Book Reviews

I hope everyone had a lovely Easter - I can't imagine more perfect weather. To those celebrating Passover, shalom. This is the garden 'gnome' Dachshund at Silverwalk Hounds, decked out with his Easter bunny ears next to my blooming jonquils (or are they daffodils?). The front yard's new grass put in last fall by volunteers has sprouted to jungle size - really: I carefully watch the living Dachhunds as they make their way through it.

Book reviews for you - two I recommend for light, beach reading this summer, the third is for more in-depth learning:

How Dogs Think by Dr. Stanley Coren. 5 out of 5 stars.

I'm still reading Dr. Coren's book but the chapters I've read are fascinating as I put them to practice observing the dogs here. He explains how and why dogs react/act the way they do - their view of the world is quite different than ours. Not quite color blind, they don't see colors the same way: blue and yellow are OK but red and green end up looking dark or grey. So, if your dog can't find his red toy in the green grass, well, unless he can smell it, he just can't see it easily. What dogs do pick up on is movement - ball? flying disc? The dog's got it.

Notice my seque into smell? I recently had a Bloodhound for almost two months. I'm a hound person, and smelling is what hounds do. Bloodhounds, however, take smelling to an exalted level, even compared to a Beagle or Coonhound. WillE B. Good smelled the snot out of everything, including new dogs, which was often disconcerting to them! On walks, Justus, my Coonhound mix, would smell something and move on; WillE would smell, then smell again, then smell around. WillE's eyesight didn't seem that acute till we were walking one day. Remember how I talked about movement above? WillE started walking with his head held high, looking at something I couldn't quite make out till, through the trees, I saw the train moving along the tracks this side of the Mississippi below Cape Rock. WillE saw the movement much sooner than I.

WillE B. Good - now living the high life as a foster with two female Bloodhounds

The promised beach books, both by Dr. Nick Trout: The Patron Saint of Lost Dogs with its sequel, Dog Gone, Back Soon . 3 of 5 stars

Dr. Trout's fiction is relaxed, about being a vet with pets and their persons, but not as clinical nor as crisply written as his non-fiction, which is why I call them beach books. I read each in a day and, by the way, they soon will be available at Safe Harbor Thrift Store for sale to help our adoptable populations.

Dr. Mills moves back to his father's practice after some unpleasantness in his adopted state. His plan is to complete the estate work, sell the practice, and move back into his preferrred work as a veterinary pathologist. I spoil nothing by saying his plans begin to go awry...I became a bit impatient with the good doctor's ongoing self-examination but kept reading and enjoyed the first enough to read the second. In each book, Dr. Mills becomes the unwitting 'owner' of a dog...for very good reasons which enhance the stories.

I prefer Dr. Nick Trout's non-fiction (Tell Me Where It Hurts and Love is the Best Medicine as well as his memoir, Ever at My Side: A Memoir in Eight Pets) but enjoyed his fiction as a welcome break from my personal bent to non-fiction. I can't give it 5 stars but the fiction did what it intended - entertained, enlightened, and gave me some space. Now, on to The Goldfinch...and continuing with How Dogs Think.

What are your favorite dog books and why?

Next week: Forever Dogs - Really?