by Ted Kerasote
ONE-LINE SUMMARY: Merle, a dog who wanders into the author’s life, enjoys life in rural Wyoming.
Okay, I realize the one-line summary is lame, but it’s hard to describe a book which is essentially the autobiography of a dog. I don’t usually read books about dogs’ lives anymore because I cry too much if the dog dies. Marley and Me, for example, sat on my bookshelf for over a year before I finally re-sold it on Ebay, unread, because I was afraid to read it.
As usual with dog books, I flipped to the end of this book at the library to see if the dog dies at the end. Yes, the dog dies at the end. Yes, I used up half a box of Kleenex during the last 30 pages; what’s it to you?
Despite the waterworks, I still enjoyed this book. Merle had a very unusual dog life–an owner who cared for him, but was also willing to let Merle lead his own life. Merle was able to walk around town, unleashed, unbothered, mainly because of the town where the author lives.
Merle is quite a character, but there is more than just a dog’s story here. Kerasote also offers interesting scientific studies on animals’ brains. For example, he describes a study in which it was found that it wasn’t exercise that mattered so much for increasing the size of a rat’s brain, but more that the rat had complex, engaging exercise. What does this mean? It means I have to build that agility course for Stanley.
This book is recommended, but only if you buy your tissues from warehouse clubs and are in no danger of running out.
By Amy Sutherland
ONE LINE SUMMARY: Amy Sutherland follows a year in the lives of students at the Exotic Animal Training and Management Program (EATM) at Moorpark Community College.
This is a terrific book that is well-organized and engrossing. The “Harvard for exotic animal trainers,” EATM trains people who work in zoos, Hollywood, the U.S. Navy, Ringling Bros., Guide Dogs for the Blind, research facilities, aquariums, sanctuaries, and animal parks. During their twenty-one months at the school, students learn about animal anatomy as well as getting hands-on practice at the teaching zoo, which includes learning to kill rats and pigeons to serve as food for other animals.
Although this book only tracks one year of the program, it covers students from the first and last year of the program, so you get a good look at what the program entails and what kind of jobs graduates go on to take, as well as the incredibly difficult schedule they have for the length of the program.
by Jon Katz
ONE LINE SUMMARY: This general training book on dogs relies heavily on the author’s own experience.
I found a few useful tips in this book and enjoyed reading it. However, it’s best not to approach this as a training book but more of a general “things you should know before getting a dog” book. This would have helped me a lot if it had been around when I got my first dogs.
by Steve Brown and Beth Taylor
ONE LINE SUMMARY: Steve Brown, creator of Charlee Bear Treats for dogs and Steve’s Real Food, describes how a fresh food diet can benefit dogs.
Although this book has many footnotes, it does not come off as a scientific book. The first third of the book consists of anecdotes from holistic vets about how some diseased dog came in and got better once it was put on a fresh food diet. The rest of the book talks about why fresh food is better than kibble, with no mention of canned food, but remains surprisingly vague about the specifics of what balance of food would work well for dogs. Granted, there aren’t many studies on this, but I was expecting something a little more comprehensive, like along the lines of Dr. Pitcairn’s Guide to Natural Health.
This book made me more determined to eventually move my dogs over to a fresh diet, but it didn’t really instruct me on how to do it.
by Hannah Holmes
ONE LINE SUMMARY: The author spends a year examining her lawn closely.
It took what felt like years to get through this book. Each section is well-written, but taken together as a whole, they made me fall asleep.
Then again, perhaps I was depressed by the death of Holmes’s pet chipmunk halfway through the season!
by Robert T. Sharpt, D.V.M.
ONE LINE SUMMARY: A country vet shares stories from his practice.
This is a fast and easy read. The stories are moderately interesting, but not really connected. Also, the author doesn’t really have the skill to write believable dialogue.
I was also suspicious that the best the publisher could do for a blurb from a famous person was one from an author of organization and housework books. Not really someone whose opinion I would value on a book about animals.
by Temple Grandin and Catherine Johnson
ONE LINE SUMMARY: Temple Grandin, who is autistic, writes about being able to better understand animals through autism.
This took a long time (”long” being about two weeks) for me to get through. Despite all the chapters and subchapter headings, I found this book to be poorly organized, and a strange mix of scientific studies and “evidence” that consisted of one person or animal the author knows.
There are some interesting ideas and stories in this book, but it took me a lot of forced focusing and slogging through confusing bits before I got to them.
by Suzanne Clothier
ONE LINE SUMMARY: The author is a dog trainer who writes about learning to communicate with and to dogs.
This book presents an interesting angle of looking at dog communication that I hadn’t thought of before. For instance, with my problem with Flacko, the author would probably say that I need to take his lip curling and growling as signs that he is afraid of wearing a harness, and I need to listen to what he says and back off. Dogs are truthful animals, and believe that we tell the truth also, so when we betray that trust (by, for example, ignoring their warning signs and moving in closer), we end up harming the dog more than helping him.
The reason why I’m not recommending this book is because although the ideas presented are fascinating, the chapters are too choppy and no suggestions for solving problems are given. In other words, I can learn to read Flacko’s signals, but I won’t be able to get the harness on him.
by Donald McCaig
ONE LINE SUMMARY: The author looks for a dog he can use for sheepherding trials.
I did not enjoy this much, and would probably have stopped reading halfway through if I’d had more books to read.
Most of this book is about the author’s search for a good sheepdog, but once he finds her, we never hear much about what happens to her. The book is rambling and disorganized, and the only parts I enjoyed were the ones about the dogs themselves.
by Michael Konik
ONE LINE SUMMARY: Konik takes his beloved pet with him on a tour of Europe.
I enjoyed this book a lot. I know my dogs are not my kids, but it would be nice sometimes to take them with me when I go out, and the author has done just that with his dog Ella and six weeks in Europe.
The book is so good that I am going to look up some of Konik’s other books, even though they have nothing at all to do with dogs.
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