#dog books

[blueboyluca]

Among the tens of thousands of people who risked their lives to stay home, fear of abandoning their animals was a primary reason for that decision. But even after the levees broke and thousands of men, women, and children were stranded on their rooftops, sometimes for days, rescuers did not allow the displaced to bring their pets into emergency facilities. Some residents had to be forced at gunpoint to leave their companions behind.

...

"There is a class issue involved here," Karen Dawn, an animal advocate, wrote in The Washington Post. "While Marriott hotels welcomed the pets of Katrina evacuees as ‘part of the family,’ people who had to rely on the Red Cross for shelter were forced to abandon that part of the family or attempt to ride out the storm. It cannot be denied that many poor people are dead as a result of 'no pets' policies."

...

"There’s no question that the pit bulls were separated out and treated differently [during the rescue effort]," a woman named Molly Gibb, who traveled to the Gulf to help lost pets after the hurricane, told me. "The media has done a very good job of 'de-dogging' the pit bull." Gibb would later foster a shy red-and-white pit bull that had been found tied to her dead owner, who had drowned. When the dog was picked up, she was wearing a fancy leather dress collar with metal studs on it, something Gibb recognized must have cost a good amount of money. "That man gave his life to save his dog," Gibb said, her voice trembling, "and other rescuers were complaining about what kind of collar she had on." (Later, the dog would be adopted by a pastor who took her to church with him on Sundays. He named her Faith.)

— Bronwen Dickey, Pit Bull (2016)

[godzilla-reads]

Reading Together 🙌

[darkwood-sleddog]

oh we talking wolf books do you know this book I’ve been trying to find but search sites are useless these days:

a wolf puppy is kept by a family and eventually becomes an adult and kills the prize…bulldog or something… that they had. The family is going to kill the wolf but the wolf escapes. The child (boy?) in the family decides he will get the wolf to a nature reserve or something. So he runs away to try and help the wolf. The wolf doesn’t trust him anymore though so he steals a bunch of food and basically lures the wolf on a journey to the sanctuary. There’s a manhunt for the boy. And maybe the wolf. At some point the wolf is caught in a trap and the boy tries to free him. Eventually they reach the sanctuary and the boy lets himself be found.

Kinda reminded me of the hatchet.

Was this "Flight of the White Wolf" by Mel Ellis?

Not super familiar with that one (Hatchet by Gary Paulson on the other hand is on of my all time middle-grade faves, but does not prominently feature wolves (he gets a malamute in the last book tho)

[the-thistle-missile]

Reading Plenty in Life is Free at a park while we were on a trip. She was a nightmare for the whole trip but an absolute angel during this for some reason.

[miscellaneous-manx]

Older dog books that I've acquired

From top left:

Bob Son of Battle

"The story emphasizes the rivalry between two sheepdogs and their masters, and chronicles the maturing of a boy, David, who is caught between them." -Wikipedia

Lad of Sunnybank By Albert Payson Terhune

Further stories featuring the titular collie

The Heart of a Dog By Albert Payson Terhune

"Here in one volume are Terhune's best known and best loved dog stories, with several new ones especially written for this book.

Here are Lad and Buff and Treve and Lochinvar Bobby ready and eager to make friends, not only through the medium of the printed page but in the illustrations of Marguerite Kirmse, who draws dogs with the same love and understanding with which Terhune wrote about them.

Probably no one knew dogs better than the late author. He owned many famous dogs; his champions, the Sunnybank Collies, were known the world over. He trained them, he exhibited them, he found homes for them, he worked with them, he played with them--loving dogs was his life work--and with this background it is no wonder that he became one of the greatest loving writers on dogs."

No one can read these stories without thrilling to the adventures, the personalities, the love, loyalty, and courage of these puppies who have earned their position as "Man's best friend." -dust jacket sleeve

Kazan Father of Baree By James Oliver Curwood (read but not for a good while)

"The unforgettable adventures of a wolf-dog Kazan, three-quarters dog and one-quarter wolf, searches for companionship while struggling to survive the harsh Canadian wilderness. He suffers every threat imaginable, from man and beast alike. Finally, with his courageous mate, Gray Wolf, he befriends humans and travels with them in an adventurous trek through the frozen Northern wilds." -Goodreads

Canines and Coyotes by Leon V. Almirall

"In the early days of the West, before the country was obstructed by barbwire fences and scattered settlements, the sport of coursing both jack rabbits and coyotes with what are known in the West as "runnin' dogs" was widely followed...But it was the coyote that offered the greatest sport. With his brush whipped straight back in the breeze, his prick ears flat against his hard skull, his rough toes pushing the ground behind him as he raced from the gaping jaws of the lean hounds hot on his trail, the coyote offered his pursuers a sporting race seldom equaled in the annals of hunting." -dust jacket sleeve

For the record, I think hunting coyotes is counterintuitive like a lot of my peers for documented reasons ie they can breed frequently enough to restabilize their population and survive on the temporarily increased availability of prey species (source: Why Killing Coyotes Doesn't Work PDF from projectcoyote.org), but this book is interesting as a means of learning about attitudes from a different time, similar to the older books about dog fighting.

[the-dust-jacket]

Have officially been sucked into watching the dog show with my aunts. The pageantry! The drama! The hairdos! Inescapably reminded of Best In Show, that one episode of Normal Gossip, and The Pumpernickel Daffodil by Galia Bernstein. Just look at that adorable, potentially prize-winning face.

[ringchollyandfriends]

Started reading "Hunting Together" by Simone Mueller and I'm excited 👁️

Elliot *loves* to chase and, sadly, it affects Nelly (my cat) so I'm looking forward to learning more about channeling his desire to hunt so, hopefully, his urge to chase Nelly is less strong.

(The book notes that this book is for chasing wildlife and cannot be applied to cats and I'm aware of that, I'm hoping by teaching him to "appropriately" (according to humans) "hunt" other animals, he will have a way to satisfy that need and therefore have a lesser desire to chase Nelly.)

[pawsitivevibe]

Oooooohhhhhh late birthday present from BIL and SIL. So excited to crack this open!!!

[southerntchiorny]

My friend gifted me this book for my birthday a while back. It belonged to her late dad and I may have cried just a little bit about it.

[a-rayneart]

ART FOR EVERY BOOK I READ THIS SUMMER PART 7: Fifteen Dogs by André Alexis

Bella and Athena from 15 dogs ❤️

[blueboyluca]

“When I first heard it, from a dog trainer who knew her behavioral science, it was a stunning moment. I remember where I was standing, what block of Brooklyn’s streets. It was like holding a piece of polished obsidian in the hand, feeling its weight and irreducibility. And its fathomless blackness. Punishment is reinforcing to the punisher. Of course. It fit the science, and it also fit the hidden memories stored in a deeply buried, rusty lockbox inside me. The people who walked down the street arbitrarily compressing their dogs’ tracheas, to which the poor beasts could only submit in uncomprehending misery; the parents who slapped their crying toddlers for the crime of being tired or hungry: These were not aberrantly malevolent villains. They were not doing what they did because they thought it was right, or even because it worked very well. They were simply caught in the same feedback loop in which all behavior is made. Their spasms of delivering small torments relieved their frustration and gave the impression of momentum toward a solution. Most potently, it immediately stopped the behavior. No matter that the effect probably won’t last: the reinforcer—the silence or the cessation of the annoyance—was exquisitely timed. Now. Boy does that feel good.”

— Melissa Holbrook Pierson, The Secret History of Kindness (2015)

[godzilla-reads]

Reading: “A Dog’s History of America” by Mark Derr

[cassettoicecream]

La coda/correct tail

dal 'Il Siberian Husky' di Jessica Vallerino

1997

De Vecchi Editore

[eeveeas123]

Eevee’s Baby Book Highlights:

(Given to us by her foster family)

(Her siblings were all E names)

(Future Dog Guide!)

(She was a bridesmaid)

(Playing with a friend)

[rachel-sylvan-author]

"The Eyes and the Impossible" by Dave Eggers

Thank you @sharon_the_librarian for the rec! ❤️

[bambambambino]

Last book is in! It's the last for now of course. I ordered this over a month ago and it just arrived safe and sound. Its in excellent condition compared to others that I'd seen for much more.