Stanley Coren is a professor of psychology at the University of British Columbia and his insights into dog psychology and behaviour are fascinating. Coren’s previous books about dog behaviour include the best-sellers The Intelligence of Dogs and How Dogs Think.

Coren spends some time defending his approach to the ‘personality’ of individual dogs and dog breeds, which many animal researchers could consider excessively anthropomorphic. Most dog owners, however, would have no doubt that their pets have definite personalities, and no one expects a Jack Russell to act like a Labrador.

But why should dogs have personality? Coren shows that personality in dogs, as in humans, has evolutionary value: it improves the functioning of the social group by allowing others in the group to predict an individual’s responses to particular situations. In fact, as he shows, some understanding of canine personality is essential if people are to choose suitable dogs as companions.

Coren doesn’t buy into the approach of looking at wolves to explain dog behaviour; he sees them as very different. One of the most interesting sections of the book is a discussion of the domestication of grey wolves into dogs. He sees our Stone Age ancestors’ selection of puppies for friendliness as critical; early handling of captured wolf cubs has been shown as insufficient to overcome their natural aggression. Russian researchers used the silver fox to replicate the domestication of wolves. After some generations of breeding from the friendliest fox cubs, the foxes had developed into charming dog-like pets. Along the way, they developed characteristics including floppy ears, barking and tail-wagging.

Dogs, Coren says, can be categorised according to their levels of personality traits such as intelligence, sociability and territoriality. Current and potential dog owners will find his charts of the personality profiles of various breeds useful, and the multiple-choice personality test for your dog is fun.

Other chapters explore what combination of personality and training can make dogs into monsters or heroes. There are horrifying stories of pit bulls trained to savage other animals, and touching true tales of dogs that rescued their owners from burning houses or deep water.