Our dogs are our friends. We choose to believe that they understand us intuitively, that we can confide in them and that they will support us without question. In return we lavish them with affection, overlook faults and invest them with glorious qualities we rarely spot in our fellow humans. Walking the dog allows us to give fantasy full rein. New vistas open up. Social gatherings occur that are entirely outside our normal day-to-day experience … Edward Stourton’s columns, recording his regular excursions with Kudu, the Springer spaniel, appeared fortnightly in the Telegraph from May 2009 until September 2010. They form the basis for this witty, charming and revealing book of canine musings. Ed’s focus might momentarily seem trivial, but his canvas proves to be immeasurably wide. Kudu’s small trips to the park offer big insights into romantic attachment, warfare, guilt and depression, honour and heroism, our sense of duty, beauty and the hard facts of life’s pecking order.
Engaging and enlightening, Diary of a Dog-Walker will be utterly irresistible for any man or woman with a dog.