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Time for something light and airy after all that [self-] righteous energy lost to the ether of this blog’s “post entry” button:
Today we’ll talk books, I think. Now that I’m a “top-ten pet health blogger,” deemed so by Fox News Online last July (hooray for me!) I get lots of offers for free pet books from their publishers. For the record, this is the only financial remuneration a top-ten pet health blogger gets for her multiple hours of daily effort.
So does that mean I have to declare them on my income tax forms? Ummm… Not if I can write about them, right? Thank goodness for tax law loopholes to benefit the underpaid! (I don’t know what I would do if I had to pay taxes on $200 in pet books.)
OK, that’s enough snarkiness for one day. Let’s get down to the nitty gritty of pet books.
So you know, I’ll confess that this is not my favorite genre of literature. I do, however, like to read an awful lot. It’s my favorite bedtime, treadmill and miscellaneous waiting room pastime and it works well to keep my brain active.
Problem is, most pet books are alternately sweet, sad and less than expertly crafted. In short, I feel like I’m being jerked around by bad literature when I read most of it. To challenge my suspicions that I might be better served by reading the Wall Street Journal over most of this stuff, I re-read the James Herriot books over the summer.
Now, Herriot’s good stuff. No, it’s not great literature, either, but you don’t have to be Shakespeare or Dickens to rock someone’s world, do you? And that’s what continues to fuel the pet genre, though the more modern “Chicken Soup” versions of pet books pale in comparison to Dr. Jim’s fine example (don’t kill me, Marty, you doubtless agree with me).
In well-deserved deference to Dr. Marty Becker and Gina (Spadafori) of PetConnection, it’s clear that most of us tend to be drawn in by some of the more informative versions of the modern pet-lit genre. It’s brisk reading, grabs your attention with bright writing, helps you identify with your pets’ brains more than you otherwise would have and always tells you something you didn’t know (a lot of things in the case of the well-matched Becker/Spadafori team).
Yet reading snobs like me (again, I confess) still have a hard time jumping from Animal Farm to Marley and Me and feeling like we’re getting our money’s worth (an eight-buck differential at my local Barnes and Noble—one guess which costs more). Luckily, you can also get a two-book tome of Herriot’s greats for $3.99 if you scour the bargain books (as I did this summer).
Still, some of the books I received this year were worthy of your attention: Pet Food Nation by Joan Weiskopf was timely, Nathan Winograd’s Redemption I’m enthralled by but haven’t finished (and that’s another post entirely), and Dogs: A Natural History by Jake Page was a surprisingly engaging soft-science read.
Now back to my key point: There’s something about pet-lit that seems necessary. Not just the informative, well written, worth-every-penny sort, but even the smarmiest tear-jerkers (the ones I’m most likely to pan in any review). And no, not just because the genre continues to spawn generations of vets and spurn pet owners to action on behalf of their loved ones, but also because reading about animals is a balm in itself (OK, maybe not Animal Farm).
On that note, I think I’ll conclude this post by offering up my top-ten favorite pet/animal books of all time. Sure, none of my recent publisher sends make the list, but who knows? Maybe next year…
In no particular order:
1-White Fang by Jack London
2-The All Creatures… four-part series by James Herriot
3-The Call of the Wild by Jack London
4-The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling
5-The Black Stallion by Walter Farley
6-The Merck Veterinary Manual
7-The Art of Raising a Puppy by the Monks of New Skete
8-The Yearling by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
9-Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O’Brien
10-Watership Down by Richard Adams
And now it’s your turn: Which are your favorite pet/animal reads of all time? Got any newbies you’d like to enlighten us to? Comment away…
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Bones Would Rain From The Sky - Deepening Our Relationships With Dogs, by Suzanne Clothier.
It's a heartrending, heartwarming read; it makes you think and although it is not a "dog training manual" as such, it is probably the first book anyone should read before training a dog. I love it so much.
Everyone who has a dog should read this, really.
1. Dogs Who Found Me: What I've learned from Pets who were left behind by Ken Foster
2. Holistic Guide for a Healthy Dog by Wendy Volhard and Kerry Brown
3. Brown Dog of the Yak by Rick Bass
4. Orvile: A Dog Story by Haven Kimmel (childrens fiction)
5. All Creatures.....by James Herriot
6. Dr. Pitcairn's Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs and Cats by Richard Pitcairn, DVM.PhD
7. . Don't Shoot the Dog by Karen Pryor
8. Clifford the Big Red Dog by Norman Bridwell (childrens fiction)
9. Hiking with Dogs, 2nd: Becoming a wilderness wise dog owner
10 .A Three Dog Life by Abigail Thomas
Thurber's Dogs is an all time favorite too. I really enjoyed The Hidden Life of Dogs, her book on cats I didn't find half as good. The Pig who sang to the Moon is great too and of course, I can't bring up pigs without remembering Charlottes Web.
1. Amazing Gracie (the dog behind Three Dog Bakery)
2. For Bea (about a beagle that escaped an animal labratory)
3. Animals in Translation - Using the mysteries of autism to decode animal behavior
4. Hidden Life of Dogs and Social Lives of Dogs by Elizabeth Marshall
HELP, there is a book I read years ago and I thought it was called "For Love of a Dog" but have not been able to find it online. It is not the one by Patricia McConnell. It was about a woman and her Border Collie that had severe behavior problems. The cover was blue and white with a border collie on the front. Does anyone know anything about this book???
Thanks
Like Tamara, I also like Wendy Volhard's "Holistic Guide..." and Dr. Pitcairn's "Complete Guide..." but I have to confess to picking and choosing what I like from both.
I also like "Dogs: A New Understanding of Canine Origin, Behavior and Evolution" by by Raymond and Lorna Coppinger. (http://www.amazon.com/Dogs-Understanding-Canine-Be...=pd_bbs_sr_1/103-5039184-4683802?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1194232608&sr=1-1)
-"How to Behave so your Dog Behaves" by Sophia Yin
-"Enslaved by Ducks" by Bob Tarte (I was disappointed by the sequel... but the original is great)
-"Beak of the Finch" by Jonathan Weiner (an animal book, not really a pet book)
-"Veterinary Herbal Medicine" by Susan Wynn, DVM
-"Corgiville Fair" by Tasha Tudor
Currently "Pathologic Basis of Veterinary Disease" and I are trying to become good friends, but I don't know if the relationship is going to work out.
My Family And Other Animals- Gerald Durell
If you haven't already read this, you really should add it to your list. It is absolutely hysterical, and it doesn't lose its charm after numerous rereadings. It's about naturalist Durell's childhood and his love for all animals as well as his family, eccentric as only the British can be. I LOVE this book!
Even though I disagree slightly with some of their training methods, I like "How To Be Your Dog's Best Friend" by the Monks of New Skete. What they believe counters the thinking of so many christians who think that dogs are "just animals, under our control." Years ago a pastor at a local church said that the man who jumped in a near flodd level river to save a Lhasa Ahpso who had been thrown in would have lost his soul because it was a sin to risk our life for the life of an animal. Whatever. I actually wound up providing a home for that dog and he turned out to be one of the coolest dogs ever, living through diabetes to the ripe old age of 17 1/2 years. He taught me a lot about enjoying each day and attacking it with tail wagging, even when blind, arthritic, and receiving 2 insulin shots a day.
One I just finished reading: "The Other End Of The Leash" by Patricia McConnell, Ph.D. I see it evey day in the animal hospital and kennel...Owners and many animal care professionals need to step back and try to view how situations and encounters look through the eyes of an animal.
1. The James Harriot series
2. The Black Stallion (actually the whole entire series :-)
3. The White Stallion of Lippaz (Margaret Henry)
4. King of the Wind (Margaret Henry)
5. The Misty of Chincoteague series (Margaret Henry)
6. The Yearling
7. Old Yeller
8. Flicka
9. White Fang
10. The Call of the Wild
11. The Jungle Book
12. Bambi
~~ Meri
1. Old Yeller
2. King of the Wind
3. The Black Stallion series
4. The Yearling
5. Kazan : the Wolf Dog
6. RinTinTin's Rinty
7. The James Herriot series
8. The Call of the Wild
9. Watership Down
10. The Misty of Chincoteague series
11. White Fang
And more recently:
1. The Horse Whisperer
2. Chosen by a Horse
3. Riding Lessons
4. Flying Chances
However, Gruen's "Water for Elephants" is superb!
Maybe I need to read it again....
I also remember reading White Fang when I was around 10 and that changed my life forever.
I recently read Walking in Circles Before Lying Down (by Merril Markoe) and OMG that is now one of my favoritest books of all time. Probably not for everyone though.
Dr. McConnell (Other End of the Leash) puts scientific principles and findings in laymen's terms in a clear and often humorous manner. I wish she wrote more!
At first I found Susan Conant's Holly Winter dog mysteries over the top, but I must have gotten a bit crazier, since now I relate a lot more to them. A lot of pet mysteries are rather twee, but Conant is a wry writer, who slyly sends up her canine-centric Holly. Conant wrote the oft-quoted line: "I feel the same spiritual comfort holding a leash that others feel holding a rosary."
"Pets in America" by Katherine Grier is a fascinating look at the role pets have played since Colonial times. Some great pictures!
One of my childhood favorites is "The Incredible Journey" by Sheila Burnford. More recent ones are "Shaper" by Jessie Haas, a teen novel with death, romance and clicker training, "Listen" by Stephanie Tolan of a young girl taming a feral dog (based on the author's experience).
Fun topic!
"The Good, Good Pig," "The Spell of the Tiger" and anything else by Sy Montgomery
"Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers," Monkeyluv," "A Primate's Memoir" and all the other books by Robert Sapolsky.
1) Winterdance by Gary Paulsen True story of an Iditarod first timer.Parts make me laugh our loud.
2) Parenting your dog by Trish King. Excellent overall info.
3) The other end of the leash by Patricia McConnell - some parts are dry but it is very informative about behavior.
4) A snowflake in your hand. Can't remember the author but it is a cat vet memoir sort of.
5) 15 rabbits by Felix Salten. (author of Bambi-I collect his books)
6) How to teach an old dog new tricks by Ian Dunbar. Another fav showing lure training.
7) Watchers Dean Koontz - horror but with a geneticly altered dog that can communicate with people.
8) Minga-a love story by Arlie Alford (a must for frenchie people- very anthropormorphic though)
9) Dog eat dog- Jane and Michael Stern - a real look behind dog shows
10) Dog Friendly Dog Training by Andrea Arden Excellent book with great cartoons and explains things very clearly.
11) War Dogs by Micheal Lemish - about dogs used in the military as workers and mascots. Dry in parts and very sad in parts.
12) Anything by Susan Conant she writes dog lovers mysteries and also started a cat lovers series too. I don't normally like mysteries but there is so much dog stuff in them I can't help myself. The first in the cat series didn't tweak me the same way but I didn't really love the main character which might have been the problem.
I also loved all the Herriot books and remember the show. I can't begin to list all my fav horse books as I think I read them all in my horsey days.
Sherlock Bones, Tracer of Missing Pets was another of my favorites as a kid.
Didn't discover Herriot until adulthood - read them all this summer and love them.
Another great one is What the Dog Did - Tales from a Formerly Reluctant Dog Owner, by Emily Yoffe.
What a great article! The used book store is my destination tomorrow.
Monty Roberts (books about horses)
How to Talk to your Animals by Jean George it was my first favourite, I read it in 1986!
Gerald Durrell (all of his books are very funny)
James Harriot (not very original, I know!!)
Next Panda, Please by David Taylor
David Bird writes about birds, very good too.
Also: Animal ER with Vicky Croke
Patricia McConnell's latest book on dog emotions is also a great read and has a lot of great information that can help you better understand your dog.
http://www.thenatureofdogs.com/
A new book with photos by Minneapolis photographer Mary Ludington. It's beautiful and touching and will make you go hug your dog.
Oh, and for gripping race tales, you can't beat Lauren Hillenbrand's "Seabiscuit!"
AND who could forget, 'The Cat Who Came for Christmas' by Cleveland Amory (I believe). The whole series- it makes me weepy right now thinking of the ending (which is a natural ending, of course, but just makes me sad because I SO loved his cat- such a character!)
And thanks for posting about the FOXNews listing - if you hadn't, I would never know I was on that list too (mispelled name and all!).
The David Taylor (zoovet) books.
books by Joyce Stranger.
Misty of Chincoteague, and others in that series and by that author.
This unique learning adventure was designed to be read aloud in home, library, or classroom settings and to encourage conversation with children about kindness to animals and responsible pet ownership. Infused with humor, this delightful book is packed full of large, colorful photos of the animals of Best Friends.
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