Companion Animal Psychology Book Club May 2024
Plus a guest post on reactivity in dogs
“Deeply reported and vividly told, Brookshire’s exploration of our most reviled animal neighbours will forever change how you see nature and our relationship to it.”—Riley Black.
This month, the Animal Book Club is reading Pests: How Humans Create Animal Villains by Bethany Brookshire.
From the publisher,
“An engrossing and revealing study of why we deem certain animals “pests” and others not—from cats to rats, elephants to pigeons—and what this tells us about our own perceptions, beliefs, and actions, as well as our place in the natural world
“A squirrel in the garden. A rat in the wall. A pigeon on the street. Humans have spent so much of our history drawing a hard line between human spaces and wild places. When animals pop up where we don’t expect or want them, we respond with fear, rage, or simple annoyance. It’s no longer an animal. It’s a pest.
“At the intersection of science, history, and narrative journalism, Pests is not a simple call to look closer at our urban ecosystem. It’s not a natural history of the animals we hate. Instead, this book is about us. It’s about what calling an animal a pest says about people, how we live, and what we want. It’s a story about human nature, and how we categorize the animals in our midst, including bears and coyotes, sparrows and snakes. Pet or pest? In many cases, it’s entirely a question of perspective.”
Pests is available from all good bookstores and my Amazon store.
If you're not yet a member of the book club, ask to join on Facebook, give the passcode parkin, and note that you have to agree to read and comment on at least 7 of the 10 books each year.
To whet your appetite, here's the first sentence of the introduction:
"Consider the squirrel."
Guest post on reactivity
I wrote a guest post about reactive dogs for The Nicholberry Despatch. It's on understanding what it's like to have a reactive dog. You can read it via the embedded link below.
While you're there, check out Kerry Nichols' book Puppy Brain, which was just published this week! I've got my copy and can't wait to read it.