I got a little way into this book and thought, "What a swindle this isn't a dog book at all!" But I stuck with it and I am so glad I did, because it blossoms into a very beautiful dog book indeed.
Dan Dye was at rock bottom. He hated his job, he didn't know what he wanted to do with the rest of his life, and worst of all his dog had recently died. Friends did their best to cheer him up, but it wasn't until a Great Dane called Gracie came into his life, that things started to look up for him. Gracie was a puppy that no one else wanted, because she was deaf. She was also albino. She also had big blue eyes, and the minute Dan saw her, he fell in love with her.
I must admit that from the blurb on the back of the book, this sounded more like a ‘how to’ book than it actually is. I am not saying that is a bad thing. Reading about Elizabeth’s wonderful journey from business woman to healer is truly inspiring and the book is filled with heart warming case studies to demonstrate Elizabeth’s work. Quite often she is not only healing the animals but the owners too. This holistic approach really got me thinking about how our own feelings and actions affect our animals.
Is it not often you read a book that makes you laugh and cry as well as educating you, that touches your heart and your head, that even leads you to re-evaluate your relationship with your dog; Merle's Door is such a book. The subtitle, Lessons from a Freethinking Dog, alerts you to the fact that this is not your average dog book. In Merle and Ted Kersaote's relationship the usual conventions of "master" and "dog" are challenged. Merle is no ordinary dog, he has a mind of his own, and in Ted he finds the perfect partner for him.
All dog lovers enjoy a good rescue dog story, and the Diplomatic Dog of Barbados, by Winfred Peppinck is exactly that. The dog at the heart of this story starts off living rough with his mother and siblings. He later becomes the captive of a despicable man who wants him as a security dog, and has training methods I've never come across in any training manual. The wild dog is christened Roy, and the reader is firmly on his side when he makes his escape.
Dawn Marcus M.D. had spent years telling patients that changes to their lifestyle were the best way to improve their health. She knew that living well was far more important than taking a tablet, but how to covey that to patients? Then Wheatie, a Wheaten Terrier, came into her life, and she realised how much living with a dog enhances your life. Suddenly she was eating more regularly, exercising on a daily basis, sleeping better and laughing more. And all because of Wheatie - to whom living well came naturally.
This book is subtitled, "Rescuing Devon, the most troublesome dog in the world." By the time Border Collie Devon comes into Jon Katz's life, he was two years old and had serious behaviour problems. Devon had failed as an obedience dog, was unruly and disobedient. So why on earth did Jon Katz, who had two wonderful, well behaved Labradors already in his life take such an obviously difficult dog on?
You've probably seen the film but if you haven't read the book on which the film was based, you've missed out. The book includes a lot more about the relationship between Marley and John Grogan. John's thoughts and his interpretations of Marley; things that you can't really portray in a film adequately. Where the film makes the most of its human stars as well as its canine, the book has Marley firmly centre stage.
In the follow up to his The Dog Whisperer book, Graeme Sims delves more deeply into the subject of rescue dogs. The first concept you may have to rethink the what being a rescue dog actually means. Graeme asserts that there are many things a dog may need rescuing from - not the least being the training methods sometimes employed by well meaning owners.
The Dog Whisperer in question here is Graeme Sims. The story of how Graeme became so eloquent in canine communication could be the subject of a book all on its own, and much of this is included. Dogs had always been a part of Graeme's life, but it was the arrival of a Border Collie, Annie, who changed the course of his life, possibly saving it. With Annie, Graeme rebuilt his self confidence, and together they became an excellent team.