Disclosure: I received this book for free from the publisher, Smith Publicity Inc., through NetGalley.com in exchange for this review. I was not financially compensated in any way. The opinions stated below are my own and are based on my observations while reading this book.
My Opinion Of 39 Ways To Not Kill Your Best Friend
I chose to read (Affiliate Link) 39 Ways To Not Kill Your Best Friend: Tales of Caution For Dog Lovers by Dr. Judith Samson-French because it
sounded like your typical “how-to” book. Or maybe I didn’t pay nearly enough
attention to the title. Let’s just say I was surprised by this book starting
from the very first sentence: “It is with great love that I perform the act of
killing.” Uh… what did I just get myself into?
This isn’t a biography of a serial killer, so don’t worry.
Though the author has done her fair share. Dr. Judith Samson-French is a
veterinarian with over 20 years of experience. Her book is a collection of dogs
she has come across in her work that have died or almost died because of the
actions of their owners. 39 Ways To Not Kill Your Best Friend is an
emotional book that hits you in your heart right where the love of your dog
sits. It’s that emotional connection that make the lessons stick. This book
should be mandatory for all first time dog owners. It should be handed out with
every dog adoption at animal shelters and given away with every puppy from the
pet shop. Many deaths could be prevented if every dog owner read this book.
Some of the 39 ways you could kill your dog are relatively
common knowledge, like don’t feed your dog chocolate, but there are even things
for an experienced dog owner to learn. My favorite parts of the book were the
science behind why certain things are so deadly to dogs. Dr. Judith
Samson-French doesn’t just tell you not to do something (like feeding chocolate
to dogs) she tells you why you shouldn’t do it. I don’t know about you, but no
one shows me the evidence when telling me not to do something. They just expect
me to listen blindly. Dr. Judith Samson-French’s 20 years of experience meant
little to me, but her faith in the reader’s ability to understand and the belief
the reader would be interested in knowing why gained my trust. This was
important because she tackled many controversial topics.
When it comes to any type of parent, telling them how to
raise their babies hardly ever makes you friends. This is true of dog babies,
too. Dr. Samson-French tackled some of the most controversial topics headlong
with anecdotal evidence and some scientific facts. A few of these topics, like
the raw food diet for dogs and whether Fido should chew on bones or not, have
been all over the internet recently. She also tackles subjects like dog
breeding and doggy cosmetic surgery. Whether you’re for these or not, the facts
she provides are something every dog owner should consider. The book would be
worth buying if it just included these chapters and nothing else.
All in all, I'd give (affiliate) 39 Ways To Not Kill Your Best Friend: Tales of Caution For Dog Lovers by Dr. Judith Samson-French a 7.5/10. It was a great book and extremely useful but Chapter 10 was a little hard to read after eating. Plus, my dog babies were annoyed because I wouldn't leave them alone for a week in fear I'd accidentally kill them. I should probably bump this up to an 8.5 because for every book sale, dog food will be donated to dogs with no names on First Nations lands in Canada (where the author is from) but that has little to do with the quality of the book itself.
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