Now that I’ve caught your attention … may we discuss this subject in polite company?

Readers who have ever had an embarrassing show of affection from their dog will relate to Dr. Marc Bekoff’s book Why Dogs Hump and Bees Get Depressed. This lively collection of essays is a sequel to the author’s The Emotional Lives of Animals. Bekoff is an evolutionary biologist who writes with heart, soul, and humor. Not only is he a scientist who is not afraid to say that animals feel happiness, sadness, depression, joy, and all the same emotions that we do, he also calls out other scientists for denying these facts.

Bekoff calls on readers to recognize who animals are, not what. He doesn’t spare some of the ugly details about how animals are in trouble but balances the horrors with tales of rescues, healing, and justice. He writes with utter conviction, leaving readers motivated and inspired. This book is made up of short essays, so it’s easy to pick up and put down and not feel like you’ve lost the thread.

The essays range from practical advice on how to help kids connect with nature by taking hikes to current studies in animal cognition. Bekoff’s circle of compassion doesn’t stop with furry warm-blooded animals—he also has essays on fish, insects, and oysters.

But back to the, er, pressing question: Why do dogs hump or, in sensitive circles, “mount”? As Bekoff points out, mounting and humping by dogs are among those behavior patterns about which humans make lots of assumptions but really know very little. Dogs will mount and hump other dogs (and other animals) from a wide variety of positions as well as human legs, beach balls, water buckets, food bowls, pillows, and garbage pails without a care in the world.

But as Bekoff points out—who cares? Dogs hump because they can, and we can leave it at that. Our canine companions’ lives are already so managed and manipulated that we must simply let dogs be dogs whenever we have the chance.

You put this book down thinking, “Why can’t everyone have the same compassion and wisdom that Marc Bekoff has?”

We hope you’ll pick up a copy of his book. Then come back here and leave a comment letting us know what you think.