The Book of Dogs by David W. Macdonald

The Book of Dogs: A Life-Size Guide to Canids Worldwide

By David W. Macdonald

The University of Chicago Press 2026

The University of Chicago Press continues its series of opulent oversized illustrated nature books, including great volumes like The Book of Frogs and The Book of Snakes, with something that must surely represent its summa theologica: The Book of Dogs. The books picture the more obliging groups of these animals by showing life-sized photos of each species on each page, which of course is an approach that won’t work with the sprawling family of Canidae, several of whom have heads as big as this entire book. But the gimmick continues nonetheless, by pricelessly including photos of each canid’s nose, poking out from the corner of each page.

The Book of Dogs takes its readers on a sweeping tour of the evolution of wild canines, their natural history, and the wild variety of breeds that humans have shaped from wolflike ancestors over thousands of years. Our author, David Macdonald, is the University of Oxford’s first professor of wildlife conservation, and in these pages, through a combination of his own terrific, informed prose and gorgeous illustrations from dozens of photographers, he presents what is surely one of the best dog books ever presented to a grateful dog-loving public.

He reminds his readers that if they currently have dogs or ever have had any they are participating in a long transformation begun some 40,000 years ago. Canines were the original companions of humans and remain their only true allies, neither slaves like horses or oxen nor chattel like pigs and chickens (to say nothing of whatever the hell cats are). They leant fledgling humans their vastly superior senses, their endless aerobic capacity, and their formidable teeth and muscles, all in exchange for free food and the affection that springs so naturally between these two kinds of animals. Something of the variety of that relationship (‘something’ only because comparatively little attention is paid to extinct canine species, or the range of ‘proto dogs’ known from the fossil record) is wonderfully represented in this slick, colorful pages.

“Your appreciation of the individuality, personality, sentience, charm, consciousness, and cognitive depth of your dog will, once you realize the oneness of all canids, make it impossible for you not to attribute all these same values to its wild relatives,” Macdonald writes, elaborating on one of his goals for writing the book. “Understanding domestic dogs through the prism of wild ones will not only enrich your appreciation of both, it will also sharpen your nose to the whiff of double standards.”

Noses will be sharpened aplenty in the course of the book. Macdonald writes evocatively about every extant species of wild dog, including, for instance, the actual African wild dog (Lycaon Pictus), those roving, hyper-social pack-predators, and he notes both the variety and the limitations of their constant communication with each other:

Despite their complex social structure, flamboyant body language, and varied vocal repertoire — rendered as twittering, whining, yelping, squealing, whispering, barking, growling, gurling,[sic] rumbling, moaning, and hooing — African wild dogs lack the nuanced facial expressions of grey wolves.

But he’s equally thorough when writing about all the types of domesticated breeds. About the feisty Miniature Schnauzer, for example, readers are not only informed that the breed was registered in 1888 and made its US debut in 1924 but are also told these little creatures are “characterized as outgoing and excellent” watchdogs. Beagles pictured in the book’s opening section are caught in the act of baying their damn fool heads off. The basset hounds seem generally unaware of their surroundings. The goofy Irish wolfhounds are doing their best not to look terrifying. And the joy of mutts is well-represented.

By its very nature, The Book of Dogs will feature prominently in bookstore displays in the lead-up to the end of the year, and that’s as it should be: it’s an amazing production. Fingers crossed the Press finds the spiritual wherewithal to resist following it up with, shudder, The Book of Cats.

Steve Donoghueis a founding editor of Open Letters Monthly. His book criticism has appeared in The Washington Post, The American Conservative, The Spectator, The Wall Street Journal, The National, and the Daily Star. He has written regularly for The Boston Globe, the Vineyard Gazette, and the Christian Science Monitor and is the Books editor of Georgia’s Big Canoe News