From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2005:

Miracle Dog
by Randy Grim
Alpine Publications
(P.O. Box 7027, Loveland, CO 80537), 2005. 120 pages, paperback. $19.95.

Quentin, a shelter dog, in August 2003 survived the St.
Louis Animal Regulation gas chamber, was adopted by Stray Rescue
founder Randy Grim, and became an icon of the no-kill movement.
Grim himself became a icon of the no-kill movement about a
year earlier, through the publication of a biography, The man who
talks to dogs, by Melinda Roth.
In Miracle Dog, Grim tells his own story. Like our
colleague Cicely Blumberg, here in Cape Town, South Africa, Grim
devotes his life to helping orphaned, injured, and lost dogs in the
bad parts of town.
Among the most telling parts of Miracle Dog are Grim’s observations
of how people reacted to Quentin’s sudden celebrity status. Grim
recounts that 700 people wrote to him offering to take Quentin for
adoption. When they were told, “Sorry, he is staying with
me, but won’t you please save another dog from the gas chamber,”
there were no takers.

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2005:

Nobody’s Pets
by Debra White
Four Footed Friends (P.O. Box 25736, Tempe, AZ 85285), 2001.
$8.95, paperback.

Nobody’s Pet is a tale about shelter dogs and cats, told by
the animals themselves, through longtime Maricopa County Animal Care
& Control volunteer Debra White. The book begins with two men
breaking into an animal shelter at night to steal the animals with
the intention of selling them to labs for use in experiments.
The stolen cats and dogs escape and find their way home after
many adventures.
The dialogue among the animals is unconvincing, partly
because there is little character development. There is also little
atmosphere because the place descriptions are superficial.
It is unfortunate that the book is disjointed and lacking in
depth, as the author’s heart is in the right place.
–Beverley Pervan

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2005:

Getting Lucky by Susan Marino with Denise Flaim
Stewart, Tabori & Chang (c/o La Martiniere Groupe, 115 West 18th St.,
New York, NY 10011), 2005. 144 pages, hardcover. $18.95.

Susan Marino founded and runs the Angel’s Gate Animal Hospice
at her home on Long Island. Her nursing career, allied to a
dedication and commitment to unselfish giving of love, has given her
the ability to care for the countless ailing and injured animals who
are carried to her door.
Her door is open to all animals, regardless of species, and
here they find a loving sanctuary until death eventually claims them.
Getting Lucky is beautifully bound in glossy paper with color
portraits of the animals the book introduces. Each gets a chapter.
The result is somewhat processional, as one animal after another is
paraded before the reader. But the stories are charming and well
written, centering around a Great Dane called Lucky. The thematic
binding thread is that all life is precious, and should be preserved
as long as the animal would want it. Terminally ill animals are not
euthanized but instead are nursed until death occurs naturally.

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