

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 1996:

Dogs For Dummies
by Gina Spadafori
IDG Books (919 E. Hillsdale Blvd., Suite 400, Foster
City, CA 94404), 1996. $19.99, 384 pages, paper.

Gina Spadafori, who occasionally writes for ANIMAL
PEOPLE, is better known as America’s most respected
pet columnist, syndicated by major metropolitan newspapers
across the U.S. and by America OnLine. Spadafori’s day
job as real estate editor for the Sacramento Bee conditions her
to get the facts first, while the challenge of writing interestingly
on a daily basis about a subject as mundane as real
estate has taught her how to write how-to without inducing
quick sleep.

Just the same, Dogs for Dummies is not a sit-down
read. It’s more than you’ll want to know or think you need to
know if you’ve never had a dog; if you do have a dog, you’ll
probably have learned a lot of it the hard way. Think of Dogs
for Dummies as the canine equivalent of Benjamin Spock’s
Infant and Child Care: well-divided by subheads, wellindexed,
sure to become well-thumbed as you cope with situations
that most of the myriad dog care guide authors haven’t
thought of.
Other dog care guides tend to be written by veterinarians,
dwelling on medical problems, or behaviorists,
dealing with behavior problems. Spadafori covers that
ground, too, but has her own occupational angle, in her
understanding of the importance of real estate, both literal
and psychological, to every dog––and every human.
Understand the real estate angle to any situation, and chances
are, you’ll understand your dog’s view of the deal.
–