Puppy Kindergarten: The New Science of Raising a Great Dog
This week Michelle Fern is joined by Vanessa Woods, co-author of Puppy Kindergarten: The New Science of Raising a Great Dog. Written with Brian Hare, Puppy Kindergarten is the first book about raising puppies to be written by evolutionary scientists - moreover, Duke University’s Puppy Kindergarten is the first large-scale study tracking puppy development since 1950.
This husband-and-wife team, along with a retired service dog named Congo, have meticulously observed and documented the growth of one hundred and one puppies at the Duke Puppy Kindergarten. Their mission was to unravel what it truly takes to raise a great dog, and the findings are as enlightening as they are charming.
Listen to Episode #330 Now:
BIO:
Vanessa Woods is the Director of the Duke Puppy Kindergarten and an award winning writer and journalist. In 2010, her book Bonobo Handshake: A memoir of Love and Adventure in Congo won the Thomas Lowell award for non fiction and her children’s book, It’s true, Space turns you into Spaghetti was named an Acclaimed Book by the Royal Society in 2007. Her books have been translated into 12 languages. Woods received the Australiasian Science award for journalism in 2004.
In 2022, Vanessa was voted a Duke icon by the Duke community and selected by a special committee at The Chronicle, an award which recognizes "kindness, passion, talent or intellect”.
Woods and Hare live together with their dog in North Carolina. Their first book together, The Genius of Dogs was a New York Times Bestseller, and their second book Survival of the Friendliest was an international bestseller and won the ‘Smart Book of the Year 2022’.