Follow Pamela Redmond Satran's charts and discover which category of dog-person you are, or maybe where you'd file your neighbor, such as the one who dressed his schnauzer like Sarah Palin last Halloween. Rabid: Are You Crazy About Your Dog or Just Crazy? offers definitive answers to such questions, along with pages of fun facts and hilarious photos gleaned from the world of canines and their--perhaps--wacky humans.
Satran covers the pup business from birth to death, ending with a dog-cloning how-to (which involves paying a company in South Korea $100,000). Dog worship is not new, and Satran's timeline of dogs throughout history ranges from cave paintings right up to Queen Elizabeth II's corgis. Frequent quizzes help the reader analyze a human's craziness, and there's a veritable shopping list of canine-pampering possibilities: from a Tempur-pedic dog bed to a Disney pet resort to leaving your entire estate to your pets when you die.
On the plus side of dog adoration, pets do unite humans. Witness the annual Woofstock, a Humane Society benefit in Wichita, Kan., or the Doggie Art festival celebrating greyhound rescue efforts in Winter Park, Fla. Or the pup crawl in Chicago, or Seattle's dog yoga studio.... Dog lovers, whether in denial or proud acceptance, will read Rabid with delight. --Cheryl Krocker McKeon, bookseller