Order What the Dog Knows
What The Dog Knows
Scent, Science, and the Amazing Ways Dogs Perceive the World
Written by Cat Warren
CAT WARREN is a professor and former journalist with a somewhat unorthodox avocation: she works with cadaver dogs—dogs who search for missing and presumed-dead people. What started as a way to harness the energies of her unruly, smart, German shepherd puppy, Solo, soon became a passion for them both (though Solo thought it was simply a great game, with the reward of a toy at the end). They searched for the missing throughout North Carolina for eight years.
In What the Dog Knows, Warren uses her odyssey with Solo to enter the broader world of scent-
detection dogs, revealing the remarkable capabilities of working dogs, their handlers, and their trainers. Taking the reader from crime scenes to training sites and science labs, talking and working with other handlers and trainers, and interviewing animal psychologists, forensic anthropologists, breeders, and scent researchers, Warren explains how working dogs can capture the hidden worlds their noses know and translate that arcane knowledge for humans. The fascinating concepts behind the complex capabilities of working dogs emerge as Warren weaves the world of science and dog cognition with her own experiences in the field—all with an unsentimental yet sensitive touch.
What the Dog Knows tells the stories of cadaver dogs, drug and bomb detecting K9s, tracking and apprehension dogs—even dogs who can locate unmarked graves of Civil War soldiers and help find drowning victims more than two hundred feet below the surface of a lake. Working dogs sometimes seem magical, as they distinguish scent, cover territory, and accomplish tasks that no machine is yet capable of. With an additional chapter included in the paperback, What the Dog Knows reveals the science, the intense training, and the skilled handling that lie behind those abilities—and shows why we keep finding new uses for the wonderful noses of working dogs.
Praise and Reviews
What the Dog Knows is a fascinating, deeply reported journey into scent, death, forensics and the amazing things dogs can do with their noses: sniffing out graves, truffles, bedbugs, maybe even cancer. But it’s also a moving story of how one woman transformed her troubled dog into a loving companion and an asset to society, all while stumbling on the beauty of life in their searches for death.
It you have ever loved a dog, you must read this book. I loved it!
A personal, informed account of the myths and truths of working dogs.
Masterfully shows how even the best technology cannot compete with our best friends. If you have ever wondered what dogs are truly capable of, this is the book for you.
A book for anyone who loves dogs and has watched them catch a scent on the wind or in the leaves on the ground and wondered about that brilliant organ they possess: the nose.
A meaty, fascinating tour of not only what led humans to train dogs to sniff drugs, bombs and dead bodies but also the science behind why dogs can be good at these tasks.
Warren writes with verve and provides rare insight into our working partnership with canines.
A beautifully written, fascinating, heartwarming, and oft-hilarious homage to working dogs.
It’s a lively read, rich with details on the exhausting and rewarding process of training a working dog, but in the end, you realize that the process is really about bonding in a way that transcends—or perhaps sidesteps knowing.
A meaty, fascinating tour of not only what led humans to train dogs to sniff drugs, bombs and dead bodies but also the science behind why dogs can be good at these tasks.
This is a book for anyone who loves dogs and has watched them catch a scent on the wind or in the leaves on the ground and wondered about that brilliant organ they possess: the nose.
Masterfully shows how even the best technology cannot compete with our best friends. If you have ever wondered what dogs are truly capable of, this is the book for you.
Warren writes with verve and provides rare insight into our working partnership with canines.
A beautifully written, fascinating, heartwarming, and oft-hilarious homage to working dogs. A must-read for anyone who wants to know more about four-legged working heroes. I’d like to shake Solo’s paw for inspiring Cat Warren to write about it.
Move over CSI, and make way for Cat Warren and her forensic dog Solo to grab and keep your attention. What the Dog Knows is beautifully and compelling written—not only could I not put it down, I didn’t want to.
Enter the fascinating world of working dogs.
Warren highlights the profound partnership developed between humans and dogs during their intense, but positive training, and in real situations. We are with her as she starts training her dog, and throughout the mistakes, triumphs, struggles, and rewards. I was entertained and educated—much of what I learned about dogs I had never encountered in any other book….The people and dogs who inhabit this world are unforgettable.
The capabilities of these specially trained working dogs are remarkable. The author provides fascinating insider information about a meaningful partnership that has important legal and personal consequences.
It doesn’t take a dog-lover (such as myself) to appreciate Cat Warren’s remarkable What the Dog Knows. Prepare to be enthralled and enlightened by this story of Solo and his mistress whose clear, lively, personal and intelligent writing will nail you from page one. It’s a toss-up as to who is more fascinating—the dog people or the dogs themselves—in this wonderful and altogether unique book.
Working dogs, be they search and rescue, cadaver or explosive detection specialists, are—like their human partners—a breed apart. They inhabit a world of complete commitment, utter dedication, and extraordinarily rigorous training. What the Dog Knows is greatly enriched by author Cat Warren’s own love of digging. She and Solo take us on some fascinating detours through history and phony-baloney claims en route to the science, wonder and awe that all rightly surround dogs’ noses.
Warren’s painstaking research on the history and science of working dogs debunks myths and explains what is known—and how much remains unknown—about canine abilities and behavior. By combining this hard information with anecdotes about training Solo, accounts of searching the North Carolina woods for dead bodies, and the stories of other trainers and their dogs, she has produced a book that is both informative and entertaining. Although her love for Solo is palpable, she remains analytical and clear-headed, never romanticizing what he or other working dogs do.
What the Dog Knows is first the story of the relationship between a hard-working cadaver dog and his human companion. But that deeply felt relationship opens the way to an exploration of the working dog world and in doing so becomes something more—a realization of the intelligence, determination, and decency of these animals, a story both wonderful and wise.
In a series of accounts that sometimes read like detective stories, Cat Warren…takes us through the steps needed to create dogs that search for people—both living and dead—while describing her life and her special bond with a German shepherd named Solo.
In this combination of history, science, and memoir, North Carolina State Journalism professor Warren looks as the ways in which domestic animals have been able to assist humans, specifically the world of cadaver dogs, drug- and bomb-detecting police dogs, and tracking dogs. The author quickly gains the reader’s sympathy with humorous accounts of her first days with Solo, the cadaver dog she’s owned since birth, and earns the reader’s respect with a well-researched chapter that calls into question much of the accepted and fluctuating statistics regarding dogs’ superior sense of smell….A welcome and necessary addition to the growing body of literature on the subject.
Fantastic…Should be mandatory reading for any police dog handler or trainer.
Warren writes . . . with the research-forward focus of an academic and the sweat-and-scabs storytelling of someone who has lived in the field. What the Dog Knows is an incredibly poignant book about dogs and people and how the lost can become found again.
Just finished What the Dog Knows, Cat Warren’s wonderful new book about the training of her cadaver dog, Solo. This is a real treat for serious dog people: informative, compelling, moving, sad, funny, the works. I loved it.
A former journalist, the author possesses a keen sense of detail and pacing that informs, entertains, and quickly draws readers into her life and work with Solo.
What the Dog Knows has so much to offer to handlers, trainers, and dog people in general. A full reporting of the stories here would rob you of the roller-coaster of emotions that Cat and Solo experience, and I want you to experience them for yourself. Warren is obviously a very skilled and entertaining writer, while never writing down to anyone from a high post. You will truly like Cat Warren as she reveals herself in the book, and you’ll feel her pride in her partner ‘Solo.’
The author doesn’t just talk about her experience. She explains the training and science labs. She explains what other trainers and handlers do. The reader will read about animal psychologists, forensic anthropologists, breeders and scent researchers. It’s all explained in an easy-to-read yet detailed narrative. This is a fascinating book for dog lovers and for those who want to know more about how dogs help us each and every day.
Delving into the history of working dogs, Warren mixes personal memoir with historical fact to present a fascinating and comprehensive work.
It’s a lively read, rich with details on the exhausting and rewarding process of training a working dog, but in the end, you realize that the process is really about bonding in a way that transcends—or perhaps sidesteps knowing.
Warren teaches science journalism at North Carolina State University and has strong investigative and storytelling skills, which makes the book all the more enthralling and engaging. This book offers new avenues to learn about the cognitive and emotional lives of one’s own dogs, and is highly recommended by this reviewer.