About this item
Cat Warren is a university professor and former journalist with an admittedly odd hobby She and her German shepherd have spent the last seven years searching for the dead Solo is a cadaver dog What started as a way to harness Solos unruly energy and enthusiasm soon became a calling that introduced Warren to the hidden and fascinating universe of working dogs their handlers and their trainers Solo has a fine nose and knows how to use it but hes only one of many thousands of working dogs all over the United States and beyond In What the Dog Knows Warren uses her ongoing work with Solo as a way to explore a captivating field that includes cadaver dogs drug- and bomb-detecting Ks tracking and apprehension dogseven 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 abilities may seem magical or mysterious but Warren shows the multifaceted science the rigorous training and the skilled handling that underlie the amazing abilities of dogs who work with their noses Warren interviews cognitive psychologists historians medical examiners epidemiologists and forensic anthropologists as well as the breeders trainers and handlers who work with and rely on these remarkable and adaptable animals daily Along the way she discovers story after story that proves the impressive capabilitiesas well as the very real limitsof working dogs and their human partners Clear-eyed and unsentimental Warren explains why our partnership with dogs is woven into the fabric of society and why we keep finding new uses for their wonderful noses.
About the Author
Cat Warren is a professor at North Carolina State University, where she teaches science journalism, creative nonfiction, and editing courses. She lives with her husband, David, and her current cadaver dog in training, a German shepherd, Jaco, in Durham, North Carolina. Visit CatWarren.com.
