Fans pick 100 books like Hell Hound

You want heartwarming books about man’s best friend? You’ve come to the wrong place. Novels with dogs don’t have to be heart-warming. They can be quite strange, sinister or both.

Here’s a prime example: The Dogs of Babel, which starts as the heartbroken narrator discovers his artsy, Goth wife has fallen from a tree and died. There are plenty of clues that this was not an accident. But there are no witnesses, except for poor Lorelei the dog. What starts out as a heartbreaking account of grief then takes a sharp turn into the bizarre as the narrator tries to teach Lorelei to speak so he can reconstruct his wife’s last hours. It descends into a seething underground, complete with people operating on dogs’ vocal chords to make them speak. Have I mentioned my list isn’t heartwarming? Did I swipe elements of this novel for my book? You bet… show more.

This is really how the Disney film Old Yeller should have ended, with a rabid canine raising hell and ripping out throats. What a phenomenal book.

My first foray into the world of Stephen King. I loved it so much I tried to name my dog Cujo … but I was overruled. We settled on Otto cause it sounds sorta similar. But, again, I love this book for the same reason I love Who Goes There?—a beast is terrorizing people who are trapped and can’t flee. It’s a simple formula for monster-themed novels, but it gets me every single time. 

Jack London is by far my favorite writer of youth-accessible literature, and White Fang is one of his best. My senses came alive as I read about a wolf’s struggle to survive and adapt to changes in its environment. Reading his description of a world through the experience of an animal was transformative. The Klondike became a real and deadly place, vibrant and alive.

Speaking of ancient hell hounds, where does the myth of the demon dog – you know, black, huge, gnashing jaws ravenous for human flesh, glowing red eyes, the most famous example being Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Hound of the Baskervilles—come from? Hell hounds pop up in legends and stories from all over the world: Cerberus from Greek mythology; almost every single European country including Garmr from Norse mythology and ye fierce blacke dogges of English folklore; all over Latin America; China; Japan; India; Arabia; Russia; even the United States.

This account of a demon dog stalking English churches in the time of Shakespeare and Queen Elizabeth I is the earliest account I’ve found in English. The full title is A straunge and terrible wunder wrought very late in the parish church of Bongay, a tovvn of no great distance from the citie of Norwich, namely the fourth of… show more.

Dogs and children turn us into neighbors; they force us into friendships we would not otherwise consider, and they present us with a gazillion opportunities to practice compassion. When Harry Met Minnie is a story of the friendship, first and foremost between two bull terriers but also between two women, one of whom is dying of cancer. I went back and forth in this book: sometimes I was the friend, and my heart was breaking under the enormous weight of the inevitable and pending death. Other times I was in bed next to the woman who was dying, and my own understanding of cancer was growing deeper with every page. And every now and again, I was one of those two wonderful dogs running in the field, tumbling with the sheer delight of being a dog. And still I wonder – where on earth would we be without dogs to… show more.

I’m a sucker for a book where a struggling person turns his life around, and His Dog is a wonderful example. A bitter, failed man, run to seed and given up to drink and bad ways, takes in a stray dog, and we see the gradual transformation of his life in response to the dog’s pure goodwill. It’s a charming book, and as it goes on, and terrible risks are encountered and overcome, it is in emotional terms one of the most exciting books I’ve read. Originally published in 1922, the book deals with subjects that don’t change over time, so it remains as relevant today as when it was first written. A beautiful and heart-warming book.

Most of you know Sara from America’s Got Talent? Originally from Canada, Sara and her dogs are peripatetic performers; she, living her childhood her dream, and her pups realizing theirs, all living in her car, traveling the States, and performing for enthusiastic crowds. I first met Sara when she was conducting an on-stage workshop at the APDT Annual Conference: Backward Leg Weaves, balancing on the souls of her feet, and even a Faux Pee. It was stunning. 

Sara just loves trick training and dancing with her dogs because it fosters better communication, closeness, and attention. Her dogs get the opportunity to regularly ‘let off steam’ and wag with glee, but then they walk off stage, calmly by her side, because they want to walk by her side—the veritable tango of dog training. There’s more to ‘rhythm and tricks’ than meets the eye, much more: flexibility, balance, core-strengthening,… show more.

Like my previous choices David Shannon’s picture book Good Boy Fergus is built around his excellent timing for humor.

But Shannon’s greatest gift is his ability to convey not only humor, but heart, in his illustrations. Children will love Fergus, a tough and tumble Scottish terrier whose big sweet eyes excuse him from any misbehavior.

Fergus is funny, lovable and like Shannon’s most popular series No David he makes mistakes that children can easily relate to and forgive.

I choose “Fergus” over “David” because I feel some of David’s escapades may be a bit too over the top for young readers. While Fergus, who happens to be a dog, models only “Bad Dog” behavior.

This is a gentle, joyful story about perseverance and growing up. 

A young boy named Peter wishes he could whistle. When he sees that another boy can whistle to get his dog to run to him, he wants to do the same with his dachshund Willie. Peter tries and tries to learn. He tries so hard his cheeks get tired. He doesn't give up and triumphs in the end.

Several other books by Ezra Jack Keats feature Peter and Willie together and they're a pair worth knowing. 

The Big Book of Tricks is big, with 116 tricks and activities in all. (Eat your heart out Kyra!) Oodles of gorgeous, sequential photographs and very clear, straightforward, step-by-step instructions. The canine models include Larry’s Spider and Flashy Ferrari’s (Perondi) Stunt Dogs and the range of tricks is indeed eclectic, but well organized, comprising beginner, intermediate, movie, performance, dancing, stunts, and sports, including Head Balance and Butt Balance (brilliant for building rock-solid Stays), Hop Up and Hugs of various sorts, Crawl Weave, which looks easy for dogs but a challenging workout for the trainer, and Wipe Your Paws, a must-teach for muddy Labradors.

I’ve known Larry since he wrote his first dog book and we’ve shared a few bottles of Côtes du Rhône, and I know Chris by reputation… and my word what a truly amazing reputation… the Stunt Dogs perform over 1,000 shows a year. All his dogs… show more.