Dogs Who Work: The Canines We Cannot Live Without

Dogs have long been thought of as man’s best friends, but they are more than that. They are also workers with varied and important jobs. Youngsters have probably seen service dogs helping people who are blind or in other ways disabled, and others that herd sheep, pull sleds, work with police, and help with mountain rescues, but there are many other jobs kids probably don’t know about. Dogs are trained to hunt for precious truffles, they can be trained to detect cancer, they can help find the cause of a fire, find leaks, or even be therapy dogs for people with psychological issues.

One section covers jobs dogs did in times past: fighting in wars, carrying messages for soldiers, pulling carts, and more. Another section showcases mythological dogs while another covers famous dogs. Each spread in the book has an illustration of a dog at work along with a few paragraphs explaining the job and mission along with the qualities necessary for a dog to be successful in the job and breeds commonly found doing the job. The writing is conversational and age-appropriate for middle-grade students. The illustrations are nice, but not terribly detailed. This will fascinate young readers.