I have a confession. I buy books with no intention of reading them.

As a kid, I was a voracious reader.  I was nearly always won the "how many books can you read" competitions held in many elementary classrooms; in Grade 6 I even won a prize in a province-wide contest sponsored by the Calgary Flames.

My love of books has carried over into adulthood, and followed me into my (re)discovery of animal behaviour and love of dogs.  Instead of running to the YA section of Chapters to find the latest adventures of Ashleigh's Wonder, now I go to the used bookstore to trawl for R+ and science-based dog and animal behaviour books.

Sometimes the only dog books on the shelves are Cesar Milan or Dogs for Dummies or generic breed books, and I walk away a bit disappointed.  But sometimes... Sometimes I get lucky.  Sometimes I find a gem (or two).  I gleefully hand over my money, even knowing full well that as an adult I just haven't made the time to read like I used to as a kid - those books will come home with me and sit on my bookshelf.  Watching me walk past them every time I feed the dogs.  Feeling their little i's watch me as I pointedly avoid their gaze.  What is the point of buying books if I am not actually going to take in their knowledge? 

"Why have you forsaken us?"

For 2019 I set myself a goal to read one shelf-bound dog/behaviour book per month until I get through the collection.  Except the textbook that I bought on a whim, which I will aim instead to read one chapter of per month.  And just to really motivate me, I am going to let myself buy a new book for every 3 old ones I read.

This month I've been reading The Genius of Dogs by Brian Hare, but I'll save my review for when I've finished. 

How about you?  Do you collect vessels of dog knowledge?  What are you reading right now?