From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  September 2011:

A Big Little Life:  A memoir of a joyful dog named Trixie  by Dean Koontz
Bantam Books (1745 Broadway,  New York,   NY 10019),  2011.  269 pages,  paperback.  $15.00.

Dean Koontz sidesteps from producing best selling novels to bring us A Big Little Life:  A memoir of a joyful dog named Trixie, about a Canine Companions for Independence dropout.  Just about everyone I know,  myself included,  claims to have the best dog in the world.  Koontz says he does too.  Trixie may have flopped as a service dog,  but she excelled as the Koontz family’s loyal,  loving and devoted companion,  adding joy to the lives of Koontz and his wife Gerda,   and their network of friends,  family and neighbors. Read more

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  September 2011:

Going Home:  Finding Peace When an Animal Dies  by Jon Katz
Random House (1745 Broadway,  New York,  NY 10019),  2011.  166 pages,  hardcover.  $22.00.

Going Home is a guide for grieving animal owners that thrusts itself into a very crowded field.  An Internet search at Amazon.com turns up at least 250 titles under “pet loss.”  And Jon Katz’s fictionalized book is far from original.  According to Katz,  the incidents in Going Home did happen,  but he “changed names and personal characteristics” of people involved.  So the stories Katz tells may not have actually happened as Katz relates them. Read more

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2011:

The Dog Next Door
& Other Stories of the Dogs We Love
Edited by Callie Smith Grant
Revell (P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516), 2011.
221 pages, paperback. $12.99.

The Dog Next Door & Other Stories of the Dogs We Love
resembles Dogs & the Women Who Love Them, published in November 2010
by New World Library, presenting similar tales of hope, friendship
and loyalty. Each writer shares a unique perspective on why humans
love dogs.

Read more

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2011:

A Bond Unique:
Thoughts and stories about people and the dogs they love
Edited by Reg Green
Iroquois County Animal Rescue
(100 NW Lincoln, Iroquois, IL 60945), 2010.
60 pages, illustrated, paperback. $25.00

I never tire of reading books about dogs and their owners.
This one is as uplifting as any other book I have reviewed for Animal
People.

Read more