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Sussex Local (Chichester)

A curious and interesting book.

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Miniaturas JM

An inherently fascinating and exceptionally interesting survey of canine history, breeds, and cultural history, "Dogs: Working Origins and Traditional Tasks" is an extraordinarily informative and exceptionally well presented study.

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Midwest Book Review

In one word I can describe the book as: amazing.

The books is fantastic. It has over 250 photos, most of them taken by the author or with the author. He experienced first hand how dogs were worked, from sledding to herding to game dogs. I found all the different aspects fascinating, as I was not aware of many of the things he mentions in the book, for example Dalmatians and their history. Besides the gorgeous photos and his hands-on approach, this is a history book too, so there are plenty of primary sources starting from the 16th century. He presents how things changed and why. Also, he went to many different countries to see the dogs, the stories about the Kangals are great. Saluki are mentioned too, with lots of pictures and details about them used for hunting in the Jordanian desert.

5/5 stars

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Coffee and Books

Loades manages, therefore, in an extremely interesting book to list numerous dog breeds, on which he focuses by listing their strengths and weaknesses after having known and "used" them personally. This book makes us reflect on how much the dog has facilitated man's life by helping him or replacing him even for very difficult and dangerous tasks (for example, guarding and defending a flock from predators), but then it almost always ended up in the category of "companion dogs" which in a certain sense have "hidden" the intrinsic qualities of each breed. However Loades rediscovers these innate qualities that far from being a burden, instead make the dog "work" as they bring out its true nature, and it is a real pleasure to see these fantastic animals, outdoors to be happy in making themselves useful, enormously useful, to their human friend.

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Omne Ignotum Pro Magnifico

Many breeds of dog with which we are familiar in this country, are covered by Mike Loades in this absorbing a thoroughly fascinating book about working dogs. But Mike's book is not just about the breeds we know about (I share my life with a tri-colour border collie, although he has never been a working dog), but with various breeds all over the world, with whom he has worked. The book is amazing, with beautiful photography and the text of someone who is totally committed to his subject matter. Highly recommended.

Books Monthly

Review by Col David Hancock

This book makes an important addition to our knowledge of functional dogs and I do not know of another author who could have achieved that; it is an excellent read and an extremely valuable addition to our libraries.

The Countrymans Weekly, January 2021

I just finished reading Dogs. It was delightful and informative, well researched, yet written in an accessible, narrative format. Photographs and other illustrations clearly depict details the author describes, adding immediacy and placing the reader in the midst of the action. Finally, a call for action to preserve the health and working qualities (over cosmetic appearances) of traditional dog breeds threads through the book. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it.

Craig Cheney