Connie’s Book Club – Winter 2010/11

The Dog Selector: How To Choose The Right Dog For You

David Alderton

If you value your sanity and your canine companion’s happiness, it’s essential to choose a
dog that’s suited to your lifestyle, personality, and activity level. (For example: don’t choose a young German Shorthaired Pointer if you’re a couch potato.) If more people considered the attributes of the breed before choosing a dog—a decision often made on appearance alone—there would be far fewer dogs surrendered to shelters. The Dog Selector, a handsome,
hardcover tome filled with photos, helps you make an informed decision by giving you information on the essential characters of 130 breeds. This beautifully bound coffee-
table book contains large coloured photographs depicting each breed and the accompanying text provides the breed’s history and character while personality, size, exercise, at home, behaviour, grooming, and common health issues are summarized in a concise table for easy reference. There’s also a thumb-nail reference at the top right of each page that provides at-
a-glance information. A great gift for anyone considering getting a dog.

Dog Stories - Everyman’s Pocket Classics

A most welcome addition to Everyman’s Library collectible works is the new Pocket Classics collection, Dog Stories. This pocket-sized compilation of stories from acclaimed authors concerning our canine friends comes complete with a ribbon bookmark so you can mark your favourite “tail.” Twenty stories in all are represented, with contributions chosen from such literary luminaries as Mark Twain, Anton Chekhov, Patricia Highsmith, and Ray Bradbury, among others. Perfect for gift giving or savouring yourself.

Every Dog Has a Gift: True Stories of Dogs Who Bring Hope & Healing Into Our Lives

Rachel McPherson

Rachel McPherson, executive director of The Good Dog Foundation, the largest dog-assisted therapy organization on the east coast, founded her nonprofit organization because she passionately believes in the transformational power of the human/dog relationship. Drawing upon her decade-long experience working with and placing therapy dogs, she brings us Every Dog Has a Gift. This compilation of inspirational stories shows us how therapy and service dogs help their humans cope with a wide range of physical, mental, and emotional problems and, importantly, pays homage to the gift that each and every dog brings us, the ability to bring the healing power of unconditional
love into our lives.

Calico Dorsey, Mail Dog of the Mining Camps

Susan Lendroth

“Neither rain, nor snow, nor gloom of night kept this pooch from his appointed rounds!” So says this beautiful children’s
book based on a true story from the 1880’s about Dorsey, a stray Border Collie who was befriended by the local postmaster in the then-mining town of Calico, California. Dorsey’s fame grew as a result of dependably
carrying mail back and forth between Calico and a nearby town, resulting in Dorsey becoming the most celebrated canine mail carrier in US history. Adam Gustavson’s delightful images ensure readers both young and old will enjoy this tale that illustrates
the important roles dogs can play in our lives.

A Nose For Justice

Rita Mae Brown

New York Times bestselling author and animal lover Rita Mae Brown’s newest release, A Nose For Justice, will have you hooked from the start. The first book in her new mystery series, this story takes place in the farming and ranching area of the arid American west and involves a family’s struggle to halt a local corporation from diverting water from their ranch to supply Reno. Conflict erupts when the corporation, willing to go to any lengths, confronts resistance. But when the conflict escalates to murder and the ranch’s owner becomes suspect, Baxter, a
Wirehaired Dachshund, and King, a German Shepherd, are called upon to nose out the true killer. This suspenseful page turner was born of real-life issues concerning water rights, a topic that the author, as a working farmer, is passionate about, and it gives her the forum to provide awareness of a terribly important subject that has ramifications for all of us.

Through a Dog’s Eyes: Understanding Our Dogs By Understanding How They See The World

Jennifer Arnold

Arnold, the founder and executive director of Canine Assistants, has over 20 years of experience training service dogs to help people with disabilities and special needs, giving her penetrating
insight into dogs’ capabilities and how they think and feel. To Arnold, dogs are neither wolves in need of a pack leader nor babies in need of coddling; rather, they are extremely trusting beings attuned to their owners’ needs and they aim to please. Relationships between dogs and humans go awry when we fail to understand our dogs and when we send them confusing, mixed signals. Saddened by the current trend toward training methods based on domination and control, which instill fear and anxiety, Arnold wrote Through a Dog’s Eyes to share her methods of choice-based, positive-reinforcement-only teaching techniques. A must-read from a woman uniquely qualified to give insight into the way our dogs perceive the world. Extraordinarily compelling.

Huck: The Remarkable True Story of How One Lost Puppy Taught A Family—and a Whole Town—about Hope and Happy Endings

Janet Elder

Faced with cancer, author (and a senior editor at The New York Times) Janet Elder finally acquiesces to her son’s life-
long pleas for a dog as her “declaration of faith in the future.” Not knowing if she’d get better or worse, she wanted to give him something to be excited about and to take his mind off a difficult time. So, to the total delight of her son, they get Huck, a Miniature Poodle pup who captures all their hearts while quickly establishing himself
an integral part of the family, becoming more than just a pet, but a symbol of hope. With the cancer treatments finally behind them, the family
celebrates with a much-needed vacation. They head off to Florida for some fun and relaxation with huck safely ensconced in Elder’s sister’s care in the rural town of Ramse, NJ. Soon after arriving, however, they receive a terrible phone call—Huck is gone. Grabbing the first flight back, they start the search for their beloved pet, hoping, against odds, that the small dog hasn’t succumbed
to inclement weather, wild animals or traffic. Moved by the family’s plight, the townspeople rally to the cause, helping search for and eventually finding Huck, providing testament to the generosity and kindness of strangers and importantly, that there are such things as happy endings.