What's Your Favorite Dog Book?

[carrie]

I have just finished reading Dodie Smith's "One Hundred and One Dalmations" with my nine year old son. I, of course, read it as a child and rediscovering it was wonderful. He loved it too and it has prompted me to find other childhood favourites to share with him. The people at the library think I'm weird!

[raynie]

'dog watching' by Robin Schwarts.
it is a book of dog photographs by this person. there is something strange or obscure in almost all of the photos. i look at it time and time again and always find something interesting hidden within this book to smile about. ive seen her photographs in quite a few other books as well.

[raynie]

oh, i got another:
'the hidden life of dogs' by anthropologist, Elizabeth Marshall Thomas. the author observes the pack behavior of several huskys that live with her along w/2 pugs. "what do dogs want most? not food, not sex, but other dogs". i share her passion for studying pack behavior, i have 4 dogs and watching them interact is my second favorite passtime, next to being involved in their pack activities.
tatxx11, i also loved 'dogs never lie about love'.

[tatsxxx11]

I also loved "The Hidden Life of Dogs" Read it a few years ago, and still pull it out to re-read sections while observing my dogs. I have a husky/shep who mirrors a lot of her dogs behavior!

[Smilla]

Yes, yes--I've been meaning to mention Robin Schwartz. I've lost my copy of "Dog Watching", but remember it well. Caroline Knapp (author of Drinking: A Love Story) also has a new book called "Pack of Two: The Intricate Bond between People and Animals" that is supposed to be good.

[Sudilar]

I've enjoyed Roger A. Caras' A Dog is Listening. It tells how dogs view the world and humans around them.

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***Save a life, ADOPT***

[Aussies 'R' Us]

first of all.....i used to be blue_heeler so u might know who i am. My favorite dog books would have to Chicken Soup for Pet Lover's Soul and Chicken Soup for the Cat & Dog Lover's Soul. I also like William Wagman's book about the Weimeraners that they have dressed up and it shows them as pups. Its very cute.

[Jenn]

I have to say I'm partial to William Wegman's books on Weimaraners. I just can't picture my Weim to be that patient!!!!! One can dream.

[RachelJ]

I can't wait to get to Borders to check out some of these books that I hadn't known about. They sound awesome.

A couple of my favorite dog training books are "Good Owners, Great Dogs" by Brian Kilcommons and "Communicating with Your Dog - A Humane Approach to Dog Training" by Ted Baer. This later one is published by Barron's.

[RachelJ]

Originally posted by Smilla:
Aaah, warm-clean-dog smell...kind of makes me wish I had a dog to snuggle with in bed this evening. (Yes, that's right! I spend all this time here and I don't even have a dog of my own--and won't either, until my lifestyle is such that it would be fair to the dog.)

Oh, Smilla, I feel so bad for you. Make it a priority to get your situation to a place where it will be different. My dogless years were my lost years.

[Smilla]

I would really, really, love a dog, but at the same time, I want to make sure I'll be an excellent parent. I want to wait until we're in a house or somewhere where there's a backyard, and until we aren't travelling as much. In the meantime, I pet every dog within sight. I ask their owner's consent if the dog doesn't approach me first--and they usually do (they seem to know I adore them)! I'm sure I've petted every dog in my apartment complex. I'm sure their owners think I'm nuts, too. I often wonder what I must look like to them, approaching their pets with hands held out and a delirious grin on my face.

[RachelJ]

Smilla, You are right. In the meantime, enjoy your folks' dogs, everybody else's dogs and, vicariously, our dogs. And at least you aren't alone in your behavior toward other people's dogs. I usually start chatting away to the dogs I meet and have to remember to acknowledge the owner.

I really lucked out and found at the library four of the books that have been mentioned in the posts above. I'm in doggie heaven.

[Smilla]

Just today I took a break at work and decided to walk up the residential street behind our building. Oh happy me, if there wasn't a dog on the sidewalk just waiting to be petted! It made my morning...

Carrie, I finished _Castle_. The fact that Heloise is treated with such love and respect in that book coupled with Dodie Smith's having written _101 Dalmations_ (I hadn't known she was the author), makes me think that she was one of "us". Maybe in the future we should refer to ourselves using the code name "friends of Dodie".