What can be better than sitting back with a great story about our faithful furry friend? Make sure you have a cup of tea or coffee or hot chocolate and napkins because these books won't leave a dry eye.
You’ll be entertained, inspired, and moved by shelter dogs, police K-9s, dogs rescued, service dogs, and everyday mutts who transform lives just by providing an exuberant welcome at the end of the day.
B. R. Wilson - Little Man in a Dog Suit: The Story of a Boston Terrier
Reggie's life is full of adventure and reflections on the life of a small dog who is a big dog at heart. He wants to imitate his master and does such a good job of it that he earned the name of "Little Man in a Dog Suit."
Benoit Denizet-Lewis – Travels with Casey
A moody Labrador and his insecure human take a funny, touching cross-country RV trip into the heart of America's relationship with dogs.
Bruce Cameron - A Dog's Purpose: A
Novel for Humans
The book chronicles a dog's journey through four lives via reincarnation and how he looks for his purpose through each of his lives.
Bruce Cameron - A Dog’s Way Home
Bella, as a puppy, is adopted by a young man. When she becomes separated from her owner after she was impounded by the animal control due to a ban, she soon finds herself on a 400-mile journey to reunite with her owner.
Caroline Knapp - Pack of Two: The Intricate Bond Between People and Dogs
Eighteen months to the day after she quit drinking, Knapp stumbled upon an eight-week-old puppy at a local animal shelter, took her home, and named her Lucille. Now two years old, Lucille has become a central force in Knapp's life.
Colin Campbell - Free Days With George: Learning Life's Little Lessons from One
Very Big Dog
A heartwarming, true story about George, a rescue dog who helps his owner rediscover love and happiness.
The true story of a German shepherd who was adopted by the Royal Air Force during World War II, flying countless combat missions and surviving everything from crash-landings to parachute bailouts—ultimately saving the life of his owner and dearest friend.
A must-read for every dog lover—a short, tender, and uplifting tale of a cancer survivor and the life lessons shared with him by his beloved family dog.
Dave Burchett - Stay: Lessons My Dogs Taught Me about Life, Loss, and Grace
You’ll be enthralled by this story of a man and his lovable Labrador retriever, Hannah, and what their canine friendship can show us about life, grace, and long walks in the park.
Dave Metz - Crossing the Gates of Alaska: One Man, Two Dogs, 600 Miles Off the Map
This is the story of Dave Metz's death-defying, breathtaking, and passionate journey through the Arctic outback. Driven by his lifetime reverence for the outdoors, Dave, with the help of his two beloved Airedale terrier dogs, embarks on a three-month epic of survival and astonishing determination that rivals the most daring world-class explorations.
David Rosenfelt - Lessons from Tara: Life Advice from the World’s Most Brilliant
Dog
When David first met his wife, Debbie, he also met her golden retriever, Tara... and he fell head over heels for both of them. Many years later, inspired by Tara, David and Debbie have dedicated their lives to rescuing thousands of unloved and unwanted dogs - sometimes living with up to 40 dogs at any one time. So here is the book dedicated to the inspirational canine who started it all, and taught David everything he knows.
Dean Koontz – A big little life
A retired service dog, Trixie was three when Dean and his wife welcomed her into their home. She was superbly trained, but her greatest gifts couldn’t be taught: her keen intelligence, her innate joy, and an uncanny knack for living in the moment. Trixie gave all she had to everything she did, inspiring Dean and Gerda to trust their instincts and recapture a sense of wonder that will remain with them always
The story is about a West Virginia livestock farmer and sheepdog trialer, and his talented young border collie Nop. The holiday is shattered when Nop is stolen. Nop's fate, the abuse, and brutality he suffers, and his incredible resiliency. It's a story about a border collie's undying desire to do his job and serve his master.
Emma Pearse - Sophie: The Incredible True Story of the
Castaway Dog
The Australian cattle dog who was lost at sea and swam six miles through shark-infested waters to a remote island where she survived in the wild for five months.
Eric Knight – Lassie come home
Lassie is Joe's prize collie and constant companion. But when Joe's father loses his job, Lassie must be sold. Three times she escapes from her new owner, and three times she returns home to Joe, until finally she is taken to the remotest part of Scotland—too far a journey for any dog to make alone.
Young Travis has been working to take care of his family ranch with his mother and younger brother, while his father goes off on a cattle drive. When a "dingy yellow" dog comes for an unasked stay, Travis reluctantly takes in the dog, which he names Old Yeller.
Garth
Stein - The Art of Racing in the Rain
A heart-wrenching but deeply funny and ultimately uplifting story of family, love, loyalty, and hope, the story is a beautifully crafted and captivating look at the wonders and absurdities of human life ... as only a dog could tell it. Enzo knows he is different from other dogs: a philosopher with a nearly human soul.
Gary
Paulsen - Winterdance: The
Fine Madness of Running the Iditarod
Paulsen and his team of dogs endured snowstorms, frostbite, dogfights, moose attacks, sleeplessness, and hallucinations in the relentless push to go on.
Glenn Plaskin - Katie Up and Down the Hall: The True Story of
How One Dog Turned Neighbors into a Family
A moving story about a man who discovers the true meaning of family after adopting a cocker spaniel puppy. Through the magnetic personality of his mischievous dog, the author soon makes powerful connections with several of his down-the-hall neighbors in a high-rise located in the unique Battery Park City neighborhood of Lower Manhattan.
Hal Borland – The dog who came to stay
One Christmas night in the middle of a nasty winter storm a black-and-white rabbit hound turned up at Hal's farm. Pat, the dog, became Hal Borland's true companion - and a local legend, the terror of woodchucks for miles around.
J.R. Ackerley's German shepherd Tulip was skittish, possessive, and wild, but he loved her deeply. This clear-eyed and wondering, humorous and moving book, is her biography, a work of faultless and respectful observation that transcends the seeming modesty of its subject.
Jack
London - The Call of the Wild
The novel's central character is a dog named Buck, a domesticated dog living at a ranch in California. Stolen from his home and sold into service as sled dog in Alaska, he reverts to a wild state. Buck is forced to fight in order to dominate other dogs in a harsh climate.
White Fang is part dog and part wolf, and the lone survivor of his family. In his lonely world, he soon learns to follow the harsh law of the North--kill or be killed. But nothing in White Fang's life can prepare him for the cruel owner who turns him into a vicious killer. Will White Fang ever know the kindness of a gentle master?
Huck is a page-turning, unforgettable true story of the tenacity of one small dog, the unexpected, extraordinary kindness of strangers, and a family’s devotion to each other.
Jay Kopelman - From Baghdad with
Love: A Marine, the War, and a Dog Named Lava
A war memoir that will capture the hearts of its readers, just as one scruffy puppy sneaked his way into the hearts of hardened Marines just when they needed it most.
Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson - The Dog Who Couldn't Stop
Loving: How Dogs Have Captured Our Hearts for Thousands of Years
A groundbreaking and inspiring exploration of the unique relationship between dogs and humans. No other animals love us in quite the same way as dogs love us. And it is mutual. Is it possible that we developed our capacity for love, sympathy, empathy, and compassion because of our long association with dogs?
Jennifer Li Shotz - Max: Best Friend, Hero, Marine
Max is a highly trained military canine who has always protected his fellow soldiers. But when he loses his handler and best friend, Kyle, Max is traumatized and unable to remain in the service.
You can't always count on people, but you can always count on your dog. Jessica's stories from the clinic and life show how her love for canines lifts her up and grounds her, too.
John
Grogan - Marley & Me: Life and Love with the
World's Worst Dog
The book portrays Grogan and his family's life during the 13 years that they lived with their dog Marley and the relationships and lessons from this period.The dog is poorly behaved and destructive, and the book covers the issues this causes in the family as they learn to accept him in addition to their grief following Marley's death.
John W. Pilley, Jr. & Hilary Hinzmann – Chaser
Retired psychology professor John Pilley has got his new Border collie puppy, Chaser, and he wanted to explore the boundaries of language learning and communication between humans and man's best friend. Exhibiting intelligence previously thought impossible in dogs, Chaser soon learned the names of more than a thousand toys and sentences with multiple elements of grammar.
John Steinbeck - Travels with Charley in Search of America
To hear the speech of the real America, to smell the grass and the trees, to see the colors and the light—these were John Steinbeck's goals as he set out, at the age of fifty-eight, to rediscover the country he had been writing about for so many years, along with Charley, his French poodle.
Jon Katz - A Dog Year: Twelve Months, Four Dogs, and Me
Jon Katz faces a midlife crisis. He is left in the house alone with two labrador retrievers and a severe case of writer's block. A dog breeder who has read his books convinces him to take in an abused and hyperactive border collie named Devon – and his crazy new life begins.
Julie Barton - Dog Medicine: How My DogSaved My Life
It captures in beautiful, elegiac language the anguish of depression, the slow path to recovery, and the astonishing way animals can heal even the most broken hearts and minds.
Julie Klam - You Had Me at Woof: How Dogs Taught Me the Secrets of Happiness
The hilarious and heartfelt chronicle of a woman learning the secrets of love, health, and happiness from some very surprising teachers: her dogs.
Kaleigh Mills - A Forever Home
The story of Bailey, from her own viewpoint, who begins her life in circumstances beyond her control. She longs for love and to live in home where she will be cared for. This short story follows her adventures from her start and through the trials she faces to reach her Forever Home.
It tells the story of amazing canine courage and remission against all odds. It is a ballad of love and redemption and a moving account of how Flash’s three-week prognosis became five-and-a-half miraculous months of learning, loving, and finally accepting.
KenFoster – I’m a good dog: Pit Bulls
Perhaps more than any other breed, the pit bull has been dogged by negative stereotypes. In truth, pit bulls are innately wonderful family pets, as capable of love and good deeds as any other type of dog. Proving that there’s much to love and nothing to fear, this book restores the pit bull to its rightful place as friend, family member, athlete and entertainer.
Larry Levin – Oogy: The dog only a family could love
Levin and his twin sons took their terminally ill cat to the hospital to have the beloved pet put to sleep. What would begin as a terrible day suddenly got brighter as the ugliest dog they had ever seen--one who was missing an ear and had half his face covered in scar tissue--ran up to them and captured their hearts.
Laura Greaves - Extraordinary Old Dogs
Most dog lovers wish their four-legged friends could live forever, and yet senior canines are surrendered to shelters and rescue groups in heartbreakingly high numbers. But every day, all over the world, elderly dogs are doing incredible things.
Lee Montgomery – Woof! Writers on dogs
The book brings together original essays from acclaimed writers ruminating on the sometimes tumultuous, often selfless love affair between human and dog.
Maria Goodavage - Top Dog: The Story of Marine Hero Lucca
This story shows the gritty and gripping account of Lucca's adventures on and off the battlefields, including tense, lifesaving explosives finds and rooftop firefights, as well as the bravery of fellow handlers and dogs she served with. But it's also the tale of a bond between Lucca and her handlers and how together they overcame the endless brutalities of war, including her own loss of a limb, and the traumas such violence can inflict.
Mark Beckloff - Amazing Gracie: A Dog's Tale
Courage. Compassion. Kindness. Soul. Tenacity. And joy, above all, joy. These qualities Gracie possessed in abundance, and shared with everyone, human or canine, who had the good fortune to cross her path.
Mark R. Levin - Rescuing Sprite: A Dog Lover's Story of Joy and Anguish
Mark Levin tells of the joy and anguish of life with a rescue dog: the intimate and powerful story of his family and the dog they have for too short a time.
Mark Doty – Dog years: A memoir
Dog Years is a remarkable work: a moving and intimate memoir interwoven with profound reflections on our feelings for animals and the lessons they teach us about life, love, and loss.
Mark Mills - Waiting for Doggo
Dan is single, a man without any kind of partner whether working or in love. He's just one reluctant dog owner. Find a new home for him, that's the plan. Come on...everyone knows the old adage about the best-laid plans and besides, Doggo is one special kind of a four-legged friend...and an inspiration.
Martha White - E.B. White on dogs
The best and funniest essays, poems, letters, and sketches depicting over a dozen of White's various canine companions.
Matthew Gilbert – Off the leash: a year in the dog park
Dog-park life can be tense. When dogs fight, their owners bare their teeth at each other, too. Amid the rollicking dog play, feelings tend to surface faster, unedited.
Mike Dowling - Sergeant Rex: The
Unbreakable Bond Between a Marine and His Military Working Dog
Sergeant Mike Dowling’s heart-pounding account of an unbreakable bond between man and dog takes us into the searing 130-degree heat, the choking dust, and the ever-present threat of violent attack in Iraq’s infamous Triangle of Death.
Mike Ritland - Navy SEAL Dogs: My Tale of Training Canines for Combat
The true story of how Mike Ritland grew from a skinny, bullied child, to a member of our nation's most elite SEAL Teams, to the trainer of the world's most highly skilled K9 warriors.
Natalie Standiford - The Bravest Dog Ever: The True Story of Balto
Balto has a quiet life as a sled dog - until tragedy strikes. And he is carrying medicine to sick children miles away in Nome, Alaska. He is their only hope. Can Balto find his way through the terrible storm?
Veterinarian Samantha and her team are dedicated to providing a sanctuary for unwanted, abused, and abandoned dogs in New York. When an unidentified, dangerous virus starts spreading through the neighborhood, the medical community determine that animals are the carriers.
Nick Jans - A Wolf Called Romeo
The remarkable story of a wolf who returned again and again to interact with the people and dogs of Juneau, living on the edges of their community, engaging in an improbable, awe-inspiring interspecies dance and bringing the wild into sharp focus.
Phyllis Reynolds Naylor - Shiloh
When Marty comes across a young beagle in the hills behind his home, it's love at first sight—and also big trouble. It turns out the dog, which Marty names Shiloh, belongs to Judd Travers who drinks too much and has a gun—and abuses his dogs. So when Shiloh runs away from Judd to Marty, the boy just has to hide him and protect him.
RickBass – Colter: The story of the best dog I ever had
Colter, a German shorthair pup, was the runt of the litter, and Rick Bass took him only because nobody else would. Soon the pup surprised his new owner with his raging genius and with his innocent ability to lead Bass to new territory altogether, a place where he felt instantly more alive and more connected to the world.
Stanley Coren - Born to Bark: My Adventures with an
Irrepressible and Unforgettable Dog
The charming new memoir by dog expert Stan Coren of his relationship with an irrepressible gray Cairn terrier named Flint. Stan immediately loved the pup for his friendly nature and indefatigable spirit, though his wife soon found the dog’s unpredictable exuberance difficult to deal with.
Steve Duno - Last Dog on the Hill: The Extraordinary Life of Lou
The story of an indigent young Rottweiler mix who, after abandoning his pack and the hills of his birth, went on to change the lives of hundreds of people and dogs, including the author’s, whose career as a behaviorist and writer was made possible through Lou’s extraordinary intelligence and heart.
Steven D. Wolf&Lynette Padwa - Comet's Tale: How the Dog I Rescued Saved My Life
This is a story about a friendship between two former winners, both a little down on their luck, who together stage a remarkable comeback. We follow their funny and moving journey as Wolf teaches Comet to be a service dog. With her boundless enthusiasm and regal manners, Comet attracts new friends to Wolf’s isolated world.
Steven Rowley - Lily and the Octopus
Lily and the Octopus reminds us how it feels to love fiercely, how difficult it can be to let go, and how the fight for those we love is the greatest fight of all.
Susan Wilson - The Dog Who Saved Me
Boston police officer goes back to his hometown after his faithful K-9 partner is killed in the line of duty, Jobless and on the verge of divorce, he accepts an offer for the position of dog officer in his hometown, leaving the life he spent twenty years building behind.
Ted Kerasote - Merle's Door: Lessons from a freethinking dog
While on a camping trip, Ted met a Labrador mix who was living on his own in the wild. They became attached to each other, and Kerasote decided to name the dog Merle and bring him home. There, he realized that Merle's native intelligence would be diminished by living exclusively in the human world. He put a dog door in his house so Merle could live both outside and in.
Wendy
Hilling - My Life In His Paws: The Incredible Story of Ted and How He Saved Me
This is the story of Wendy and her incredible bravery living with a disability and battling against the odds. It's also the story of Ted, the extraordinary assistance dog, and the unique relationship between a human and animal and the extraordinary things animals are capable of.
Wilson
Rawls - Where the Red Fern Grows
Billy has long dreamt of owning not one, but two, dogs. So when he’s finally able to save up enough money for two pups to call his own—Old Dan and Little Ann—he’s ecstatic. It doesn’t matter that times are tough; together they’ll roam the hills of the Ozarks.
Which book is your favorite?
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