Dogs with Jobs by Max Hamilton

Title: Dogs with Jobs

Author: Max Hamilton

Genre: Contemporary

Publisher: Allen and Unwin

Published: 30^th September 2025

Format: Hardcover

Pages: 32

Price: $19.99

Synopsis: From beekeepers to brave rescuers, dogs have the most amazing jobs! A delightful exploration of the many careers of our canine companions.

Dogs may be our best friends, but sometimes that’s just their side hustle!

Meet the beekeepers, the whale poo sniffers, the dental assistants and the penguin protectors from around the world who prove that dogs have more jobs than you can throw a stick at.

Packed with adorable illustrations and quirky jobs, this heartwarming book about our best (and busiest) friend is perfect for young readers and dog lovers everywhere.

~*~

Dogs with jobs are amazing! They can do all sorts of things. They can be astronauts or bee keepers. And one of their most important jobs is when they are Guide Dogs. But these dogs do all sorts of things. Some sniff out whale poo, some comfort people at the dentist or at school, and others protect the penguins. There are so many jobs that dogs can do with very specialised training to make sure they know what they are doing.

Many people will recognise a Guide Dog, but there are so many jobs they do. Max Hamilton’s new book explores all these different jobs joyfully and in an easily accessible way for readers of all ages. Each dog gets their own double page spread about them and their job, featuring the person they work with and their very special doggy worker ID in one corner. This shows what the dogs need to show people what job they are doing. It’s amazing to think that these dogs can do so many different things, and all with very cool, very specialised training. Did you know it takes about $50,000 and two years to train a Guide Dog? And all that money comes from bequests or donations to places like Guide Dogs NSW/ACT? What those dogs can do is amazing.

Celebrating these very special dogs can bring awareness to what they do, and remind people that when a dog is working, they should never distract them. This is very important for the dogs in this book, because they are doing Very Important Jobs for their humans. Some sound a bit more like fun than others, like the dog that collects baseball bats, and some could be dangerous like the dogs working with bees or on the water. Yet they all have something important to do.

This is an educational and fun book, filled with Max’s fabulous illustrations that accompany the fun and informative story about these very special dogs. We all need a reminder of the cool things dogs can do for us and our communities. I loved the variety of dogs and their jobs featured in this book. It’s a joyful book about sharing knowledge and understanding about what dogs can do, and can spark conversations about training dogs to do these very special jobs.

I loved this book. Anything with dogs being happy and enjoying themselves is an awesome read, and will be something that many people will enjoy. It brings the dogs and their jobs to life very nicely.