100 books like Shaggy Muses

When Rick Bragg shuffles home to his mother’s place in rural Alabama, spent from chemotherapy, depression, and years of hard living, he figures it’ll take a sweet old dog to lick the crankiness out of him.

There’s nothing sweet about the stray who shows up at the side of the road, “seventy-six pounds of wet hair and bad decisions.” In a willful Australian shepherd with a ruined eye and a lust for carrion, Bragg recognizes himself—his wounds, his tenacity, his devotion to family. Speck “would rather die than be clean” but he stands by his people when they need him, and Bragg is his number one human.

I loved the humor, pathos, and Southern character that elevate this story of redemption by a dog over more predictable versions.

Pete the Irish Wheaten was supposed to comfort the children as their father lay dying of cancer. But it was their mother, author/illustrator Maira Kalman, who became his inseparable companion, following the pup into a whole new world of humor, heart, and inspiration.

Through Pete, she discovered the dogs of Franz Kafka, Gertrude Stein, and E.B. White—all captured in these pages with her customary wit and radiance. You’re never too old for a picture book, and if you have a soft spot for dogs, this one deserves a permanent spot on your nightstand.

Beloved Dog shows that “the most tender, uncomplicated, most generous part of our being blossoms, without any effort, when it comes to the love of a dog.”

“She died sniffing life, and enjoying it,” wrote E.B. White in his obituary for Daisy, a terrier hit by a cab while smelling a Manhattan flower shop.

White had a keen eye for the distinctive personalities of dogs, and he shared his life with many, who scamper to life in this compendium of essays, letters, and occasional pieces. My favorite of his canine characters, the curmudgeonly dachshund Fred, “saw in every bird, every squirrel, every housefly, every rat, every skunk, every porcupine, a security risk and a present danger to his republic.”

White had better-natured dogs; none got under his skin like Fred. Love can be complicated, White reminds us. Even between human and dog.

TV’s Lassie saved children from wildfire and quicksand. Real-life service dogs save entire families from the isolation and stress of a child’s incurable illness or severe disability.

Through the vivid stories of compromised kids who blossom with highly trained dogs, Greene celebrates the canine gift for understanding us humans—rooted in 10,000 years of interspecies history but ignored by science until the recent past.

This book gripped, moved, and informed me while hitting close to home. Like my own rescue mutt, many service dogs were trained by prisoners who discovered their own best selves by teaching an unwanted animal to love. Humans and dogs need each other, as Greene shows with heartfelt but rigorous reporting. 

This essay collection is not strictly about Jo Jo’s childhood but the pieces like “Bulldozing the Baby,” that are, are indelible. Some might argue that her childhood is not all that impossible, nothing that horrendous happens. The most tragic event for the narrator is when she accidentally damages her doll Hal, a prized transitional object, and her aunt responds by throwing him into the trash. And yet, from the perspective of the toddler JoJo, it feels tragic. Her grief is as deep as any adult’s. If the piece shows us anything, it is that the feelings of childhood are to be taken seriously. Other than that, her father drinks too much, and there is an emotional mismatch between mother and daughter. They don’t understand each other, and not having a parent who sees who you are, even if you grow up relatively privileged – not beaten, not starved, not materially… show more.

This is the best book I’ve read on the science behind canine nutrition and helping someone's dog live a long and happy life. Rodney Habib and veterinarian Karen Becker create a prescriptive plan that integrates nutritional health sciences through the study of the most long-lived canines. They incorporate environmental principles, stress reduction, and the principles of an overall healthy lifestyle with preeminent science about what nutrients dogs require. They emphasize stress, isolation, and psychological factors, how even exposure to negative energy—insults and mean behavior—can so badly affect dogs and their owners alike.

The authors also dig deep into the subject of what pet food manufacturers don’t want customers to know about. They help the reader get out from the matrix of how we typically feed our canine companions, with information about how standard pet foods are made with the lowest quality ingredients, based on how large corporations do not consider… show more.

This novel contains one of the most beautiful and simultaneously heartbreaking ‘coming out’ storylines I have read in a long time. Dan is a psychologist living with OCD. He knows he’s gay but has never had the courage to come out (let alone sleep with another man). I just loved seeing this character come out of his shell bit by bit and wrestle with all the feelings that come with lust and first love. It was an absolute joy to read (along with the other two major storylines), it was unpredictable, sweet, and genuinely took my breath away.   

When photographer Lori Fusaro and I were traveling around the country working on our book together, we made a point of hightailing it to Maine so we could visit the idyllic retirement oasis created by author David Rosenfelt and his wife Debbie Myers for themselves and more than 20 large, geriatric rescue dogs. Rosenfelt’s book Dogtripping chronicles the couple’s cross-country retirement move from California to Maine with all those aging dogs in three RVs with the help of volunteers who were fans of Rosenfelt’s mystery novels. It’s a HOOT! You can watch a Facebook Live video of Rosenfelt discussing his Dogtripping book with me here at an event sponsored by The Grey Muzzle Organization, one of my favorite charities that helps senior dogs in need.

This is a great book about a dog named Jade who was involved in a roll-over car crash in the wilderness near Yellowstone Park. It’s an emotional and very interesting read as you learn what this desperate family had to go through to recover their lost dog, a task made all the more difficult because they (husband and wife) were injured in the car crash and because Jade was skittish and ran from anyone who tried to help her. In spite of grizzly bears, other predators, frigid nights, and potential starvation, the family managed to recruit local volunteers who ultimately helped them capture their dog.

This book is hands down one of those essential readings that every dog owner should own…it should be read, re-read, and then re-re-read.

Patricia beautifully describes our dog’s emotions, body language, and even the more subtle expressions that most people miss… it’s like training to be a doggy empath.

I found myself smiling and learning something new and valuable in every chapter, even after being a professional dog trainer for over ten years. 

We love our dogs, and they depend on us to care for them and understand them. This book is not only a page-turner, but it will enhance the relationship that you have with your furry-faced friend.