FACES PROFILES OF DOGS

'How strange being a dog must seem...' Vita Sackville-West owned several dogs over the years, including the Cocker Spaniel Pippin (famously the mother of Virginia Woolf's Spaniel, Pinka), the Alsatian Rollo, whose photograph hangs in Sissinghurst Castle, and the elkhound Canute, who used to jump on the bus into town whenever he got bored. Sackville-West traces the origins and history of forty-four breeds in Faces, reflecting on their characteristics with frank humour, from the Father Christmas-moustachioed Schnauzer to the silky gentle-eyed Afghan, 'like somebody's elderly Aunt Lavinia, who nourishes a secret passion for the Vicar,' and the elegant and ancient Saluki, 'without a doubt the dullest dog I ever owned'. This collection of profiles is proof that, in equal parts charming and engaging,