JUST A DOG
Understanding animal cruelty and ourselves
By Arnold Arluke
Publisher: Temple University Press, Philadelphia
Reviewed by Joan Papayanni, World League for the Protection of Animals

The picture on the cover of this book is of Willa, a dog who was brutally beaten and the title, Just a Dog, are the words of a judge in the US who acquitted two youths of this brutal beating of Willa after they had accepted a few dollars from her owner to kill her after she had urinated in his house. The picture is a sad and emotive one and gives some expectation that perhaps the book may take a similar stance.

But this is certainly not so. Professor Arluke (Professor of Sociology and Anthropology at Northeastern University) has produced a totally scholarly, expertly researched study of animal cruelty and its human connections – those who care for animals as well as those who commit unspeakably cruel acts against them. Arluke is perceptive and mostly insightful in this comprehensive study.

The book consists of five chapters and a conclusion. The chapter names

Agents: Feigning Authority, Adolescents: Appropriating Adulthood, Hoarders: Shoring Up Self, Shelter Workers: Finding Authenticity, Marketers: Celebrating Community give an indication of the scope and line Professor Arluke takes.

As someone involved practically in animal work the chapter on hoarders was particularly interesting and elucidating in some ways but did not seem to me to sufficiently acknowledge the compassionate instinct which is often the catalyst for the so-called hoarder to “save so many animal lives”.

As a passionate animal rights activist, I sometimes found myself ‘turned off’ by Professor Arluke’s always so objective, sometimes seemingly clinical approach. But Arluke would say this is because my standpoint is ideological rather than academic.

However Just a Dog, a totally scholarly and academic sociological study is as well a most effective channel to inform the general public about animal cruelty. This is a significant and crucial achievement as a well-informed and aware public is necessary for any future policy debate and ensuing improvements in relation to animal cruelty – an issue that many people find just too disturbing to confront.