Jessica Pierce is an internationally acclaimed bioethicist. Her work spans from broad considerations of human responsibilities for nature to detailed explorations of human-animal relationships. She has published eleven books, including The Last Walk: Reflections On Our Pets at the End of Their Lives, and Run, Spot, Run: The Ethics of Keeping Pets, both also published by the University of Chicago Press. Her essays have appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, Guardian, and Scientific American. Pierce is a faculty affiliate at the Center for Bioethics and Humanities at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. She lives in the Colorado Rockies.
Pierce is one of the leading canine bioethicists in the world. In Who's a Good Dog? she carefully applies her deep and broad knowledge of ethics and dog behavior so that all canines-homed and free-ranging dog beings-can have the best lives possible, and so too can their human companions or the humans with whom they have contact. When dogs and humans form and maintain close, give-and-take relationships, it's a win-win for all. In this landmark and readable book, Pierce tells us just how to do it. -- Marc Bekoff, author of Dogs Demystified and Canine Confidential Who's a Good Dog? is sorely needed to fill essentially a void in the public conversation about the human-dog relationship. Pierce bravely asks us to examine our assumptions about our dogs' emotional landscapes, and to consider our own actions and choices within those relationships. Her book is a comprehensive, accessible manual for people who have never before considered the basic ethical implications of living with a dog. -- Lisa Moses, Doctor of Veterinary Medicine, Harvard Medical School Center for Bioethics An astonishing book. Reading Who's a Good Dog? is akin to the project Pierce asks of us: to adopt a beginner's mind in relation to understanding the dogs we live with. There's a sense with many of the questions posed in the book that there is much more to say-but this is also its beauty, that with incredible restraint, Pierce has created opening after opening for us to do the work of reflection (and theorization) ourselves. Original, well-executed, and engaging. -- Kathryn Gillespie, author of The Cow with Ear Tag #1389 A book that all loving pet owners should read. * New Scientist, on The Last Walk * There is of course so, so much more to enrichment for pets; I'd recommend starting with Pierce's book if you want to know more. * New York Magazine, on Run, Spot, Run *