Lost & Found

 

By Jacqueline Sheehan

Rocky's husband died of a sudden heart attack and she is having a very hard time coping with her grief. In order to give herself a breathing space, she leaves her home and moves into a rental house on a touristy island off the coast of Maine during the off season. 

Looking to occupy her time, she takes on the part time job of animal control officer. She deals with a lot of stray cats, problem raccoons and pets abandoned by the summer people. One of the animals she deals with is a Labrador retriever who is found seriously ill and crippled by an arrow in his shoulder. 

Rocky fosters the dog, which she names Lloyd. It seems to her, as a person who is dealing with grief, that Lloyd is dealing with grief too. When it turns out that the arrow that was in the dog's shoulder was a rather rare, handmade arrow, Rocky starts trying to track down where it came from, hoping to discover more about Lloyd and what happened to him. 

Meanwhile, Rocky gets to know some of the permanent residents of the island and starts to form some good friendships. If her obsession with tracking down Lloyd's past doesn't get in the way, that is. Oddly, she decides she wants to learn archery, using the same kind of homemade arrows as the one that Lloyd was shot with. This brings her into contact with a man on the mainland who teaches archery part time, Hill, short for Hillary. Is a romance blossoming? Or will poor Hill end up with an arrow in his leg? 

I sympathized with Rocky's grief and her desire to have some time alone to adjust to her new reality. I was happy when she found a friend in poor, wounded Lloyd. I was less interested in the mystery of Lloyd's previous owner. And I was not much interested in the teenager next door who is anorexic. And I was completely uninterested in Rocky's desire to become proficient in archery. Nor was I surprised to read that Rocky's elderly friend on the island didn't have cancer and instead was risking her life by not going to see a doctor about her belly pain. Because everybody in this story is a bit different. So parts of the story I liked but other parts I really didn't.

There is a follow up book, Picture This. 

Man and Dog

 

By Brad Steiger

From the book jacket:

"Brad Steiger explores the bond between human and canine by relating true stories of the remarkable social-spiritual contract that has existed between humankind and its loyal companions for thousands of years. He shares fascinating true stories about the creatures that have more than earned the title of 'man's best friend,' such as:

• A man, paralyzed and alone, who was kept alive by his dog for nine days
• The dog that brought a girl back from a five-week coma
• A dog named 'Blaze' that saved a family from fire

Brad Steiger also reveals the findings of current medical research into the positive effects pets have on our lives, from lowering blood pressure and alleviating stress to easing the pain of bereavement.

In this charming, thought-provoking, often astounding book, Brad Steiger fully substantiates the 'ancient contract between dogs and human.'"

The book jacket also includes a review by Publishers Weekly: "Remarkable tales of canine heroism...Steiger gives advice on how to communicate with dogs, discusses the value of pet therapy and offers several instances of ghost dogs appearing to their owners. Also covered are findings of current medical research into the positive effects of pets on humans, such as lowered blood pressure...enjoyable."

The book is chock full of mystical claims and other such other worldly stuff. I enjoyed the ghost stories and the stories about the bond between people and their dogs and the stories of dogs helping people. But the mystical content did not interest me and I skipped most of it. 

Dog On It

 

By Spencer Quinn

The first book in the Chet and Bernie mystery series.

Chet is Bernie's dog. Chet was in training to become a police dog but failed his final exam. Bernie used to be a police officer but now he is a private detective whose personal life is a mess. He smokes, he sometimes drinks too much, he is divorced, he doesn't get to see his young son enough, his car is about thirty years old and he is chronically short of cash. But at least he has Chet, the police dog drop-out. And Chet is a loyal companion and enthusiastic doggy detective alongside Bernie.

Bernie's latest case is that of a missing teen girl. Madison is only fifteen and she goes missing twice. The first time she shows up the next day. But the second time she doesn't show up. So her mom hires Bernie to find her daughter. Unfortunately Madison's dad tries to throw a monkey wrench in the search, claiming that she will come back on her own in due time. But that isn't enough to keep Bernie from investigating. Then Chet disappears and doesn't come home for days. Chet gets back home and then Bernie disappears and only Chet has a clue as to where Bernie is. But Chet is only a dog and can't ask anyone for help!

This was a pretty good read. Chet is the narrator of the story and even though Chet's thoughts are probably a lot more complex than a dog's probably are, it was still fun to read a story told by a dog. Chet is a good boy and he loves Bernie and is completely loyal to him. Chet does get into some serious danger and is injured which I didn't care for. Over all though, other than the principle voice of the story being that of the dog, this is a typical and fairly mild mystery story without much gore and with no murders. 

Review by Kirkus Reviews.

Nop's Trials

By Donald McCaig

Nop is a border collie. He is a working dog, helping his owner with herding sheep on the farm. Lewis, Nop's owner, also entered Nop in sheep dog trial, which is a contest for sheep-herding dogs. Nop won the last local trial which angered one of the contestants. This man, Doug, when he was drunk, said he would pay anyone who took care of Nop $500. Two men who heard him believed him and snatched Nop one night when the dog was running loose.
But Nop is a very valuable dog. His owner was offered $5000 for Nop, which he declined. When the thieves discover this, they panic and sell the dog to a man who works for the rodeo. This man puts Nop in the rodeo with a monkey riding him and they herd calves for the amusement of the crowds.
Doug sees Nop on TV and buys him from the rodeo man, intending to breed Nop to his prize-winning bitch, also a border collie. But he becomes worried when the police and Nop's owner come looking for Nop and he gives Nop to two thugs to dispose of.
One of the thugs has a soft heart for dogs and just dumps him in the city where he is briefly adopted by a bag lady. She doesn't have him long, though, because the shelter where she wants to live doesn't allow pets. Nop is then destined for an animal shelter.
The custodian who was instructed to take Nop to the shelter instead sells him to a lab that uses animals to test drugs. Nop's future looks very bleak, indeed, and his faith in humans will be tested to the maximum.

This was an OK book. It was a very depressing read, as Nop goes from one bad situation to another, as Nop encounters one bad person after the other. The only one who treats kindly, other than his owner, Lewis, is the bag lady. But she only has him for a few days.
However, it works out in the end. I don't know if wading through all the cruelty is worth it though.

One Good Dog

By Susan Wilson

Adam March was on his way to the top when he threw it all away with an outburst of uncontrolled temper. He struck his assistant for imagined disrespect and was fired.
Gone was the lovely home, the lovely wife, the lovely career. He narrowly escaped jail but was instead sentenced to community service for one year, working at a homeless shelter for men.
Chance, a pit bull mix, was born to his mom in a basement and destined to be a fighting dog. His was a life of competition and loneliness. Until the house was raided and Chance was placed for adoption.
One of the men who frequented the shelter had a pit bull mix dog. When the man was suddenly taken ill, his dog was picked up by animal rescue. Adam was tasked with the job of getting the man's dog out of the pound but found out the dog had already been put down. So he figured that one dog is as good as another and brought Chance to the man. Of course, that didn't work out, the man was outraged that Adam would try to pass off a strange dog as his dog, something that would come back to bite Adam in the ass later. Due to a series of coincidences, Adam got stuck with Chance for several days. During that time, Chance brings some joy and comfort to Adam at a time when he is at his lowest.
Adam's teen daughter has been very distant since he fell from grace but she has always wanted a dog and having Chance helps Adam tear down the wall she has built between them. Trying to repair his relationship with his daughter, taking care of Chance and working at the shelter are all helping Adam become a more caring and giving person and realizing that some things are more important than so-called success.

This was a good book. It has some rather predictable plot twists and the beginning seemed a bit unreal. Why would you hit someone just because they were preoccupied and ignoring you? Especially a man who had risen as far as Adam and who had so much to lose? But the dog, Chance, saves the story for me. I enjoyed the parts where Chance tells his story more than the parts about Adam. I didn't like Adam much at all. He deserved his punishment.

Walking in Circles before Lying Down

By Merrill Markoe

Dawn has so far not exactly made a success of her life. She works at a doggy-daycare and does dog-walking on the side. And no one in her life is giving her much encouragment and support, not her parents (divorced), not her sister, and not her boyfriend. Especially not her boyfriend, who has announced that he is leaving her because he has fallen in love with someone else. And that is when Dawn started hearing her dog and all dogs talk.
Is she losing her mind? Has she been blessed by the dog fairy? Well, it really doesn't matter, because even though it may seem she is losing her grip, Dawn is finally starting to take charge of her own life.

This is kind of your typical "chick lit:" girl falls for bad guy, bad guy breaks her heart and her life goes to hell, then girl begins to face reality, meet sweet new guy, and get her life back on track. Yay, girl power!
But what makes this story a little better is the talking to dogs. The dogs are funny and cool and wise (maybe too wise) and very doggy. These dogs say things that you could really think dogs would say. If they could talk. Which they can't. But if they could they would talk like the dogs in this story. The conversations between Dawn and the dogs are the best and most entertaining part. They take just another boring chick lit novel to a whole better and funnier level.

Merle's Door

By Ted Kerasote

Ted was on a rafting trip on the San Juan river with friends when a young stray dog showed up at their campsite. The dog was thin and hungry but seemed friendly and approachable. When it came time to move on, Ted and his friends decided to bring the dog with them. And so the dog, whom Ted named Merle, became a very important part of Ted's life.
Having lived wild for so long, Merle had a very stong independent streak. He wanted to be outside, a lot. But he also enjoyed the comforts of a warm bed and shelter from the cold. At first, Ted tried to convince Merle to use a very nice, insulated dog house that Ted set up for him. But Merle had a fear of confined places and refused to use the dog house. So Ted put in a dog door and life was perfect for Merle. Now he could come and go as he pleased, indulging his need to hunt and prowl and then come home to a safe, warm house when he wanted.
Ted and Merle led a very active lifestyle, hunting, skiing, mountain biking and Merle was there for most of it, even the skiing. Merle had his own version of skiing which he hugely enjoyed, sliding down hill on his tummy like an otter.
Together the two of them had an almost perfect lifestyle, especially Merle. About the only cloud in Merle's life was when Ted had to leave for one of the trips required by his job. Merle would be all sad and gloomy when he realized Ted was preparing to go, but as Ted latter discovered when he came back unexpectedly, Merle continued on with his carefree ways, making his daily rounds, greeting the local dogs and humans in the small mountain village in which he lived, acting as if he hadn't a care in the world. So much for the image of the sad dog, laying by his master's door, pining for Ted's return! That was Merle, though, loving yet independent. And his independence was supported and nurtured by Ted, who was fortunate enough to live in an area where free-roaming dogs were accepted and rural enough to be safe from most man-made dangers.

I enjoyed this loving memoir about Merle. He was a special dog, smart, independent, but also loving and loyal. It was fun reading about their good times together and brought back fond memories of good times I have spent with my dogs, both past and present. I would think most dog lovers would also enjoy this book.

You Had Me at Woof: How Dogs Taught Me the Secrets of Happiness

By Julie Klam

Although she was raised with dogs, author Julie Klam didn't rush into getting a dog of her own. In fact, at thirty, she was still single and rather lonely. Then one night she dreamed about a dog, a little Boston terrier and she decided it was an omen: she needed a Boston terrier of her own.
So, looking for her dog, she found out about Boston terrier rescue. And that is how she found Otto, the dog of her dreams and the first in a long line of Boston terriers and Boston terrier-ish dogs, as she became more involved in dog rescue. Many of the rescue dogs were untrained, unhousebroken, neurotic and destructive. Plus, she and her family lived in an apartment, which meant walking the dogs several times a day. She took on a lot of responsibility but she (and her husband and child) helped a lot of unwanted dogs, mostly Boston terriers.

This was an Okay read. Some of the things she tolerated with the rescue dogs would make me think twice -- especially the hyper dog who took a chunk out of her young daughter's arm. She got lucky it was only her arm -- it could have been the girl's face! That would have the end of it for me. The author is definitely a bit of a nut when it comes to rescue dogs.

All the Dogs of My Life

By Elizabeth von Arnim

A memoir of all the dogs that shared von Arnim's life, starting with Bijou, who she only had for a few weeks before her parents sent the dog away. She later, as a child, briefly had another dog, a Pomeranian, who was also soon sent away. Her parents didn't care for dogs.
It wasn't until she became a woman that von Arnim was able to really have a dog and she did, ending her memoir with dogs 13 and 14, Woosie and Winkie, of which two, Winkie was still with her. Like all dogs, her dogs had their ups and downs, their illnesses and misadventures and their tragic ends.

When she wrote this book, it was intended to be a story of her dogs and not an autobiography. And she kept to her intention, which at times made for rather awkward reading. Maybe she figured her readers would be familiar enough with her to be able to read between the lines. But I found her coy references to her own past to be rather annoying, like when she referred to the appearance of her next husband as her "doom" without ever explaining why he was her doom.
However, she is open about the mistakes she made with her dogs, like leaving one behind in Switzerland for several years and then coming back for it only to find it was dying. And having one neutered and then blaming herself when the dog became fat and lazy. Anyone who has ever had a pet should know those feeling of guilt and regret when the pets have to suffer the consequences of our decisions and failures to act.

Anyway, it was a pretty good book written by a woman who truly did love her dogs even if she made some mistakes along the way. But who hasn't?
She was also the author of Enchanted April, which was made into a very fine movie in the early 1990s.

My Dog Skip

By Willie Morris

Willie Morris' memoir of his boyhood in a small Southern town, centered around his pet dog, Skip, a terrier. Morris was an only child and Skip became the brother he never had. The two did everything together, hunting, fishing, playing ball. Morris had lots of friends and an active social life and Skip was a part of it all. He even learned to play football and other sports. Together he and Morris lived an almost idyllic existence. Of course, there were tough times, like when Skip was poisoned or when he got trapped in an abandoned refrigerator. But he managed to squeak through and the two remained nearly inseparable until Morris went off to college.

There were lots of things that I enjoyed about this book and some not so much. The descriptions of childhood pranks were funny and I liked the excursions into the dense woods nearby and of the closeness between Morris and his dog. In fact, I would have like a lot more about the local wildlife and the woods. What I didn't enjoy so much was the extensive descriptions of the football games and other sports Morris played where the dog was included. Yes, it is remarkable that Skip learned to play those games, but too often it seemed like I was reading the sports report. I got rather bored with the extensive descriptions of sports games. But other than the emphasis on sports, it was a pretty good story and Skip sounds like one of the best dogs ever.

The Other End of the Leash

By Patricia B. McConnell PhD

Patricia McConnell is an expert on dog behavior, especially on dogs who are troubled. She looks at dog training from a different point of view, that our human tendencies get in the way of communication with our dogs. In her advice on how to handle your dog, she points out that our human instinct is at variance with the canine instinct, since we come from different biological backgrounds. The things we do instinctively are not well received or maybe not understood by the dogs in our lives. For instance, dogs don't hug. Hugging is one of humankind's favorite ways to express caring. But for dogs, it just isn't natural. In fact, dogs may find hugging rather threatening.
Another thing dogs do is they are very good at reading body language. They not only read body language, but it is a huge part of their communication, so learning to understand your dog's body language is very helpful in understanding your dog.
She also discusses the importance of consistency in training and in using verbal commands. She describes how to train your dog using rewards, both food, praise, and play rewards to let your dog know he has performed correctly. She also debunks the idea that you have to physically dominate your dog to win its respect. As she points out, a dog displays its tummy voluntarily to a dominate dog, but the dominate dog doesn't roll the other dog over and force it to display its tummy. She says that doing this to a dog is humiliating and unnatural for the dog and, according to McConnell, totally unnecessary. Your dog comes to recognize your authority through proper training, not by putting the dog on its back.

This is a really interesting book not only about dog behavior but also about human behavior and about how our instincts thwart our good communication with our dogs. It has lots of great tips on training dogs and on having a happy, loving, safe relationship with them.

Mondo Canine

Compiled and edited by Jon Winokur

As it says on the cover, it is a treasury of quotations, anecdotes, essays, and lore in celebration of doggie joie-de-vivre. This is an amusing, sometimes sad, sometimes inspiring collection of stories, snippets and quotes. One of my favorite quotes from the book is by Jerome K. Jerome, author of Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog) who says, "Fox terriers are born with about four times as much original sin in them as other dogs." Having a fox terrier, I know this is true.
The hardest and most touching part of the book to read was the section containing stories where owners say that final goodbye to their beloved dogs. It also has a section on dog heroes. One of my favorites of that section is the story of King, a German shepherd mix who saved his family one night when their house caught fire:

King ... literally walked through fire to save his masters' lives. At 3:30 a.m. on December 22, 1980, Howard and Fran Carlson and their daughter Pearl were asleep in their home in Granite Falls, Washington, when flames from an electrical fire erupted in their kitchen and roared through the house. King entered the house from his outdoor sleeping area, ran into Pearl's bedroom, tore off the blankets, and began tugging her arm, finally pulling her out of bed. Pearl ran screaming through the thick smoke into her parents' room. Fran woke her husband—who had recently been hospitalized with lung disease—led him to an open window and told him to jump. Then she grabbed Pearl, who in the confusion had wandered into the living room. Fran opened another window, pushed Pearl out, and then jumped herself. At that moment King appeared at Pearl's window. He was trying to bark, but all he could manage was a squeak. Fran ordered King to jump, but when he ran back toward the master bedroom instead, Fran realized that Howard was still in the burning house. Fran made her way back through the smoke and flames toward the sound of King's whining and found Howard lying semiconscious on the floor. She helped him to his feet, and they managed to break open a sliding glass door and jump to safety, followed closely by King. "He was the last to leave," she said. "He wouldn't budge before we were outside."
It wasn't until daybreak that the Carlsons saw the singed hair on King's body and his burned, swollen paws. They discovered that his metal chain collar had become so hot it had burned his throat, preventing him from barking normally. And when King refused food, they found wood splinters in his mouth and realized that to save his family, King had gnawed through a plywood door.

This is a fun book to read and I really enjoyed it. It is jammed pack full of amusing and informative tidbits and amply illustrates just how much dogs add to our lives.

Dog Heroes

By Tim Jones

A book of true stories of dogs who have saved lives, helped people in need and given their lives in the performance of their duties. It includes tales of dogs in the military and of rescue dogs and of working dogs doing their duty and of ordinary pets behaving in extraordinary ways.
One of my favorite stories was about Chips. Chips was a family pet who was a tad over-protective of his family. So with the arrival of World War II, Chips was sent to serve in the military. Chips was involved in the invasion of Italy in July, 1943, landing on the beach with his unit under terrible enemy fire. The unit was pinned down by heavy machine gun fire coming from a bunker just above them. The situation was extremely precarious. Then Chips, all on his own without being sent by his handler, raced toward the bunker. He was shot twice but kept going, charging over the barricade and grabbing the machine gunner by the neck. His actions gave the troops below the break they needed to swarm the bunker and capture the soldiers inside. Chips recovered from his wounds and continued to serve until 1945 at which point he was sent home to his family. He was awarded the Silver Star and the Purple Heart.

This was a fun and heart-warming book to read. Full of stories of the good dogs do for humanity, with their service and devotion, it makes one realize how wonderful dogs can be and what an asset they are and how under-valued they are for the what they bring to our lives.

The Dogs of Bedlam Farm

Jon Katz loved his dogs, three border collies named Orson, Homer and Rose. Border collies were originally bred to help shepherds herd their sheep. Katz wanted his dogs to be as happy as possible and he figured the way to do that was to give them the chance to be the dogs they were breed to be: sheep-herding dogs. So he bought a few sheep, a small farm and, leaving behind the big city, his wife and daughter, he went to live with the dogs, the sheep, and a couple of donkeys on this small farm, Bedlam Farm, in rural New York State.
Even taking care of a small flock of sheep turns out to be grueling hard work, especially for an older man with bad knees. It didn't help that the farm is located on hilly land and that the winters there are just plain nasty, cold, icy and snowy. The work is hard and unrelenting, just like the winter weather. But he sticks it out, with the help of friends and neighbors, and the dogs improve with their sheep handling skills and Katz becomes famous in the area as the guy with the dogs, His farm becomes one of the local attractions as people stop by just to watch his dogs work the sheep. At the end of the book, Katz feels that not only are his dogs happier and more centered but that he is also feeling more at peace and grounded too.

I did enjoy this book, reading about Katz's trials and tribulations. I can't really understand what he did though. It seems as though his dogs and their happiness were more important to him than his own family. I've heard of people moving because they wanted their dogs to have a nice, fenced backyard. But this is the first time I ever heard of anyone buying a farm and sheep just so their dogs could something to do. Seems like an awful lot of trouble to go to just to keep your dogs happy. Still, it made for a very interesting and diverting story, even if I don't approve of his lifestyle

A Big Little Life

By Dean Koontz

Dean Koontz really loved his dog, Trixie. She was a trained assistance dog who had to retire due to health issues. She was smart, friendly, obedient and well-trained and she became like a daughter to Koontz and his wife. In fact, Koontz feels that Trixie became a major influence on his writing and helped to open his eyes to the importance of joy in everyday matters, to the importance of innocence and of love. Koontz feels that his dog was sent to him as an emissary from God and that she was a holy spirit in a dog's body, sent to enlighten him as to the mystery of life, death and creation.

This was an OK book. At times the it grows a little tedious reading about how wonderful and special Trixie was, who, according to the author, was even able to speak an actual human word, ball. I don't have a problem with the author's beliefs about his dog, most people who love their pets feel pretty much the same way. But it did get a little boring reading about Trixie's perfection. Also, the book is a lot about Koontz's own beliefs about God and death and the purpose of life, which is OK, but not really what I care to read about.

Cesar's Way

By Cesar Millan

Cesar Millan is not, as he says, a dog trainer. He is a dog rehabilitator. He takes dogs with issues, whether they be phobias, obsessions, or aggressiveness and turns them into calm, submissive dogs. He won't tell you how to train your dog to sit, stay or heel. What he will do is show you how to be a good dog owner and to maintain your dog's psychological health by being the calm and assertive pack leader that all dogs need.
According to Cesar, messed up dogs get that way because their lives are unbalanced. Their owners too often treat their dogs as little people. But dogs are not humans, they are animals. Try to understand a dog from a human perspective and you will have a messed up dog. What dog owners need to do is understand that their dog is a pack animal, and the pack dynamic rules a dog's life. All dogs need to be in a pack, be that pack composed of other dogs, or sheep, or humans. If a dog's pack is composed of humans, it is imperative that the humans maintain dominance over the dog, for the well being not only of the dog but of the family it lives with too. Dominance doesn't mean beating or abusing the dog. It simply means that the person is the leader and the dog is the follower. To be a good leader, a person must be calm and assertive. Assertive is not to be confused with aggressive!
Cesar has a three point program that compliments the calm assertive leadership role the dog owner needs to maintain. The three points are: exercise, discipline and affection, in that order. He says that the best thing you can do for your dog is make sure it gets plenty of daily exercise. Take your dog for a good long walk, or take it jogging or some similar aerobic activity. He recommends an hour to an hour and a half exercise daily. Next is discipline: make the rules and enforce them consistently. Least important is affection. Affection should only be given when the dog is calm and submissive. Giving affection when a dog is upset and distressed is a human response but just confuses or misleads your dog.

I enjoyed this book and found it informative too. I already knew that the dog owner is supposed to be the pack leader. I didn't really understand about the calm and assertive behaviour needed to be that leader. Or that people tend to give affection when calm assertiveness is what is really needed.
If you own a dog and want a better relationship with your dog by understanding what your dog truly needs, then you will probably benefit by reading Cesar's Way.

Review from The Bark:   https://thebark.com/content/cesars-way.

The Dogs Who Found Me

By Ken Foster

Ken Foster likes what are commonly called pit bulls, those ugly dogs with the bad reputations. I didn't know it, but apparently there is a great deal of interest in fighting pit bulls against other dogs and animals. So pit bulls come in for a lot of abuse and neglect when their vile owners decide they have outlived their usefulness. These dogs end up on the street or abandoned to shelters. This book is about Ken Foster and his encounters with stray, lost and abused dogs. It was quite enlightening to read if you are not familiar with the plight of these poor dogs. We humans come off as a pretty heartless and disgusting lot in our neglect and abuse of creatures that give their whole loyalty and love to us. Whatever you do, don't get a pet unless you are willing to consider your pet as part of your family and not just as a piece of property or a commodity. And if you are one of these soulless bastards who uses dogs to fight in the arenas for gambling and amusement, well, then shame, shame, shame on you.