Best In Show
Lecture [Return to listing page]
With Dr. Nicholas Dodman, BVMS, MRCVS, professor, section head, and program director, Animal Behavior Department of Clinical Sciences, Tufts Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine. This presentation is part of the ongoing Science on Screen Series.
Master mockumentarian Christopher Guest (This is Spinal Tap, Waiting for Guffman, A Mighty Wind) wrote and directed Best in Show, an inspired send-up of competitive canine culture. Winner of American, Canadian, and British Comedy Awards and a critical favorite, this gem follows a colorful group of contestants as they vie for top honors at the prestigious Mayflower Dog Show in Philadelphia. The mostly improvised film features a stellar ensemble cast who hilariously capture their characters' eccentricities, anxieties, neuroses, and, most of all, their desire to win, while endowing them with a recognizable humanity.
Before the film, Dr. Nicholas H. Dodman, one of the world's most notable veterinary behaviorists, explores the sometimes curious bond between people and their pooches. Some show owners, for example, seem to regard their dogs as an extension of their personality and live vicariously through their pet's success (or defeat) in the ring. Do dogs really think and react, feel and anticipate, as their owners believe? What is the evidence for dogs' intelligence, and do we over- or underestimate our canine charges?
Nicholas Dodman founded the Animal Behavior Clinic — one of the first of its kind — at Tufts University in 1986. Since the mid-'90s, Dr. Dodman has written several acclaimed, bestselling books including The Dog Who Loved Too Much, Dogs Behaving Badly, and The Well-Adjusted Dog. He is a columnist for the American Kennel Club's quarterly publication, AKC Family Dog, and has authored two textbooks and more than 100 scientific articles.
Tickets: Museum of Science members and students: $7.75; general admission: $9.75; Coolidge Corner Theatre members: free. Tickets are available in advance at coolidge.org or at the theater box office, 290 Harvard Street, Brookline.
With Science on Screen, the Coolidge Corner Theatre shows a feature film or documentary with a basis in science, combined with exciting remarks by noted scientists and others in related fields. The Science on Screen series is co-presented by the Museum of Science, Boston and New Scientist magazine.
