Dog Days

Living with Dogs: Collections and Traditions, At Home and Afield ***** by Laurence Sheehan

 

Since yesterday was National Dog Day and we are in the midst of the Dog Days of Summer, I thought it was timely to repost this edible book review~  inspired by Jain at Food for Thought~ a delicious blog for readers with an appetite for the written word.

This is a favorite book of mine, with a prominent place on my coffee table. I stumbled on it for several years ago (it was published in 1999). If you are a dog lover, this one is not to be missed~ full of beautiful photos of homes, dogs, collections, and quite simply, as one reviewer says:  “this book is a celebration of hardcore dog enthusiasm.”

 

In his endearing and hilarious introduction, the author, Larry Shehan, talks about his dogs, one of which, a tricolor Collie named Zorro, who he says was “as slow-witted as he was beautiful”. (I had a cat like that :-)   He and his wife add an Australian shepherd puppy, Addie, to their household who “at that early stage of growth looked more like a California sea otter than a dog.”  As his household adapts to the puppy, he confessed to turning into my own worst nightmare– “a guy who carries a picture of his dog around with him in his wallet.”

A few years later, he finds a two-year-old English Setter, Buster: “His upper lip was hung up on one side of his freckled muzzle and  one ear was flopped, pink side out, giving him a slightly deranged, ready-for-anything aspect.”  He was hooked~ however, he describes his household as becoming dysfunctional with introduction of an exuberant, willful dog deaf to the command of “Come!”. He, his wife, his cat & Addie eventually settle in and adapt slowly:

“The secret of living with dogs is to take the wild with the sweet, and then sit back and wait for the laughs and the love.”

~ Amen :-)

 My canine kitsch~  a collection of vintage chalkware dogs with no special pedigree  :-)

  You can find another book review a dog lover will lap up here~

 A chapter on dog portraiture. . .

 A “portrait” that won’t break the bank~ a canvas from Photofiddle~

“Like children they leave their toys scattered around– a rubber squeaky here or a half-gnawed bone there. These objects, along with the leashes, collars, food bowls, dog beds, and all the other paraphernalia associated with keeping a dog, turn a house into a habitat– and, late at night when the lights are out, a minefield.”

“Dogs settle into a home pretty much the way people do, gravitating to a favorite corner, window, or chair.”

No food references in this book (other than kibble :-) so I thought I’d have some Pup Cake fun, courtesy Hello, Cupcake!

 This is a great cupcake book, with lots of ideas and inspiration for Corn Utopia, Reliable Seeds & Butterfly Wings~

 

 

 

 

“Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole.”  ~ Roger Caras

Chloe wishes you sunny skies and that everyone in the path of Hurricane Irene stays safe!

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