From the Midwestern family who place their thoroughbred at the centre of the formal family portrait, to the Vietnamese mongrel scrabbling around in the dirt, Erwitt's portraits show dogs in all their various moods. But the beauty of the collection is the real value Erwitt gives the dogs as subjects--they are not accessories to enhance cutesie pictures, nor companions for a human centrepiece; rather the focal point of his attention. Even scantily-clad joggers or sunbathers can't outshine their canine companions when seen through Erwitt's lens.

With more than 850 black-and-white pictures (captions are virtually non-existent), Dogdogs needs no introduction, and Erwitt leaves his eight pages of text until the centre of the book. Even his occasional feline imposters cannot detract from what is a dog-owner's dream. From the hardy Doberman pinscher scrabbling through the dustbin for food, to the pampered poodles of New York's dog shows, Erwitt never fails to entrance. The small, thick format of Dogdogs (which is only about seven by five inches in size) elevates it above a mere coffee-table distraction--this is an intelligent, insightful, and most of all passionate, celebration of everything canine. --Lucie Naylor

Synopsis
Magnum photographer Elliott Erwitt, claims that he did not consciously set out to photograph dogs. According to him, it just happened that way: one day, when he was looking through his boxes of photographs, he realized that somehow or other a fair proportion of them contained dogs and their owners. Images of dogs at shows, dogs in crowds larking around together, dogs jumping in the air for joy, dogs sitting on hearthrugs, beaches, sofas, park benches. And these were all sorts of dogs - from Airedales to Highland terriers and from poodles to dachshunds. This book presents 500 of Elliott Erwitt's dog photographs, divided into horizontal and vertical shots with short captions detailing the place and year. As P.G. Wodehouse, who was a great admirer of Elliott Erwitt's, says in his short introductory text, "What superb photographs these are. It does one good to look at them. There is not one sitter in his gallery who does not melt the heart."