Gift idea: On Dogs

“What do you want this dog for?” I was asked austerely…
“I want him,” I answered, “to be my friend.”
~ One Brown Dog, by Dorothy Margaret Stuart

Here’s a last-minute gift idea for that hard-to-buy-for dog lover. On Dogs: An Anthology is a small, lovely book with simple, charming graphics and very nice black-and-white dog portraits.

“There is a profound connection between humankind and dogs that has existed for thousands of years. What began as a mutually beneficial hunting partnership has developed into a deeper emotional attachment.”
~ Tracey Ullman

That blurb is from the introduction by Tracey Ullman. It perfectly sets the stage for the thoughtful, heart-warming, sometimes humorous writing by authors as luminary and disparate as William Shakespeare, Alexander Dumas, Charles Dickens, Virginia Woolf, Vita Sackville-West, John Steinbeck, Jack London, Alice Walker, A. A. Gill, James Thurber and David Sedaris.

“To get through to a dog’s mind…You need hands that on touching the dog send messages of love and sympathy to its brain. You need eyes that tell the dog who watches them what you are feeling…you need telepathy so that the dog thinks with you.”
~ Barbara Woodhouse

“…and she’s watching me…What she’s doing is learning me. She’s reading me like a book. The truth is, I’m the Fool to her Lear.”
~ A. A. Gill

“Dogs are the leaders of the planet. If you see two life forms, one of them’s making a poop, the other one’s carrying it for him, who would you assume is in charge?”
~ Jerry Seinfeld