Billebaude N°21, in bookstores on November 9, 2022

From the immediate relationship of companionship that binds us to him – who is the master and who is the pupil? –, Billebaude invites us to take the measure of the singularity of our relationship with the dog. At the crossroads of life sciences and human sciences, the journal guides us off the beaten track, through time, history and symbols. From the gray wolf, its ancestor, to contemporary dogs, from its domestication 10,000 years ago to what scientists teach us of its proven ability to communicate with humans, from the ancient myth of Diana and Actaeon to the characters of Snowy or Rantanplan, from offbeat portraits by William Wegman to documentary photographs by Yun-Fei Tou, the animal appears here in all its dimensions. Court dog, hunting dog, wolf dog, mad dog, its omnipresence in discourse and customs is the sign of its vitality. Intermingling as usual iconography and long-term articles, Billebaude listens to the melody of the dog and holds up a mirror to the human. It is up to him to glimpse his wealth there. And its excesses…