Dogs

Judi Bayly was in trouble. Her oxygen machine, which helped her breathe, stopped working. That's when Judi's dog, Lyric, came to the rescue. As she had been trained to do in this kind of emergency, Lyric made a telephone call. When an operator answered, Lyric barked into the phone. Soon help was on the way. Look inside to find out more about Lyric and other smart dogs that rescue people, search for criminals, and even help doctors find cancer.

Children's Literature

Another in the "Smart Animals" series, this oversized picture book with color photos examines various examples of dogs' intelligence. Every two pages introduce a particular dog and why he or she is intelligent. There is Lyric the "telephone hero," who dialed 911 with her paws, when her owner's oxygen machine malfunctioned. Read about Tangle or Kobi who are both "doctor dogs," able to detect cancer with their keen senses of smell. German shepherds like Bruno help police officers track down criminals. According to dog expert, Dr. Stanley Coren, border collies are the smartest dogs, and afghan hounds the dumbest. Living proof of a smart border collie is Rico, who can recognize 200 human words. He can identify all of his toys by name, and was even able to recognize a new toy he had never seen. In addition to examples of smart dogs, there is also information about dog body language, Pavlov and his salivation experiment, and different types of wild dogs. The end of the book has a glossary and a list of other dog related books for children.