How Dogs Really Work!

According to Alan Snow, dogs are complex mechanical animals, composed of pipes, wheels, funnels, bolts, and other hardware store parts. Snow's brightly colored drawings (except for the black and white picture on pp. 10-11) show cutaways of the dog's inner workings, including a telescope (eyes), microphones (ears), and something resembling a washing machine/bank vault to represent the stomach. All of this is very funny and creative on first viewing. He uses computer analogies to explain higher functions like memory: "All dogs, even the boring ones, have some sort of brain..." "All the information that goes into the brain is compared with the information that is already there (called memories)." In the "stored information" section of the dog, the cutaway reveals a bulletin board with tacked-on pictures ("visual memory") and bottles containing a boot, a sausage, and a treat ("smell memory"). Several small internal dogs operate the various levers and gadgets that control the mechanical beast we know as a dog. (This begs the question of what operates the inner dogs, but Snow lets that one go). Obviously, this imaginative book is strictly for fun, and Snow's illustrations, short answers (e.g., "what happens when the eyes pick up an image of another dog") and guides (e.g., General Maintenance") are humorous and sometimes even instructive. However, the book's mechanistic approach is sometimes off-putting as well. Snow sometimes refers to the dog as an "it," and this construct is reinforced throughout the book. In one two-page section, a vet opens up a sick dog as if the latter were simply a bad engine (screwdrivers and drill parts surround the upside-down canine). Neither the eyes of the vet nor of the dog are shown, and each lacks a basic humanity or "caninity," respectively. Snow opens up the laboratory-like feeling of the book by showing a dog playing, eating, chasing, and exploring around a house, but the basic social nature of the dog is ignored. Other sections of the book just don't feel right. The text for the diagram (that's what the pictures feel like) of the dog viewing an apparently frightened "other" dog reads, "Do I know this dog? Yes. His name is Fang, and he is my friend." The humor around dogs' independence is usually reserved for cats, and the food-centered nature of the dog is nothing new-even if the illustrations are creative. As clever as the concept, and as well drawn the execution (this book won the New York Times Book Review title for "Best Illustrated Children's Book), the book lacks a certain warmth; you get the feeling that Snow doesn't own a dog. After the initial satisfaction at seeing the bright, creative schematics, the dense text and complex pictures become almost taxing. Occasionally, Snow takes a break from this formula, and his page about how dogs and owners come to resemble each other ("A pretty pampered dog will make its owner feel ugly and inferior. Result-the owner will rush off to the beauty salon."

How Dogs Really Work is a really great book. I love the story, and it is very, very funny. The illustrations of the insides of dogs are very well done and the artist is great. I recommend this book with 5 stars.

This is by far the best picture book I have ever read in my life. Alan uses such a great sense of humor, and the pictures are wonderful. My mom and I always used to spend extra time after washing our dog so we could read this book. When I got it for Christmas, my Aunt and Grandma liked it too! How Dogs Really Work is a book for people of all ages, I even gave it to my cat-loving friend!

I first read this book as a little kid- and I still like it now. The idea of dogs being machines is a great one, and little details in the drawing make it seem real (in a wacky way). A good book for younger kids, or any one with a love for dogs and a sense of humor.