How Smart Is Your Dog?: 30 Fun Science Activities with Your Pet

Grade 5-7-Dog lovers will find plenty of useful activities and helpful advice in this title. Children are invited to read the safety tips at the start, then skip around to their favorite activity. They can learn how to make a footprint and nose print of their pet, take Spot's pulse, test canine cranial nerves, find Fido's favorite food, give a massage, etc. Safety hints include how to avoid bites and what to do if a menacing dog approaches. Most activities require only a few readily available tools and supplies. The type is set amid plenty of white space. Colorful cartoon illustrations portray myriad hounds and their multiethnic human friends. Abundant anthropomorphism is used as a visual aid to the lively text. A "yawn with your dog" activity shows poodle and girl yawning at each other. A discussion of the heart depicts a bulldog clipping out valentines. And smiling pups are everywhere. Additional information is set apart in green-rimmed fact bubbles. Fun, enlightening fare for inquisitive dog owners, and good for reports.
Anne Chapman Callaghan, Racine Public Library, WI
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Gr. 3-5. What is the nictitating membrane and why is muzzle length relevant? How can one interpret a dog's postures? Technical and medical terms are defined and applied as these and many other topics pertinent to canine physiology and psychology are comprehensibly covered. Abundant pen, ink, and watercolor art lucidly diagrams dogs' anatomy, while lighthearted cartoon illustrations humorously reinforce the many absorbing facts. The ideas for interactive learning, including tests of dogs' ESP, reasoning ability, and memory skills, are intriguing and achievable; activities for identifying a dog's skeletal bones by applying labeled stickers to pets or making canine nose prints will be more difficult to accomplish. Fortunately, from the beginning, the book encourages a healthy respect for dogs and offers safety tips and advice for avoiding canine confrontations. From its irresistible cover photograph to its concluding ideas for directing a love of dogs into a lifetime career, this is an appealing, user-friendly book, buttressed by plenty of scientific fact. Ellen Mandel
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