Willing Dogs & Reluctant Masters: On Friendship and Dogs

Gary Borjesson explores what it means to be friends — really friends — with a dog, and how that relationship can illuminate and inform the other friendships in our lives.
"We can learn much about friendship by examining our relationships with dogs, partly because of what we have in common with them, but also because of what we do not. Our differences put friendship and its terms in striking relief. The resulting perspective is especially valuable given how easy it is for dogs, friendship, and other familiar aspects of our experience to escape our notice." —from the Preface
Dogs are remarkable creatures. More than any other animal, they share with humans a deep interest in friendship, cooperation, and justice. (That's probably why we love them so much.) In Willing Dogs & Reluctant Masters, Gary Borjesson explores the source of—and justification for—our authority in the master-dog relationship, while inviting readers to ponder the role of authority in friendships among people, as well.
Willing Dogs & Reluctant Masters will delight dog owners as they see themselves and their dogs in Gary Borjesson's account of human-canine relations. And it will encourage all readers to wonder anew about how friendship enriches our lives.
Since 1999, Gary Borjesson has taught at St. John's College in Annapolis, Maryland, where he and his wife, Cindy Boersma, live with their German shepherd, Atkis.