Hello Wattpad Readers. I am happy to share the Introduction and first chapter of my book with you, as I too have been a longtime Wattpad reader. My books are available at Amazon in both hard copy and Kindle.
Introduction
Sometimes I think I like dogs more than I like humans. The only time a dog has ever betrayed me ... was by dying.― José N. Harris, Mi Vida
“Are boy dogs different than girl dogs?” my graduate school friend Nick once asked me, 25 years ago in Oregon.
“What do you mean?” I asked, confused.
“Well, you have two boy dogs now, and you used to have two girl dogs. Are they different?”
Nick has never had a dog. I thought, he really, I suppose, wants to know, and is not just making conversation, but he doesn’t realize that the question itself makes no sense to me.
“The thing is,” I tried to explain, “I can say some things about male and female dogs, I suppose, and there might be some differences based on that. But what’s hard about your question is that they are all individuals. Every dog I’ve known is unique, just like people are.”
Eleven dogs have given me their love and attention, were my guides and teachers through my decades, devoted their too-short precious lives to me, moved to and traveled through various states with me, helped me through failed relationships and the deaths of family and friends, let me cry into their warm fur when I needed to, wrestled and played and walked with me in our happy moments, and cuddled up with me at night. Three more, who weren’t really mine, were also a significant part of my life, and I of theirs. Two puppies have just arrived, ready to begin sharing our own amazing years together, until, ultimately, the heartbreak will come.
The only regret I have in my life with dogs is that they have shorter lives than mine, and so I must miss them. Still, I try to take comfort in the memories of each of them, especially, the special ways they told me they loved me.
Looking back, I realize, I have been a very lucky person to be so loved.
In this book, I describe, I hope, the beauty of dog love as I tell the individual stories of the dogs I’ve known. But remember that I am limited to using those things that dogs don’t need to use: words. I have done my best to tell their stories, and mine, but it’s best if you can read it while your hand is stroking the head of an old Labrador, a tightly curled poodle, a grateful mongrel, or even a grinning beagle, one kind of like Poochie, my first dog, and first heartbreak.
CHILDHOOD
IN ALASKA:
POOCHIE & SNOOPY
1 Poochie: First Lost Love
When was the last time someone was so overjoyed to see you, so brimming with love and affection that they literally ran to greet you? A dog will do that for you— ten, twenty, thirty times a day.― Lionel Fisher
If dogs could talk, it would take a lot of fun out of owning one.― Andrew A. Rooney
I was four years old when the Great Alaska Earthquake hit Anchorage, and I was five when my mother took Poochie away. My memories of both days are almost the same—yelling, chaos, excitement, then silence.
What was Poochie to me so young, and how do I remember him so well? Mostly I remember the feelings. The sensation of being connected to someone else so perfectly. Neither of us spoke much, but we spoke to each other in that perfect nonverbal way that humans and animals are capable of, or, as I learned years later, that lovers can do: when you look someone else in the eyes and you can read all the love inside those orbs.
YOU ARE READING
For the Love of Dogs: My Life in Dog Years
Non-FictionFourteen dogs and their roles in 50 years of the author's life are described. This is a book about the love of dogs, the pain of losing them, the joy of traveling and living with them, and the effects they have on our lives. It also details the a...
