The Purest Bond

An entertaining, thoroughly researched and profoundly informative book addressing the tremendous impact dogs have on human lives.

 

“Dogs…serve as a sort of balm to the mental health struggles and ongoing stress that are plaguing people worldwide. Our canine companions help us feel grounded and present-minded, leading by example,” writes authors Jenn Golbeck (The Golden Ratio Cookbook) and Stacey Colino (Unlock Your Menopause Type). In The Purest Bond: Understanding the Human-Canine Connection, they present an entertaining, insightful treatise on the impact dogs have on human life. This writing duo--with accomplished backgrounds in academic, scientific, and psychological issues--weaves together groundbreaking research and down-to-earth stories that explore the many benefits of the human-canine bond.

 

Supported by scientific information, the narrative weaves in psychological studies examining how dogs impact, support, and improve the mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual aspects of the human condition. A thorough section on aging dogs and coping with loss and grief is most compassionately rendered.

 

“In exchange for us feeding, loving, and caring for them, (dogs) pay us back many times over.” The gratifying research culled and entertainingly presented by Golbeck and Colino, will change the lives of dog lovers and readers similarly.

 

The Purest Bone: Understanding the Human-Canine Connection by Jen Golbeck and Stacey Colino

Atria Books, $28.00 hardcover, 9781668007846, 256 pages

Publishing Date: November 14, 2023

To order this book on INDIEBOUND/Bookshop.Org, link HERE

Dog Songs

Dog Songs is a collection of new and favorite poems by esteemed, popular poet Mary Oliver. The 35 poems plus one longer prose-poem-essay that cap off this slender volume, revolve around dogs and all they mean personally to Oliver, while elevating to more universal themes of the human-canine bond and how the companionship of dogs anchors people to the natural, "heaven of earth" world.

Pen and ink drawings by illustrator John Burgoyne mirror the unadorned language that makes Oliver's poetry both intriguing and accessible. Each poem evokes poignant, thoughtful observations about the dogs that have enriched Oliver's life and work. Often in just a few, carefully chosen phrases, simple dog pleasures such as daily walks, frolicking in the grass, smelling flowers, chasing mice, darting ahead and going off leash depict a dog's ability to live joyfully in the moment without the anxieties of the past or the future. These vivid metaphors inspire human counterparts to also seek a more vibrant richness of life.

Oliver's poems about her beloved dog Percy—named after Percy Bysshe Shelley, the English Romantic poet—are succinct and clever. Percy's evolution is creatively explored with insight, compassion and humor as he mischievously eats books, has a rendezvous before he's neutered and even keeps the author company while she does her income taxes. "I am trying to live...the examined life. But there are days I wish there was less in my head to examine," writes the poet. Dogs, in their carefree, unconditional friendship and adoration, offer Oliver—and readers—a hopeful respite.

Dog Songs by Mary Oliver

Penguin Press HC, $26.95 hardcover, 97801594204784 , 144 pp

Publication Date: October 8, 2013

To order this book via INDIEBOUND link HERE

Note: This review is a reprint and is being posted (in a slightly different form) with the permission of Shelf Awareness. To read this review on Shelf Awareness: Reader's Edition (10/22/13), click HERE

Ask Bob

Peter Gethers' popular memoirs about his beloved cat, Norton, put his name on the literary map. In Ask Bob: A Novel, Gethers tackles fiction, telling the story of Dr. Robert Heller, a prominent New York City veterinarian who also authors a newspaper column called, "Ask Dr. Bob," which addresses the concerns and woes of pet owners. Dr. Bob is no-nonsense in the delivery and approach of his column--and with his patients and their owners--but he's not as direct in his personal life. He comes from a dysfunctional family that has made his role as son, brother, uncle and lover a muddled, thorny challenge. When Bob meets and falls in love with a woman whose family has more issues than his, he takes solace in their romance and the security of his job, concluding that he understands animals better than people. But when tragedy strikes, Bob is forced to step beyond his comfort zone and tend to the people he loves and cares for the most.

Gethers has written a smart, lively novel infused with romance and heartfelt, real-life complications of family and domesticity. The book centers upon the women in Dr. Bob's life who influence him the most during an eighteen-year period from when Bob is 24 years old until he turns 42. The interspersed addition of several of Dr. Bob's newspaper columns and his charming, insightful notes about certain clients and important people in his life add levity and humor to some heavier aspects and themes.

Ask Bob: A Novel by Peter Gethers

Henry Holt and Co., $24.00, Hardcover,  9780805093315, 320 pp

Publication Date: August 6, 2013

To order this book via INDIEBOUND link HERE

Note: This review is a reprint and is being posted (in a slightly different form) with the permission of Shelf Awareness. To read this review on Shelf Awareness: Reader's Edition (8/9/13), click HERE

High Fashion Hounds: Anatomy of a Dog Grooming

Happy Thanksgiving!

Taking time out from books to share a little slice of life...

Pam, the groomer of my Yorkshire terrier, just invested in her own mobile grooming van, and today, HIGH FASHION HOUNDS paid us our very first "house call." 

Awesome truck! 

Pam backed into the driveway with a little help from her  back-up video cam.   

A perfect park!

The mobile grooming center is like an ambulance without the oxygen, stretcher and defibrillator! It's equipped with everything Pam needs to undertake each individual grooming job - and also includes a great lighting system, heat, hot water, a washing and drying station, a first rate sound-system (Jimmy Buffet was cranking on the satellite radio during her visit with us) and even a traveling company mascot!

Let the games begin . . .

First up was a nail trimming and thorough brushing out.  

Next, a bath.

As the anxiety-riddled, pip-squeak of a Yorkie gets a soak in the bathtub, she gradually begins to calm amid a sudsy massage.  



In the meantime, Kitsy, Pam's lovable Welsh Corgi and the HIGH FASHION HOUNDS' roving mascot, looks on from behind the Plexiglas door that leads to the driver's cabin. 

After a thorough rinse, blow-dry and more brushing, out come the scissors and Pam gets down to the nitty-gritty, giving this fluffy, long-haired Yorkie a much needed make-over. 

Kitsy gets bored with all the fuss and finally just nods off and takes a little snooze! 

Snip-Snap! 

As Pam finishes up the grooming session, Kitsy suddenly stirs, realizing it's almost time for HIGH FASHION HOUNDS to take to the road yet again and set off for the next grooming victim canine make-over! 

And now for the finished product...

 complete with a little bow!
(and yes, that's Kitsy looking out from the passenger's side window)

Thank you HIGH FASHION HOUNDS...

You do beautiful work!

Ta-da!

Link HERE to learn more about HIGH FASHION HOUNDS.

 Be sure to watch the video!