Great dog books

Dogdad · Post by **Dogdad** » Sat Apr 14, 2007 6:21 am

Just wondering if anyone reads alot.

I am usually reading 2 books at a time, one history and one pure enjoyment book. I usually only get about a half an hour a day when I am waiting to pick up my kids but it is nice.

The last dog book I read was The hidden life of dogs It was good yet sad, I hate books when they die. Can't bring myself to read Marely and Me. Still too soon after losing Otono. I just recieved Petfinder.com Presents, Second Chances: Inspiring Stories of Dog Adoption I can't wait to read this one.

I think I have read most of the chow books, most of them are soo old and talk about dog shows and breeding things which don't interest me.

David

SWANCIN · Post by **SWANCIN** » Sat Apr 14, 2007 7:15 am

Hi David,

All I read are dog books and gardening magazines. I'll go thru my dog book library and post my faves in a few days. I enjoy behavior related dog books as well as charming stories of living with dogs. I have Marley and Me, haven't read it though, you say there's death in it? Thanks for the warning - I can't handle that stuff anymore - too much experience....

PS: BARK magazine is awesome. I read that from cover to cover usually the 1st day it arrives!

chowfrnd88 · Post by **chowfrnd88** » Sat Apr 14, 2007 7:33 am

I'm with Cindy!! Except I also toss in an occassional monkey item too.

David, I'm always reading at least two book at once too. I also have Marley and Me but haven't read it. I have a friend who is just like us and can't handle bad things happening to animals, plus she just suffered a major personal tragedy and she still highly recommended Marley and Me, so maybe it'll be okay?

Right now, I'm still reading "What Wendell Wants or How to Tell if You're Obsessed with Your Dog" (there's no question about it, I absoluetly am and proud of it

) and I'm also reading "What is my dog thinking? The essential guide to understanding pet behavior" by Gwen Bailey. It's very basic, lots of pictures and is really preety good. I'm only about 40 pages into it, but it says a lot of the stuff we already know and some new interetsing things. I have to read all the behavior books with a grain of salt and if I get the slightest hint of Cesar Milanish attitude I put it down altogether.

Do you all have any good recommendations for behavior books?

Cindy, I'm finally subscribing to Bark, I relaized I buy it every month anyway!!

It's so wonderful, it talks about things that really matter to us.

Dogdad · Post by **Dogdad** » Sat Apr 14, 2007 8:53 am

I hope more people post so I can add to my must read books. I don't read behavior books because it has never really been a huge issue. Just the snippets that are in the generic books put out by barrons. You know the kind. Your chow chow...your cocker spaniel. just replace the name of the dog, change a few pictures... they are almost all the same..

David

chowfrnd88 · Post by **chowfrnd88** » Sat Apr 14, 2007 9:00 am

Let us know how the perfinder book is. I've seen it at the store, but don't have it yet.

Here are some of the ones I really liked:

"The Dogs Who Found Me" by Ken Foster, it is sad in places but it's uplifting and it inspires to take action

"Not Left Behind: Rescuing the Pets of New Orleans" by the Best Friends Animal Society

"You Are Dog" by Terry Bain...this book is funny and the dog wrote the book, so it's like one of our chows talking

Although I do think that our chows could have written it better!

This is a great thread David, thanks for starting it!

Jeff&Vicki · Post by **Jeff&Vicki** » Sat Apr 14, 2007 1:21 pm

If you post the ISBN number from the books, we can GOOGLE the number and it will give you information on what the book is and where to buy it. It works using the book name, but I seem to get better results with the number.
You can also go to Ebay or Half.com and type in the ISBN number in the search box and it will list all the books for sale.
I used the ISBN from the back of The Book of the Chow Chow, 0866227113, on Ebay and it sells for $14.99 with $3.25 shipping.

Jeff

SWANCIN · Post by **SWANCIN** » Sat Apr 14, 2007 3:48 pm

I realized I should have clarified when I said behavior books. I mostly meant psychology of animals.

Here's most of the books I have, though many are in storage.

When Elephants Weep: The Emotional Lives of Animals-Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson and Susan McCarthy

Dog Love-Majorie Garber

Dogs Never Lie about Love-Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson

Dogs and their Women-Louise Taylor and Barbara E Cohen

Understanding your Dog-Michael W. Fox

My Life as a Real Dog-Chapman Pinser

The Animals-Richard Grossman

The Dog Who Loved Too Much-Nicolas Dodman

DogWatching -Desmond Morris

Hidden Life of Dogs-Elizabeth Marshall Thomas

These are on my bedside table now:
Animals in Translation: Using the Mysteries of Autism to Decode Animal Behavior- Temple Grandin and Catherine Johnson

Blessing The Animals: Prayers and Ceremonies to Celebrate God's Creatures, Wild and Tame-Lynn L. Caruso

Shelter Dogs- Traer Scott

Tails of Devotion: A Look at the Bond Between People and Their Pets-Emily Scott Pottruck and Amy Tan

You can get synopsis/reviews on Amazon.

chowfrnd88 · Post by **chowfrnd88** » Sat Apr 14, 2007 4:33 pm

I love When Elephants Weep, it's a great book. I have a couple of the other ones on your list Cindy, but haven't read them yet. I might have to be reading three books at once soon!

Dogdad · Post by **Dogdad** » Sat Apr 14, 2007 6:15 pm

I am half way done with the petfinder book, it is good, not great but good. There are a couple of chow stories in it.

David

Sharons Chows · Post by **Sharons Chows** » Sat Apr 14, 2007 7:50 pm

Alan has gotten quite a few chow books at 1/2 price books...but they are usually only about breeding and grooming etc.
I have been thinking about reading Marley and Me...I have heard that it is very good.

Sharon

Sylvia · Post by **Sylvia** » Sat Apr 14, 2007 8:14 pm

I read Marley and Me. Its a wonderful book. One of those hard to put down types.

Layla · Post by **Layla** » Sat Apr 14, 2007 9:40 pm

I love books! They've been a source of great enjoyment since I was very small. I have to say that I mainly read fiction or travel book, with the odd autobiography thrown in for luck. Dog books are new for me. i wanted a dogs for so long and we weren't allowed them as children & then I wasn't home enough /partying far too much to offer a good life to any dog so I didn't read them.

I love fiction as it is a great escape & time away from normal life. When I worked in London, my commute was 3 hours a day (!) I'd read the newspapers in the morning and a book in the evening... got though a lot in those years!

Travel is a great passion of mine & one of the reasons that I was happy to come live in the US for a while. I have to be careful though as reading them gets my feet so very itchy

Lovely thread, thanks Dogdad

Victory · Post by **Victory** » Sun Apr 15, 2007 11:31 am

I read so much that I decided to find out if I can make the 50 book challenge this year over on Live Journel. So far I'm up to 17 for the year, I read SciFi/Fantasy, Horror, a new genre called Paranormal Romance, Thriller and Historical Fiction. I also read non-fiction and Classics. I'm not counting anything I have to read for school, or any internet published writing, fiction, non-fiction or news articles, all of which I also read a lot. I'm only counting books read strictly for my own enjoyment.

Right now I'm reading Dream Hunter, by Sherrilyn Kenyon and Pagan Theology by Michael York, (not the actor

) You can see most of my list for the year here:
http://nightcloud-kles.livejournal.com/41059.html
Like I said I haven't read them all yet, this is just what I hope to accomplish by the end of the year and so far I'm on track to read at least 60 books before the end of the year.

Dogdad · Post by **Dogdad** » Sun Apr 15, 2007 12:41 pm

I can't wait to start searching for the books listed. I just finished Petfinders.com Second chances, inspiring stories of dog adoptions.https://shop.theanimalrescuesite.com/st ... ry&index=2I liked it more today. It brought a couple tears of sadness as well as joy but since I am a guy and we can't admit that, my eyes just welled up a bit ok

David

chowfrnd88 · Post by **chowfrnd88** » Sun Apr 15, 2007 2:49 pm

LOL. Okay David

monicaxyz · Post by **monicaxyz** » Mon Apr 16, 2007 12:22 pm

hi everyone,
i read marley and me, and i highly recommend it. most of the book is very upbeat, parts are incredibly funny and really captures the way people feel about their dogs. the end is very sad, because marley does die, and it did make me cry, but it was worth reading. quick read, well written by a professional journalist.

Jeff&Peks · Post by **Jeff&Peks** » Mon Apr 16, 2007 1:18 pm

When Elephants Weep: The Emotional Lives of Animals-Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson and Susan McCarthy

Is that as bad (sad) as it sounds? If its what I'm thinking, dealing with animals feelings and emotions, then it should be required reading in schools or at least a book report done on it. If People Realized all Animals, Mammals and bugs had feelings and emotions like Humans and that everything on this earth has one goal, survival and taking care of its family/pack then things might not be as bad. Who cares about the Life and times of George Bush and Caesar Chavez get on with practical stuff that can be used in life.

Some Animals family/pack unity is stronger then Humans.

Thanks, I will have to read that.

Salandra · Post by **Salandra** » Mon Apr 16, 2007 2:42 pm

Who cares about the Life and times of George Bush and Caesar Chavez get on with practical stuff that can be used in life.

Yeah! What you said!

I love to read. Recently I haven't had as much time as I have in the past. I read fantasy and science fiction mostly. I have a couple quilting magazines. Going to have to find Bark; haven't seen it around here.

I have really wanted to get some good books on Chows, but since finding this site I've probably gained more knowledge than a book could ever give me.

zingara_princepessa · Wed Apr 18, 2007 11:57 am

Pack of Two by Caroline Knapp. Great book.

I cried my a$$ off over Marley & Me, and books NEVER make me cry. The ending is a total tear jerker.

chowfrnd88 · Post by **chowfrnd88** » Thu May 10, 2007 12:52 pm

I forgot to mention that I finished Gwen Bailey's "What is my dog thinking? The essential guide to understanding pet behavior." It's really excellent. It talks about everything a bit, so it touches on the drooling, what different expressions mean, all about their sense of smell, about play, and it deals a lot with how to interpret signals. There are only a few things I had a slight issue with, but overall I would highly recommend this book to anyone who would want to know more about understanding canine behavior on a basic level.

Dogdad · Post by **Dogdad** » Fri May 11, 2007 5:24 pm

I just finished Dogs never lie about LoveGreat title, reads like a phsycology book. Yawn

David