Vicki Hearne (1946–2001)

Vicki Hearne was an animal trainer and in 1987 she got involved in a court case about a dog named Bandit who bit someone. He bit a woman who was attacking another person on his property, which Hearne feels was wholly justified by the animal's way of reasoning, but there was a huge outcry about the dog being vicious, uncontrollable and dangerous. The dog was impounded and during that time probably mistreated; when he was finally returned home he urinated on the front porch and his owner smacked him so the dog bit his arm. Bandit was taken away again, and this time due to get euthanized but the author argued for him, so he was given into her custody to see if she could train him. Into better behavior supposedly, but the evaluations of this and all other things regarding the issue were so complicated and messed up it's hard to say. Hearne feels that she did a good job training Bandit (and she had the utmost admiration for his staunch character as a dog), but she wasn't allowed to demonstrate his manners properly, so the restrictions set on him (to be always muzzled and on lead when out in public for example) were never lifted, nor was she able to return him to his original owner.

The book is interesting because a lot of it is about how animals think and behave, and also how a lot of people assume they think and behave, but they're wrong. Including, according to the author, many people in animal rescue work and humane societies. She has a lot of issues with them. And a lot of issues with how people can't be saying what they really mean, because their words, syntax or grammar don't make sense- she's very right about that in my opinion but it sure put my thoughts in a tangle to tease out understanding of how she explains these examples. The most straightforward being, that she considered the ban against pit bull dogs nonsensical because there is no such actual breed, and saying any "type of pit bull dog" is open to a lot of interpretation. In a lot of cases though, the author veers off into widely different subjects and sometimes I could not make head or tail of what she was saying anymore. She studied philosophy and wrote poetry which is all very evident in her writing style and thought process, and I just didn't get it. Sometimes I didn't even get a single sentence that covered a third of the page, read it three times, scratched my head what and had to put the book down. Also there's quite a few instances where she describes and analyzes some artwork- paintings and sculptures- and what they say about dogs (or horses) or our ideas about what dogs and horses are like. Except search as I might, I couldn't find the actual pieces she referred to, aside from one by Degas, and I did not at all see what Hearne did, in the painting...

I'm glad I struggled through reading it, at least this once. I would have given it a 4 if I had been able to understand some of it a little better.

from the Dogear Diary… (altro)

Vicki Hearne is an animal trainer who works with dogs and horses, also writes poetry and studies philosophy. So the book touches on all those things, but mostly is (to my understanding) about how we communicate with animals, how that relates to understanding and training them. I can't quite explain how that all intertwines with philosophy, because I admit I didn't understand all those parts. I like how the author thinks, but often the details of her explanations would loose me... She butts heads with lots of people- pet owners, trainers she disapproves of, behavioral scientists and university professors all- who claim that animals react to things merely in a mechanical fashion and have no sense of reason or emotion. Hearne adamantly believes otherwise, and strives to prove it. She shares some compelling stories about training dogs in obedience and tracking work, and of working with problematic horses. I found her description of how horses think and communicate particularly fascinating- I didn't know they were so tactile. There's also a very interesting section about pit bull dogs. She had one, and the media hysteria about these dogs as dangerous animals was just starting to boil up... I was most curious to read one of the final chapters, which is her opinions on how cats think and deal with people, but admit I had trouble comprehending that one. It's definitely a book I'm keeping on my shelf to read again, because I want to understand better the things Hearne is getting at.

more at the Dogear Diary… (altro)

This is a book unlike any other. Author Vicki Hearne---professor of literature and professional trainer of police dogs and horses---takes a truly unique approach to animal behaviour. Deeply influenced by Wittgenstein's philosophy of language, her insights into inter-species communications are astonishingly original. It may take readers some time to get used to the meandering tone and rhythm of her literary voice and to decipher the meaning she ascribes to certain central linguistic concepts, but those who perservere are rewarded by some fascinating conjectures on animal consciousness and self-expression. A challenging but brilliant work.… (altro)