People and dogs have been hanging around together for a long time. Scientists keep moving the date of the association further and further back in time. Currently the relationship is said to be more than 100,000 years old. That's older than the written language, older than the wheel, older than farming, older than art. At some point - and no-one can say quite when - dogs and humans formed a genuine partnership. That partnership invariably involved going out in the world together - whether to hunt, to herd, to patrol borders, to fight, to go after vermin, or to move sleds.
Most dogs today no longer have any serious jobs. Nor do most people have the sorts of jobs in which dogs can be of assistance. What remains is the walk. And this delightful book, Dog Walks Man, of which I found a slightly dog-eared copy in a second-hand bookshop, is a touching, witty and thought-provoking tale of how ome man found meaning in the humble dog walk.
