Our dogs also had literary taste. They liked Homer, Dumas and the hunting scenes from Tolstoy. He'd disappear at our summer house on Martha's Vineyard, often returning days later with little notes tied to his collar. In the centuries that dogs have been our best friends, a special breed of literature has emerged around this love affair. Homer, Tolstoy, Ackerley, Steinbeck, Konrad Lorenz and more recently Willie Morris, Elizabeth Marshall Thomas, Barbara Woodhouse and the monks of New Skete have all chronicled the uncanny ability dogs have to open the human heart.
Dogs are great teachers.
They are at home in the world. They live in the moment, and they force us to stay there with them. They enjoy themselves. Dogs love us unconditionally, not for our bodies or bank accounts. The core of Knapp's book is the story of her two-year relationship with Lucille and the way it has changed her life.