1. Coren's love of many breeds of dogs comes through so beautifully in Born to Bark, as well as his other books. His fondness for his Cairn Terrier Flint is particularly strong, however. What is it about the terrier personality that you think he found so appealing?

2. Coren suggests that most people talk to their dogs and that there are different ways that people do this. Do you ever talk to your dog? What do you talk about? Do you actually supply the dog's answers, as Coren does, or do you just think them?

3. Coren's wife Joan, seems to have many more problems with Flint than with Wiz. Do you think that these had to do with the personality of the dogs or her personality or both?

4. Flint clearly had a helpful, therapeutic effect on Alice and helped break through her depression. Are there other places in the book, or in your own life or experience that you have seen dogs providing a psychological boost or improving a person's mood and combating depression?

5. Coren did not want to tell the members of his dog obedience club that he was a professor of psychology at first. Do you think that he was right? Do you think that this strategy was helpful or harmful?

6. Coren provides an inside look at the world of dog obedience competition. Do you think that this is an appealing sport? Do you think that you might ever want to train a dog for competition?

7. Do you think that the innovative training methods Coren used with Flint as a pup helped them both bond to each other?

8. Do some dogs just have a better sense of humor than others? Flint seems so fun-loving and playful—does Coren say that this is typical of most dogs or the smaller dogs or terriers?

9. Would Coren recommend a terrier, specifically a Cairn, to most families who are looking for a small dog? How would you think he would want to guide people who fall in love with the breed through reading Born to Bark?

10. What were some of the main things Coren learned from Flint about canine intelligence? What were the emotional lessons he learned?

11. What type of breed is your favorite, and why? Have you tried any of Stan Coren's training techniques on your dogs, and how have they worked? How did you introduce your dog to your children/other pets, and how did they react?

12. Coren writes about Flint's instinctual hunting behavior, but Flint also displayed a different kind of behavior when he saved a litter of kittens from a building about to be demolished. Why do you think Flint saved the kittens? Have you ever seen a dog behave similarly?

13. Flint the Cairn Terrier and Wiz the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel have distinctly different temperaments and personalities, but Wiz also learned a lot by watching Flint and modeled his own behavior after Flint's. What surprised you about the relationship between these two dogs? How do you think they related to each other and influenced one another?

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