J. small Anim. Pract. (1979) 20,320. Book Reviews A Dog of Your Own by James Allcock. A B.V.A. Petcare Book. Pp 102. Published by Sheldon Press, Lond,on NWl 4DU. Price E1.95. Jim Allcock’s book for all its innocuous title and modest appearance is a most significant, even revolutionary publication. Its endorsement as a B.V.A. Pet Care Book is evidence that our parent body now fully recognizes the importance to the veterinary surgeon in the United Kingdon of pets and their owners. A Dog of Your Own aims to advise would-be purchasers in choosing and caring for a puppy so that it, they and the community gains maximum benefit from the arrangement. Mr Allcock’s qualifications for writing this book are impeccable. His long experience of mixed practice enables him to understand and deal with the often irrational doubts, fears, worries and myths which assail the average pet owner. Even more important than his experience is his unique ability as a communicator. He writes in a deceptively easy, light-hearted style, never flippant or facetious, but always very readable and gently persuasive. Any dog owner reading this book would have to be extremely perverse not to turn out to be a model owner and client at the end of the experience. Readability is further enhanced by a neat type and a spacious arrangement of the text. Practising veterinary surgeons are individualistic. It can be difficult to publicly present a view, even on a technical matter, which doesn’t outrage a colleague somewhere in the country. Even so, Mr Allcock is able to deal with notorious minefields like vaccinations, visiting and whelpings in a positive, helpful manner, and I feel sure there would be very few of us who would disagree with the advice he offers. There is undoubtedly a market for this type of book, many of those presently available are, in my judgement, dreadful. At best they are unhelpful and at worst they are dangerous. With the publication of A Dog of Your Own the practising veterinary surgeon now has a book, written by a talented colleague, which he can unreservedly recommend to his clients. Presumably there were good reasons for the decision but it seems a little sad that the B.V.A. in launching this series did not have the courage of its convictions and publish itself rather than leaving the venture to Sheldon Press, excellently though they have served the author. IAN HUGHES 320

A Dog of Your Own by James Allcock

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Page 1: A Dog of Your Own by James Allcock

J. small Anim. Pract. (1979) 20,320.

Book Reviews

A Dog of Your Own by James Allcock. A B.V.A. Petcare Book. Pp 102. Published by Sheldon Press, Lond,on NWl 4DU. Price E1.95.

Jim Allcock’s book for all its innocuous title and modest appearance is a most significant, even revolutionary publication. Its endorsement as a B.V.A. Pet Care Book is evidence that our parent body now fully recognizes the importance to the veterinary surgeon in the United Kingdon of pets and their owners.

A Dog of Your Own aims to advise would-be purchasers in choosing and caring for a puppy so that it, they and the community gains maximum benefit from the arrangement. Mr Allcock’s qualifications for writing this book are impeccable. His long experience of mixed practice enables him to understand and deal with the often irrational doubts, fears, worries and myths which assail the average pet owner. Even more important than his experience is his unique ability as a communicator. He writes in a deceptively easy, light-hearted style, never flippant or facetious, but always very readable and gently persuasive. Any dog owner reading this book would have to be extremely perverse not to turn out to be a model owner and client at the end of the experience. Readability is further enhanced by a neat type and a spacious arrangement of the text.

Practising veterinary surgeons are individualistic. It can be difficult to publicly present a view, even on a technical matter, which doesn’t outrage a colleague somewhere in the country. Even so, Mr Allcock is able to deal with notorious minefields like vaccinations, visiting and whelpings in a positive, helpful manner, and I feel sure there would be very few of us who would disagree with the advice he offers.

There is undoubtedly a market for this type of book, many of those presently available are, in my judgement, dreadful. At best they are unhelpful and at worst they are dangerous. With the publication of A Dog of Your Own the practising veterinary surgeon now has a book, written by a talented colleague, which he can unreservedly recommend to his clients.

Presumably there were good reasons for the decision but it seems a little sad that the B.V.A. in launching this series did not have the courage of its convictions and publish itself rather than leaving the venture to Sheldon Press, excellently though they have served the author.

IAN HUGHES

320