One Nation Under Dog
Adventures in the New World of Prozac-Popping Puppies, Dog-Park Politics, and Organic Pet Food
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
A witty, insightful, and affectionate examination of how and why we spend billions on our pets, and what this tells us about ourselves
In 2003, Michael Schaffer and his wife drove to a rural shelter and adopted an emaciated, dreadlocked Saint Bernard who they named Murphy. They vowed that they'd never become the kind of people who send dogs named Baxter and Sonoma out to get facials, or shell out for $12,000 hip replacements. But then they started to get weird looks from the in-laws: You hired a trainer? Your vet prescribed antidepressants? So Schaffer started poking around and before long happened on an astonishing statistic: the pet industry, estimated at $43 billion this year, was just $17 billion barely a decade earlier.
One Nation Under Dog is about America's pet obsession—the explosion, over the past generation, of an industry full of pet masseuses, professional dog-walkers, organic kibble, leash-law militants, luxury pet spas, veterinary grief counselors, upscale dog shampoos, and the like: a booming economy that is evidence of tremendous and rapid change in the status of America's pets. Schaffer provides a surprising and lively portrait of our country—as how we treat our pets reflects evolving ideas about domesticity, consumerism, politics, and family—through this fabulously reported and sympathetic look at both us and our dogs.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A Fast Food Nation for dog lovers, this astute and amusing investigative report offers a "journey into the $41-billion-a-year world of the modern American pet." Each chapter focuses on "a different realm of the pet universe," and the total effect is reminiscent of Tom Wolfe's New Journalism essays on the sociology of pop culture. Schaffer explores baby boomers who devote themselves to "fur babies" after their children have grown up and moved out. He attends the 2008 Global Pet Expo to take stock of the 2,400 display booths of retail pet items. He observes New York's "burgeoning canine social scene." In San Francisco, he looks at how arguments over dog leash laws are case studies in how cities need to "navigate the controversies" of a new pet-friendly world. And his fascinating piece on the evolution of pet toys from the first "purportedly educational" ones made in a Colorado garage in the 1970s to today's "veritable arms race" is essential reading for anyone whose dog has become hooked on Kong bounce balls.