At the age of 36, Caroline Knapp, author of the acclaimed bestseller Drinking: A Love Story, found herself confronted with a monumental task: redefining her world.She had faced the loss of both her parents, given up a twenty-year relationship with alcohol, and, as she writes, "I was wandering around in a haze of uncertainty, blinking up at the biggest questions: Who am I without parents and without alcohol? How to form attachments, and where to find comfort, in the face of such daunting vulnerability?" An answer materialized in the most unlikely form: that of a dog. Eighteen months to the day after she quit drinking, Knapp stumbled upon an eight-week-old puppy at a local animal shelter, took her home, and named her Lucille. Now two years old, Lucille has become a central force in Knapp's life: "In her," she writes, "I have found solace, joy, a bridge to the world."Caroline Knapp has been celebrated as much for her fresh insight into emotional and psychological issues as she has been for her gifts as a writer. In Pack of Two, she brings the same perception and talent to bear on the rich, complicated terrain of human-animal relationships. In addition to mining her own experience with Lucille, Knapp speaks to a wide variety of dog people--from animal behaviorists and psychologists to other owners whose dogs have deeply affected their lives--about this emotionally complex, sometimes daunting, often profoundly healing alliance. Throughout, she explores the shift in canine roles from working partners to intimate companions and looks, too, at how this new kinship, this wordless bond, becomes a template for what we most desire ourselves.

    The fifty portraits featured are a poignant and loving tribute to all dogs.

    In a cull, her family was slaughtered. Only the newborn female's life was spared. Terrified and bewildered the young elephant was transported to America to be sold.Bob Norris is a cowboy with an enormous empathy for animals. Handsome as a movie star, he was the Marlboro Man, with his face appearing on billboards around the world. But something was missing. When the hurt, vulnerable little elephant, Amy, came into his life, an incredible bond between the most unlikely of friends was forged.Bob adopted Amy and through close observation, gentle training, humor, and endless perseverance, this accomplished horseman gradually coaxed Amy into overcoming her mistrust of humans, and her fear of the world. Amy became a beloved member of the Norris family, and partner to the ranch hands, but Bob knew from the start that the ultimate goal was for Amy to regain her confidence and her independence - even, if it were possible, to go back to the savannahs of Africa.Amy may have left the cowboy's life, but she never left his heart. The Cowboy and His Elephant is a story of mutual friendship, of genuine love and compassion, and foremost, this is an American story with roots that run deep in the values and traditions of the American West.

    Right-he has amber eyes and a wily heart. There's only one catch . . . he has four legs and a tail.Relatively indifferent to the natural world, allergic to dogs, and happily independent, writer Louise Bernikow never had a pet and knew nothing about caring for one. But one day while running along Manhattan's Hudson River, she came across an abandoned boxer. He had a gimpy leg and a dim past, but Bernikow instantly, bewilderingly, did the one thing her mother always warned her not to do-she brought the strange male home.Here is the comical and offbeat story of their first year together. Libro, as she comes to call him (for "book," in Spanish), introduces her to the curious world of dog runs and dog people, and to a local dive where the bartender pulls pints from the tap and dog biscuits from the drawer. Bernikow, in turn, introduces Libro to the eccentric neighbors and to life as a media hound. When they meet a handsome man and his equally handsome dachshund, life takes an unexpected turn for both of them.Wonderfully written and captivating to the last, this is a remarkable tale of companionship.

    For as long as dogs have lived alongside man, they have saved their lives in wartime with their bravery, loyalty and companionship. From the WWII dog that was adopted by the Royal Navy as a mascot, torpedoed, shot at and registered as a prisoner of war, to the more recent heroics of explosives dog, Bonnie, in Afghanistan and Iraq where she saved hundreds of military and civilian lives, this is a collection of the most incredible and heartwarming accounts from around the world.Capturing the fear, uncertainly, determination and undying devotion of these amazing dogs and the young soldiers, sailors and airmen they befriended, these are truly inspirational tales of loyalty and companionship beyond all boundaries.

    Pat, as the dog came to be known, and his raffish travelling companion, a young pup, "were even more unwelcome than the weather," but after a few preliminaries both settled in as members of the Borland household. The pup eventually found his permanent home elsewhere, but Pat became Hal Borland's true companion - and a local legend, the terror of woodchucks for miles around. With his keen sensitivity to the natural world, Borland here recounts, with deep affection and wonder, how a man and his dog can form a magical and unforgettable partnership. First published in 1961, THE DOG WHO CAME TO STAY "will appeal to many sportsmen and to all people who have ever been closely attached to a dog." (The New York Times Book Review)

    But when she came upon Bea, a scrawny beagle abandoned by the roadside, she couldn't turn away. Bea became part of her family, and changed it forever.Disheveled, malnourished, and terrified of human contact, Bea seemed damaged beyond repair. But, gradually, she began to trust von Kreisler. After resisting her touch again and again, the dog one day leaned in and nuzzled her neck. From that moment, Bea began to give love as well as receive it. With the typically unforgettable personality of a beagle, over the next decade and a half she taught von Kreisler the value of living utterly in the present, of meeting each day with a good bark, and of moving forward in life without being dragged down by past grief.Written with rare eloquence and down-to-earth wit, this memoir of Bea and von Kreisler's fifteen-year love story will charm "beaglers" and touch the heart of anyone who has ever loved a dog.

    On the winter day that the ailing, tick-infested feral pup was rescued by Steve Duno, neither dog nor man had a clue as to what they were getting into, or where the relationship would lead.Last Dog on the Hill tells the story of an indigent young Rottweiler mix who, after abandoning his pack and the hills of his birth, went on to change the lives of hundreds of people and dogs, including the author's, whose career as a behaviorist and writer was made possible through Lou's extraordinary intelligence and heart. Lou won the respect of gang members, foiled an armed robbery, caught a rapist, fought coyotes and kidnappers, comforted elderly war veterans and Alzheimer patients in their final days, taught ASL to kids, learned scores of unique behaviors and tricks, amassed a vocabulary of nearly 200 words, helped rehabilitate hundreds of aggressive dogs and saved them from euthanasia. He was also a clown, consummate performer and Steve's best friend for sixteen years. His story will make readers laugh and cry in equal measures.

    Our dogs come into our lives as “just the family pet,” but before we know it they become drinking buddies and fuzzy shrinks, playmates and Cheerios-munching vacuum cleaners, alarm clocks and sleeping partners. And, in their mys­terious and muttish ways, our dogs become our teachers. When Dana Jennings and his son were both seriously ill—Dana with prostate cancer and his son with liver failure—their twelve-year-old miniature poodle Bijou became even more than a pet and teacher. She became a healing presence in their lives. After all, when you’re recovering from radical surgery and your life is uncertain, there’s no better medicine than a  twenty-three-pound pooch who lives by the motto that it’s always best to play, even when you’re old and creaky, even when you’re sick and frightened. In telling Bijou’s tale in all of its funny, touching, and neurotic glory, Jennings is telling the story of every dog that has ever blessed our lives. The perfect gift for animal lovers, What a Difference a Dog Makes is a narrative ode to our canine guardian angels.

    Now imagine Tinker Creek was a New Jersey suburb, and you have an idea of the surprises that await in John Zeaman’s book. Humorous, thought-provoking, and playful, Dog Walks Man might also be called Zen and the Art of Dog Walking. Zeaman takes us on a journey from a 'round-the-block fraternity of “dog-walking dupes”—suburban fathers who indulged their children’s wish for a dog—to a strange and forbidden wonderland at the edge of town, the New Jersey Meadowlands. Along the way, he rediscovers childhood’s forgotten “fringe places,” investigates the mysteries of the natural world, and experiences moments of inexplicable joy. Each chapter of Dog Walks Man is a bite-size meditation on the wisdom derived from dogs and dog walking. Woven into the narrative are musings on such familiar dog-walking issues as the war of nerves that precedes each walk (or “w-a-l-k” if your dog is in earshot), the problem of dog-walking monotony, and why dog walkers are always the ones to discover dead bodies. This is also the story of Pete, the prescient standard poodle who begins as the “family glue” and evolves into Zeaman’s partner on a journey through an abandoned landscape as alive as any jungle. Above all, Dog Walks Man is about a search for wholeness in an increasingly artificial world. It is about discovering what Thoreau meant when he wrote, in his seminal essay “Walking,” “Life consists with wildness.” Because the truth is, something as simple as walking the dog can open up unexpected worlds.

    Forced to adapt to a life alone, Abigail finds solace at home, discovering that friends, family and dogs can reshape a life of chaos into one that makes sense - a life full of its own richness and beauty.

    With three "fur babies" already at home, Joal wasn't looking to adopt another dog. But there was something special about Sadie, a shepherd mix who had been shot in the head and in the back and left for dead in the hills of Kentucky after giving birth. One gaze into those sorrowful eyes and Joal vowed to do everything possible to get the pitiful creature walking again. The first three vets offered little hope for Sadie and two even recommended euthanasia. But with patience, hope, and plenty of love, Joal noticed a change in her canine companion. And somewhere along the difficult journey, she discovered that sweet Sadie had transformed her life in ways she never could have imagined. Now, media darlings Joal and Sadie are spreading their message of compassion, acceptance, and kindness around the world. Joyous and inspiring, Saving Sadie is a triumphant story about the power of unconditional love and second chances--for humans and animals alike.

    Wells begins his work as an inexperienced recent college grad and emerges a caring and beloved veterinarian. Affording the reader an inside glimpse into his daily life, he narrates many uplifting, life-altering, lifethreatening, and hilarious episodes.

    Fielding Marshall is hiking on the Appalachian Trail. His beloved dog—a six-year-old golden retriever named Gonker—bolts into the woods. Just like that, he has vanished. And Gonker has Addison's disease. If he’s not found in twenty-three days—he will die.The search begins. Fielding and his father, John, are dispatched to the field. They have the family's other dog, Uli, in tow. Combing the trails, Fielding and his father bond like never before. Fielding's sister, Peyton, calls and talks him through some of his lowest moments. And—at home—Fielding's mother, Virginia, sets up a command center.Virginia becomes a field general. With a map and a phonebook at her side—she contacts animal shelters, police precincts, general stores, community centers, newspapers, radio stations, churches, and park rangers. She is tireless. The local paper in Waynesboro writes a small story about the family’s search. The story hits the AP Newswire. Tips—many of them of questionable authenticity—pour in from across the country. But as the search continues, the Marshalls realize they may not survive losing him. Even as the wounds of their past return to haunt them and threaten to jeopardize everything—they know they have one mission: Bring Gonker home.With a big heart, intelligent humor, and a deft touch, Pauls Toutonghi tells this true tale of loss, love, and resilience. Dog Gone is by turns a story about how a family comes together in a crisis—and the way heroism can assert itself in the little things we do each day.

    With inimitable honesty and characteristic brashness, Tia captures the spirit and heart of these intelligent and loving canines, while carrying us behind the scenes of her TV show, into the heart of post-Katrina New Orleans, onto the soundstages of Hollywood films, and even to the jungles of Sri Lanka. Tia has devoted her life to shattering the stereotype that pit bulls are dangerous, vicious predators. As the top dog at the Villalobos Rescue Center in New Orleans, the largest pit bull rescue in the United States, she and her team have rescued, rehabilitated, and rehomed hundreds of animals that might otherwise have been destroyed. As she puts it, "Most of the stories in this book are about animals (and a few humans) that needed someone to believe in them and a purpose in order to show their true nobility." Each dog Tia writes about here has overcome abuse, trauma, neglect, or just bad luck to become a stalwart, loving companion to Tia and her family. You'll meet Duke, whose intelligence and matinee-idol looks made him a star in movies and music videos; Junkyard Joe, whose single-minded passion for tennis balls was channeled into expertise as a drug-sniffing dog; Bluie, the unswerving protector of Tia's daughter Tania; and a host of other unforgettable canines. My Life Among the Underdogs is above all a love story--one that is sure to grip the heart of anyone who has ever loved a dog.