---
product_id: 1435104
title: "How Dogs Love Us: A Neuroscientist and His Adopted Dog Decode the Canine Brain Hardcover – October 22, 2013"
brand: "gregory berns"
price: "₱4628"
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---

# How Dogs Love Us: A Neuroscientist and His Adopted Dog Decode the Canine Brain Hardcover – October 22, 2013

**Brand:** gregory berns
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- **What is this?** How Dogs Love Us: A Neuroscientist and His Adopted Dog Decode the Canine Brain Hardcover – October 22, 2013 by gregory berns
- **How much does it cost?** ₱4628 with free shipping
- **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship
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## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    Dog research any dog lover will enjoy
  

*by E***Y on Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 11, 2019*

Gregory Berns loves dogs. So does the rest of his family, but he's the neuroscientist, He decided he wanted to know if his dogs really loved him, and if he could determine how and why.This led inevitably to training the newest addition to their family of six (two adults, two daughters, two dogs) a terrier mix they named Callie, to enter an MRI, assume a scannable position, and remain motionless for long enough intervals for useful brain scans.Just getting the necessary permissions and approvals to bring pet dogs, rather than "purpose-bred dogs," mostly beagles bred only to be lab animals, into the lab or even onto Emory University property, was a challenge. There are good reasons, for many kinds of research, for using purpose-bred animals, including dogs. It's not the best choice in every case, though, and for at least thirty years the trend has been to eliminate research animals altogether whenever there are alternatives that give good results. Real alternatives to animal haven't yet reached to point of making lab animals completely unnecessary, but the need has been dramatically reduced over the course of my working life.And while this particular research project necessarily involved real dogs, there was no need at all for them to be purpose-bred lab animals. Pet dogs calm enough to be trained for the MRI tests were arguably a better choice, because they would have a more normal relationship with humans, and that's what "the dog project" was all about.So Berns kept pushing, and inventing work-arounds for the demands of the research office and the legal office, and got his project approved.Then came figuring out to train his own terrier mix, Callie, and a border collie, McKenzie, to accept the MRI, the noise of the MRI, and keeping still in the correct position for the scans. All this just to get to the proof of concept stage, proving they could do useful MRI scans on animals as different from the normal MRI subjects (humans and other primates) as dogs are.And it's unexpectedly fun to read this section, before they ever get to the tests they want--can they tell from brain scans whether dogs actually like humans, and not just the fact that we're a reliable source of food and toys?It's a great account, further enlivened by Callie herself, the Berns family, and the other Berns dogs, both Lyra the Golden retriever they had at the same time as Callie, and the pugs, especially Newton, who preceded them. And yet, that leads to the one part of this book that bothered me.The other standout personality here besides Callie, is Newton. Pugs are generally happy, affectionate personalities, really great companion dogs. Except, of course, for the fact that their skulls are so short and their faces so flat that often they can't breathe properly. The snorting, the snuffling, the snoring, that many people, including Gregory Berns, think is so cute, is in fact a sign of a dog who is suffering from not breathing properly. It's not fun to breathe that badly. It's exhausting, compromises sleep, is at best uncomfortable and often painful.This is something that can be avoided, or at least greatly minimized, by being really careful in selecting a breeder to get your dog from. But the Berns family prefers to adopt from shelters, which is good and much to be encouraged--but if you adopt pug or another brachcephalic dog from a shelter or rescue, and you have, like the Berns family, an at least upper middle class income, you should be asking your vet, first thing, whether a soft palette resection is right for your dog. If your dog is one of the dogs of this type that has significant difficulty breathing, and you have the resources, you should be talking to your vet about whether your dog can be helped. It may not be possible in every case, but when, like Gregory Berns, you know that "cute" snorting and snoring is in fact very hard on your dog, you ought to at least talk to your vet about possible help for the problem. And yet Berns, who clearly really loves his dogs, and who tells us that Newton couldn't breathe properly and it was a problem for the poor dog, never mentions talking to the vet about it.I really do feel that even if Newton couldn't be helped, Berns could have devoted a paragraph to telling people that the snorting and snoring isn't cute, and that if they have the means they should at least talk to their vet about it. He doesn't.And yet.This is a really good book about research that any dog lover will love.I should, in fairness, warn those who need to know that yes, dogs, including Newton and later Lyra, the Golden retriever, do die during the book. But these are the deaths at a reasonable age of dogs who were loved and happy members of their family. They're not awful tragedies that come out of nowhere to smack you in the face for the sake of extracting emotion from you.And yes, you will love the research and its results.Recommended.I bought this audiobook.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    worth a read, for some dog lovers
  

*by I***E on Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on October 27, 2013*

This book has something to offer the dog lovers among us, including me, who are interested in a scientific understanding of the dog's mind.  That said, the book is seriously flawed by Berns' apparent lack of ability to empathize or intuitively understand dogs.  I do not think that Berns is a dog lover, though he is concerned with being politically correct when it comes to respecting dog's rights.  These are NOT the same thing.  Berns repeatedly expresses how he doesn't understand dogs behavior and motives.  He is baffled at why his dog gets excited when a woman is shrieking.  He states, "Observing Lyra's behavior doesn't tell us what she was thinking."  Careful observation very often can give insights into what a dog is thinking, and there are many recent scientific experiments which do exactly that.  On page 17, Berns claims that we can make inferences about what other people are thinking, but not about dogs because "they certainly don't have a shared culture like we do."  I beg to differ.  We have shared a culture with dogs for about 10,000 years.  There are a number of very recent books on this and related topics.  Check out If Dogs Could Talk: Exploring the Canine Mind, by Vilmos Csányi, For the Love of a Dog: Understanding Emotion in You and Your Best Friend, by Patricia McConnell and The Genius of Dogs: How Dogs Are Smarter than You Think by Brian Hare.  These, and more, are much more worthwhile reading that this book.  Still, if you read those and want more, Berns has a little bit to add.  Really, I'ld have rather just read his research report or an article on it, as much of this book was a waste of time to me.  For example, I really don't need to hear about his daughter's struggles with science class.  There is also far too much time spent on the mechanics of MRIs for me.  I like an understanding of the science behind it, but I don't plan on building one anytime soon.So, what exactly is the topic of this book?  Berns states, "It all comes down to reciprocity.  If the dog-human relationship is predominantly one-sided, with humans projecting their thoughts onto the dog vacuously staring up at this master in the hopes of receiving a doggie treat, then the dog is not much better than a big teddy bear -- a warm, soft, comforting object.  But what if the dog reciprocates in the relationship?  Do dogs have some concept of humans as something more than food dispensers?  Simply knowing that human feelings toward dogs are reciprocated in some way, even if only partially, changes everything.  It would mean that dog-human relationships belong on the same plane as human-human relationships.  None of these questions can be answered simply by observing dogs' behavior."  That is the question that Berns addresses, and that is the perspective that he addresses it from.  Again, I disagree that observation doesn't give answers.  I'll also venture a guess that Berns' dog is more attached to him and he is to her.  Throughout the book, he comes across as stiff and out of touch with his emotions.For those unfamiliar with shaping as a training method, the descriptions of training Callie and McKenzie to stay still in the MRI would be an interesting read, but there's little new here for those who already know shaping. Also, chapter 12 has info on the benefits of dogs at work.Further evidence of the author's handicap when it comes to understanding dogs.  He's vacationing with his family, including the two dogs.  I'll let him take it from there, "I looked at Callie.  Her prey instinct was on red alert.  She sat stiffly at the end of the leash, head like a periscope, twisting in lightning fast jerks toward every sound and motion in the woods.  She looked up at me and whimpered.  I didn't need an MRI to know what she wanted.  She wanted to be off-leash like Lyra.  Figuring she would hang around the picnic spread that Kat had been setting up, I reached down to unclip her.  The world seemed to spin down.  As I pulled back on the leash clip, Kat screamed out in slow motion "Nooooo!"  With the opening of the clip, everything kicked into motion.  With that telltale click, Callie knew she was free.  She never looked back...."  I think most of us could have foretold that, as Kat did, but not the author.  I think he mistakes his inability to read dog body language as a universal trait, which it is not.

### ⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    Published by Amazon (so take reviews with a grain of salt)
  

*by C***E on Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on May 16, 2023*

Of course, the book published by Amazon will always appear to be the best-selling book. I would not recommend this book if you want to learn about dog psychology or behavior. Keep looking. There are better books e.g. Inside of a Dog: What Dogs See, Smell, and Know and The Other End of the Leash: Why We Do What We Do Around Dogs.I you want to read the story about a neuroscientist training his dog to sit still in an MRI machine and a bit of obvious insight gained from it, then read this! I didn't learn much about dogs in this book. I learned more about the author's family, to be honest.

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*Last updated: 2026-01-27*