Merle's Door

Winnie and I like to read.  It's not unusual to find us sitting around with a Sitepoint publication (or in Winnie's case a copy of The Doctors Foster & Smith catalog) and a snack.   But summer seems to be a good time to catch up on the books you want to read. 

One of my favorites (of all time, not just on dogs) is one called Merle's Door: Lessons from a Freethinking Dog by Ted Kerasote.  I would absolutely put this on a must read list for dog owners.  The author is an outdoor journalist by trade and Merle's Door seems to be a natural extension for him.  Equal parts research, autobiography, and adventure story Merle's Door let's you have an intimate look at a life long relationship between a man and his dog. 

In the book Merle's Door, Ted has been researching different breeds and trying to find the right pup to match his active lifestyle he finds his perfect match in a stray yellow mutt along the side of a river while on a kayaking trip.  Being a bit of an academic, he finds himself working through eons of dog research and life experience on a 15 year quest to build a life where both man and beast meet their own needs and those of each other.

Merle's Door is a fast read.  (I'm a terribly slow reader and I burned through it in about 2 weeks)  The story is compelling because we find ourselves both in the emotion and the questions that are asked.  We love Merle because Merle is our dog.  We bond with Ted because Ted deals with the same struggles and victories as we do.  I promise you'll love the story but the bibliography is priceless.  This is the book that made me go buy others like The New Work of Dogs: Tending to Life, Love, and Family and The Other End of the Leash: Why We Do What We Do Around Dogs.  Whenever Ted is at a turning point on how to handle an issue you'll see a footnote that leads to the richest resources you could ask for.  This book will help you articulate why you do what you do with your dog and give you the tools to carry it out with confidence.  Get it today, you won't be sorry!