W Is for Wag... and W Is for Woof by Ruth Strothers

If you have a dog, want a dog, have ever had a dog, or just admire dogs from afar (or if you know anyone who has ever been in one of these conditions), this is a book to love.

Ruth Strother's just published W Is for Woof: A Dog Alphabet (Sleeping Bear Alphabets: Animal) begins with "A is for American Kennel Club," with basic information on breeds and standardization, but the rest of the books is just a celebration of all the things dogs do, illustrated with all the ebullient energy and emotion that dogs bring to life. As to what they do...

B is for Behavior

Dogs jump and bow and bark and mark
And rest quietly at your feet.

You need to read their body language,
'Cause dogs don't really speak.

The rest of this double spread is devoted to a concise description of natural dog communication, how dogs socialize with each other and with humans through ritualized body language that goes back before their domestication. For example, dogs greet by jumping up on us and trying to lick because leaping up and licking their mothers' faces is the way wolf puppies have always asked to be fed (we won't go into how!) when their parents returned from a hunt. The author reminds us that knowing the roots of dog behavior is not just fascinating canine trivia, as she points out:

"Understanding the source of unwanted behavior is key to finding the solution to the problem."

As the author takes us through the alphabet, we learn much more about the roots of behavior and the similar socialization patterns that bond dogs to humans and humans to dogs. Even the letter Y (usually a hard one for abecedarians) is for basic dog vocalizations, Yip, Yap, Yelp, and Yowl and explains much about that sometimes annoying barking and howling which even the best trained dogs will do.

And finally "Z is for Zigzag Zoomies" reminds us that dogs are basically energetic creatures with a strong drive to play and move and work and have fun--with each other or with their human pack. W Is for Woof: A Dog Alphabet (Sleeping Bear Alphabets: Animal) is a beautiful book in its quiet way, eye-catching enough for a coffee table book, great reading for the young dog lover, and instructive even for those of us who have been dog owners and dog lovers at one time or another in our lives.

And if you like dogs but cats are your personal preference, the companion book, M Is for Meow: A Cat Alphabet (Sleeping Bear Alphabets) is just as informative and charming, with plenty of cat history, cat psychology, and cat lore to lure the ailurophile and gorgeous illustrations tastier than cat treats for the eye.