Dog verbs

How we talk to (and about) dogs, plus my weekly shareables: the puzzlemaster, the ringmaster, and the music master

I’ve been telling people that I got the idea for my book DOGLAND* when I was sitting at home one night, watching a dog show, and wondered: Are those dogs happy?

*DOGLAND is the working title for the book. Not sure what the real title will be.

That story is true. But I found something not long ago that made me realize I was thinking about dogs even earlier than that.

It’s a tattered note I made probably 20 years ago when I was working up a writing seminar. One of the things I try to do as a writer is use short words—the kind of words most of us use when we talk. And one day it hit me that almost everything a dog does can be described in one-syllable words.

Bark, howl, yip, growl, pee, poop, drool, lick, jump, stretch, nap, doze, fetch, race, leap, shed, sniff, point, wag, chase, chew, slurp, pant, catch, gnaw. That’s 25 and and I’m sure we could come up with more.

Maybe it gets at something elemental about a dog that we have come to describe what a dog does in such short and simple ways. Or maybe it’s about us—we have spent so much time with dogs that we’ve figured out an economy of language to talk about them.

One of the big themes I’m trying to get at in the book is how people and dogs have bonded so deeply over the centuries. Part of it, I think, has something to do with language. Dogs learn to understand what we say and respond to it. (As opposed to cats, who appear to understand but definitely do not care.)

A dog trainer will tell you that it’s best to give a dog a name with one dominant syllable, so they can associate themselves with that sound. Commands also work better that way. Dogs don’t go for five-dollar words. That’s good writing advice, too.

10 things I wanted to share this week:

1. You know what we don’t do nearly enough of these days? Hang out.

2. If you do crosswords, Will Shortz has probably been a big influence in your life. I loved this Q&A where he talks about how to make a puzzle, his table-tennis obsession, and finding love in his 70s.

3. Nearly 100 years ago, the government took a prime piece of California beach property from a black family. Last year, they gave it back. And now, the family is selling the land back to the government—and creating some decidedly mixed feelings. Clyde McGrady with the NYT is so good here at giving a voice to all sides.

4. My dear friend Lisa Rab has a wrenching personal essay on losing control of your body during childbirth.

5. DOG NEWS: While I work on my book, I’m devoting this slot to dog stories. This week: My friend Angela Kocherga with a beautiful story on a woman who reunites migrant families with their dogs.

6. I’m dying to read Michael Lewis’ upcoming book on cryptocurrency and the implosion of Sam Bankman-Fried. In the meantime, he has a new episode of his podcast AGAINST THE RULES where he talks to an author steeped in the story of crypto and the people investigating it. If this whole subject is baffling to you, like it is to me, this will help make things clearer.

7. Another good podcast episode: Abraham Josephine Riesman talking to the Longform Podcast about her new book RINGMASTER: VINCE MCMAHON AND THE UNMAKING OF AMERICA. Right up my damn alley.

8. Now reading: Ben McGrath’s RIVERMAN, about a man who roamed America via canoe for decades until he disappeared near the North Carolina coast. McGrath, a New Yorker writer, happened to run into the canoeist years before … and sets out to retrace his life.

9. How to write a book.

10. Jason Isbell, my favorite musician, has a new album called WEATHERVANES coming out in June. This week he released one of the tracks. It’s called “Death Wish.” I am officially longing for more.
    

    
    See y’all next week, everybody.