Our Dogs: A Century of Images and Words from the AKC Gazette

I don't know beans about the AKC Gazette but if this sampler is any indication, it must be a pretty good magazine. The writing and photography throughout the book are of a very high quality. Historical photos combine with images of a "feel good" nature to illustrate over 100 years of America's fascination with dogs. The text represents the best of many famous dog writers who you might expect to find in a collection like this, plus essays from well known "mainstream" writers you would not expect. My favorite pieces include those by Jane Smiley and Roger Rosenblatt. And there is a beautifully written short-story about a girl and a guard dog in a concentration camp. Also appreciated were some vivid accounts of Westminster, the world's greatest dog show. I have a few quibbles, but all in all Our Dogs was more than my money's worth--a lovely picture book that is also a good read.

There are a lot of dog books out there, but this one is really outstanding because of its wide variety of excellent photos of and writing about dogs. The visuals are wonderful. Two of my favorites are a gorgeous, moody shot of four velvety weimaraners, and a poignant portrait at the end of the book of an elderly man and his grey-muzzled Labrador retriever. There are many more especially memorable images, including a number of fascinating historical photos of dogs. (How could any dog lover not be charmed by the shot of a tiny Yorkshire terrier mascot who helped out in the trenches in World War II, happily peering out from an infantryman's upturned helmet?)But at least equaling the high caliber of the photography is the extremely fine and interesting writing about dogs. Passages of text excerpted throughout range from fascinating turn-of-the-century commentaries on life with dogs, to snippets of dog-related wartime news from the 1940s, humorous pieces, and moving and heartfelt recent meditations on our relationship with dogs by top-notch modern writers. Included is an eloquent essay, "Homer the Earth Diver," by novelist Rick Bass, on his soulful, aging hound's seeming ventures across the bounds of mortality. "Some mornings when I go to her room," he writes, "she is sleeping so soundly, and in so loose and strange a sprawl that I think she has died in her sleep. And on those mornings, I get the impression that she has slept deeper, has dived deeper into the land of dreams, than she used to. That surely, now more than ever, the two worlds are blurring, and that she travels further and farther into a place where I can't go. . . ."His thoughtful writing comes from a place that will be intimately understood by those who have ever loved a dog, who have had a dog live its lifetime devotedly beside you, who have known the sad but profound experience of confronting the loss of that dear friend. In this piece, and many others in the book, those with an interest in dogs will truly appreciate wonderful writing by kindred spirits.All in all, Our Dogs is a beautiful addition to any dog lover's library.