a
Boy?
Is Your Dog A GOOD BOY?
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First published by Pop Press in 2025 1
Text by Poppy Del Rey and Mike Weedy
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PART 1: Introduction
This book will test whether your dog is a good dog.
Before we can ask ‘is your dog good?’, we must ask what is ‘good’. Actually, no, before that we must enquire: what is ‘a dog’?
What is a dog?
The dog is a descendant of the wolf. Dog evolution occurred as a result of wolves associating with human tribes. The bravest and most sociable wolves would hang around the tribes scavenging their refuse. These wolves would pass on their genes and the link between dogs and humans became ever stronger.
The domestic dog was then selectively bred by hunter-gatherers, or to give them their full title, hunter- dogbreeder-gatherers. Which is a bit of a mouthful and doesn’t look great on LinkedIn.
When it came to hunting, dogs could help sniff out and attack prey for their human masters. When it came to gathering, one imagines the dogs were next to useless – ‘Why are you bothering
What is a dog?
picking those berries, when we could be playing frisbeeeeeee?’
The difference between wolves and dogs:
Communication – Wolves use their voices, faces and bodies to express themselves. Dogs make similar noises, but also use a lot of body language and puppy-dog eyes to communicate.
Problem solving – Wolves tackle problems through trial and error, while dogs look to their human companions for help.
Maturity – Dogs reach maturity at six to eight months of age whereas wolves do not mature until two to three years old.
Mimicry – Dogs have no interest in impersonating grandmas.
The dictionary definition of a dog describes a domesticated carnivorous mammal which typically
IS YOUR DOG A GOOD BOY?
has a long snout, an acute sense of smell and a barking, howling or whining voice.
That could be a dog, then again it could be Ed Sheeran.
OK, let’s break that down.
Dogs are defined as ‘domesticated’. Well, my dog is domesticated in that she lives in a house (rent-free, I might add) but on the other hand she rarely volunteers to do the washing up.
‘Carnivorous’? Yes, that checks out. Cassie loves eating meat . . . but she also loves eating newspapers.
‘A long snout’? Well, I wouldn’t want to say, I don’t want to give her a complex. But . . . yes.
‘An acute sense of smell’? It’s hard to square with Cassie’s keenness for sniffing other mutts’ butts. But she doesn’t get up each morning and spray Lynx Africa under her leg pits, so she clearly has a better sense of smell than teenage boys.
‘A barking, howling or whining voice’?
People think if your pet barks it’s a dog. Not necessarily: it could be a seal, a frog or even an
