Pet That Dog!, written by Gabriel Kidd and Rachel Braunigan, is a fun read and a solid introduction to dog breeds and canine manners.
Gabriel runs the popular I’ve Pet That Dog social media accounts, and his brother runs the spinoff I’ve Pet That Cat accounts, which are also nice.
Gabriel has also gone to the 2018 AKC National Championship (in a team-up with Matt Nelson of WeRateDogs) and been a guest judge at Drake University’s 2019 Beautiful Bulldog Contest canine beauty pageant.
Pet That Dog! A Handbook for Making Four-Legged Friends was published by Philadelphia-based Quirk Books, and besides their website, is also available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Books-A-Million and Thriftbooks.
Though it’s written with elementary-aged readers in mind (ages 8 to 12), the info could easily be understood by younger children if read aloud or if they were early strong bookworms. This book would also be appealing to reluctant older readers as well, as it’s a quick read at 120-ish pages, and covers a lot of impawtant material.
Pet That Dog! would make a terrific present for a young dog lover in your life.
As the tone is conversational and filled with facts about canines, a dog-crazy child likely will be rattling off things they learned for quite a while after reading.
Some of the topics covered in Pet That Dog! include proper manners when meeting a new dog for the first time, instructions for how to act around service dogs and how to pet a dog the way that they like best.
There are sections on impawtant dog history makers like the medicine-delivering Huskies Balto and Togo, the world’s first guide dog in Buddy I the Seeing Eye Dog and war heroes like Sgt Stubby and Smoky the Yorkie, who may have been the first therapy dog.
There are also tips on caring properly for a dog, heathcare tips from a veterinarian, naming suggestions, and a lengthy blank space where readers can fill in dogs they’ve petted to see how many breeds they’ve met.
Since some people are sadly allergic to dogs, there is also an area talking to them about how they could possibly find a hypoallergenic (less-shedding) breed that they might be able to be around safely.
There is even a multiple-choice personality test and a birthdate-first initial-last initial goofy name generator included, because those are fun.
Pet That Dog! wraps up with some fascinating facts, like the Norwegian Lundehund naturally has six toes on each paw, and Labradors of any color may be born in the same litter.
This book would be a great birthday present for any children or nieces/nephews you might have.