Your Purebred Puppy

Adopting a quasi-scientific approach to choosing a suitable breed of pedigreed pooch, this volume labors to objectify what is ultimately a very personal choice. Lowell, a dog obedience teacher in California, quizzes readers on their expectations regarding 10 aspects of living with a dog--the animal's sociability with strangers, compatibility with children, need of indoor and outdoor activity, trimming and clipping, and beyond. Then she profiles 175 breeds, supplying charts for each that tabulate the 10 factors. But despite her careful quantifications and seemingly authoritative declarations, most of the information she supplies is highly subjective. For example, a true/false test includes ``I think most parents are too permissive or lackadaisical''; rejection of this statement, according to her, lessens the likelihood that the reader is ``equipped to handle a breed who tried to test your leadership.'' Lowell's repetitious analyses of the breeds themselves are also too general: she presents the apparent pros and cons, but rarely are they entirely applicable. (Dec.)