There are lots of stories about men and dogs out there (or women and dogs, or dogs and dogs), but rarely do those stories place the dog in something other than a supporting role. Usually it’s the human’s story, filled with their dramas and their struggles. This does wonders for solidifying dogkind’s role as humanity’s best friend, but what if it were the other way around? What if the dogs had their own interests, and their time spent side by side with humanity had a different purpose than what we imagine? This is a question that few books explore, and none in as interesting a manner as Hideo Furukawa’s Belka, Why Don’t You Bark?