Neuroscientist Gregory Berns had spent decades using MRI imaging technology to study how the human brain works, but a different question still nagged at him: What is my dog thinking?After his family brought home Callie, a shy, skinny terrier mix, Berns decided that there was only one way to answer that question - use an MRI machine to scan the dog's brain. His colleagues dismissed the idea: everyone knew that dogs needed to be restrained or sedated for MRI scans. As well as having to surmount behavioural and technical hurdles, Berns would have to overcome bureaucrats who didn't want pets on campus - and who wondered if it would be simpler just to use beagles bred for research. However, Berns wanted to know more than what a laboratory dog thinks. How Dogs Love Us humanises neuroscience and answers the age-old question of dog-lovers everywhere. It offers profound new evidence that dogs should be treated as we would treat our best human friends: with love, respect, and appreciation for their social and emotional intelligence.

Gregory Berns, MD, PhD, is the distinguished professor of neuroeconomics at Emory University. Dr Berns's research is frequently the subject of popular media coverage, including articles in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.