As we become more and more obsessed with imagining ourselves as benevolent rescuers of dogs, it is increasingly clear that it is dogs who are rescuing us. But from what? Exploring adoption, work, food, and training, this book considers the social as fundamentally more-than-human and argues that the future belongs to dogs—and the humans they are pulling along.
Our connection with dogs is the oldest relationship humans have cultivated with another large animal—in something like the original interspecies space, as old or older than any other practice that might be called human. But it’s also about the role of this relationship in the attrition of life—especially social life—in late capitalism. As we become more and more obsessed with imagining ourselves as benevolent rescuers of dogs, it is increasingly clear that dogs are rescuing us. But from what? And toward what? Exploring adoption, work, food, and training, this book considers the social as fundamentally more-than-human and argues that the future belongs to dogs—and the humans they are pulling along.
Margret Grebowicz is associate professor at the University of Silesia in Katowice, Poland. She is author of Mountains and Desire: Climbing vs. the End of the World and Whale Song.
In her compelling little book, Grebowicz explores how ever-changing ideas of rescue, food, and training fit into our overall understanding of our obsession with man’s best friend.