Rabid: Are You Crazy About Your Dog or Just Crazy?

Satran (How Not to Act Old) has written another humor book destined to fill gift bags for relatives no one knows very well. With charts breaking down dog ownership behavior according to “Crazy About Your Dog” or “Just Crazy” and tidbits on doggie spa treatments, bottled water and alternative therapies for dogs, the real eye-poppers come from the “Dogs and Art Timeline,” the “Royal Dogs Timeline,” and the section, “Dogs and Money.” This exhaustive compilation of dog-related factoids, itself emblematic of the Internet age, offers its own relevance for just-in-love puppy owners and the “half of dog owners who consider their dogs to be equal members of the family.” A comparison between the merits of dogs versus kids might just be worth the price of admission, but overall, this is a glorified magazine about man’s (and woman’s) best friend. Illus. Agent: Melissa Flashman, Trident Media Group. (Oct.)