I have just been given this book as a gift, having also been given Pickerel's Horse: 30,000 Years of the Horse in Art, a couple of years ago. I loved the first book and it is with great delight that I can say the Dog book certainly lives up to my expectations. The choice of paintings the author has used is fascinating, from well-known and much reproduced works to ones little heard of, with the overall impression underlining just how important the dog within the arts has been over the centuries. I find myself now scrutinising works of art to see if I can find the almost inevitable dog in them, especially Dutch works of the seventeenth century! Visually this book is wonderful, as was the Horse book, and in a similar way the accompanying text provides a lively and interesting look at the dog, its place in cultures, its development into such varied breeds and its fundamental importance to human. The author raises interesting questions and topics that are thought provoking and as stimulating mentally as the paintings are visually. This is a definitely a book for every dog lover, but is also relevant from a purely art historical angle