Book Review: Gabby, The Little Dog That Had to Learn to Bark

Gabby, The Little Dog That Had to Learn to Bark, by Barby Keel (Citadel Press/Kensington, 2020, 215 pp, $15.95), Book 1 of 3: Foster Tails* (website: https://barbykeelanimalsanctuary.org/about/)

It must be hard to author a book: I have the utmost respect for anyone who undertakes such a task because I know I could never do it.

Having said that, a good book needs a good story plus magical writing. Or maybe just magical writing is sufficient if the story is ordinary. 

Gabby is a good story, however, this reviewer never felt she was part of the story but only on the outside, looking in at adorable Gabby.

The Sanctuary

In 1971, Barby Keel bought four acres in England to start an animal sanctuary that today temporarily houses 500 animals of many different species with about seven new animals arriving and leaving each day. Having lived through the bombing of WW2 and been raised by a distant mother, Barby (short for Barbara) had a rather difficult life up to the founding of the sanctuary (more like a shelter in the US). And even a rather difficult life afterwards but she remains an incredibly thankful person - thankful for being able to be of service to animals and thankful for her wonderful volunteers.

The Dog

Gabby is an enigma - eight years old but not housetrained, and afraid of her shadow, never having set foot on grass. She lived with an elderly couple and three other dogs, two of whom were large and afraid of nothing. Gabby ended up at the sanctuary when her people went to live in a retirement home: she was going to be fostered but Barby Keel fell in love with the little dog and her big eyes.

If you think housetraining a puppy is difficult, try housetraining an eight-year-old dog! Barby Keel knew to be patient with Gabby but housetraining still took months. Grass and car rides were things to fear and even communication was difficult with this little one who never whimpered, whined or even barked.

Who Saved Whom?

Gabby was the little rescue dog but the reader will find that it was also Barby who needed rescuing.

The Story and the Writing

It is hard to write a dog book and keep on topic (unless the dog is the voice). And so it is with Gabby: much of the book relates Barby's story, her background, the volunteers at the sanctuary, the other animals, the summer Open House and the winter Bazaar fundraisers. And her recovery from surgery. 

Now you know the basics of the story. Most people watch a movie for the story and read a book for the story - or at least start a book for the story. Books that are finished are strong in story or strong in the story-telling. Gabby is the story of a woman, her childhood and family, and the sanctuary she founded. I wish it had been more about Gabby the dog - and maybe shorter.

If you liked Gabby, you will be interested in the first two books in the Foster Tails series. You can read them in any order.

*Will You Love Me? The Rescue Dog that Rescued Me (2020) and The Puppy No One Wanted: The Little Dog Desperate for a Home to Call His Own (2019), the first two books in the Rescue Tails series

Book Review: Gunfight (both sides, gun rights and background checks)(OT)

Gunfight: My battle against the industry that radicalized America, by Ryan Busse (Public Affairs Books, 2021, 338 pp, $29)

Gunfight will surprise you. You, the reader, are probably anti-gun due to the horrible mass shootings over the past few decades and you have most likely wondered why Congress can't pass legislation against 'assault rifles' and for stricter background checks. What is wrong with the National Rifle Association anyway? Do they really like killing animals and people or are they responsible gun owners who hunt and like the challenge of shooting competitions for accuracy? Or maybe they just want to sell more guns. Maybe all three?

Gunfight begins with the other side of the story: a country boy who hunts and shoots targets to practice accuracy, responsibly. He brings home rabbits and partridge for dinner. He gets a new rifle one year that he cherishes. When he graduates from college in the 90s, he finds his niche selling rifles, a commodity that ebbs and flows with whichever political party is in power - a virtual boom (when the Democrats are in power) and bust (when the Republicans are) business. He begins to collect old rifles and to appreciate those well-made as does his company, Kimber, maker of high-quality rifles. 

Study History or Make History. . . .

Eventually, fringe elements and extremists, generally not those who are veterans, band together and gain prominence in the NRA. (Military veterans, on the other hand, learn and practice gun safety above all.) The formerly marginalized become motivated by guns and irrational fears into banding together politically and doing as the NRA directs for it has the money and the power. 

An Eye-Opener

Learn about the Assault Weapons Ban of 1994 under President Clinton. Learn about the Brady Bill, the Stand Your Ground law, the tragedy of Columbine and its effect on weapons sales, learn more about unhinged and unpredictable people as well as those who use crises to push gun-control. And did you know Smith and Wesson is based in the UK and that 20% of guns are Smith and Wesson?

Learn about re-branding, making the AR-15 (the civilian cousin of the military M-16) into a common rifle that many shooters and hunters want and have, though it used to be for military use only. It's all about re-branding. And the author's company, Kimber, finally gets on the bandwagon.

So, what's it all about? The methods of the NRA in the ebb and flow of gun sales that mirror the nation's politics, though in an upward curve, regardless of mass shootings. Former President Trump (the Trump Slump chapter) used the same methods to gain power - supported by those who were formerly invisible and downtrodden but now armed and playing soldier with a band of brothers.

Two Books in One

Are you in business or marketing? Did you join a small company and help to make it successful in your industry or do you want to? Does your industry have its ups and downs and do you need to weather them? If you answered yes to any of these, Gunfight could serve as a blueprint for how to make a small company larger and more profitable. 

The author never loses his integrity that served him so well in the beginning. It is the world around him that changed causing him to leave the industry after three decades of building it. 

Just look at the cover as it tells the whole story.

Then read the comments from those who read the book first - state governors, senators and representatives, professors and authors we are familiar with.

What Did I Like About It?

Written as a memoir, Gunfight is mesmerizing. and full of footnotes. The reader is riveted to the story, beginning in the very beginning - at a demonstration the author attends with his young sons. I also like chapter titles (not merely chapter numbers) and the fact they were fairly short (makes the book easy to put down and pick up again). The author lives in Kalispell, Montana, near where I grew up. And because I almost purchased an AR-15 before they were popular (and spent 24 years in the Army), this book really hit home with me. When one grows up in the West, one is a different kind of person, so I understood the author's viewpoint. And, to admit it, this reviewer is a life member of the NRA and a conservationist like author Ryan Busse.

What Did I Not Like About It?

I found the history and politics a bit detailed for me, who lived these decades but was paying attention to other things. I wish the author had explained more thoroughly so I wasn't quite so lost as to what happened when. Of course, I could have taken notes. . . . 

Misfire

Also out now with a review in the Washington Post is Misfire: Inside the Downfall of the NRA, by Tim Mak.

Book Review: Sniffer Dogs - How Dogs (and Their Noses) Save the World

Sniffer Dogs: How Dogs (and Their Noses) Save the World, by Nancy Castaldo (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 154 pp, 2017, $16.99, ages 10-12)

We picked up Sniffer Dogs when we recognized Riley* on the back cover in his iconic 9/11 photo: we had met Riley, the 911 Golden Retriever, the following year at dog camp. We had breakfast together and fell in love.

We were also intrigued by the happy black lab in a life jacket on the cover.

So, we wanted to know what other kinds of sniffer work a dog could do.

Not Your Usual Dog Hero Book

Sniffer Dogs is not your usual dog hero book, with a few pages and photos describing a hero dog, followed by another and another. Instead, Sniffer Dogs begins with a long intro chapter about the incredible sniffing ability of the dog with a few examples.

"Dogs smell every scent. Sort of like the way we hear. We can walk into a room and hear lot of different sounds in one place: the voices on the television, a dishwasher running, and the click-clack of fingers on a keyboard." (p. 16) This is simply the best explanation of the sniffing ability of our friend the dog. We may smell the delicious aroma of spaghetti cooking on the stove but the dog smells the garlic and the tomato and the basil and. . . . 

A dog has been described as a nose with four feet and a tail! And after reading this book, you will understand and agree.

The Layout

With only seven long chapters, Sniffer Dogs goes into great detail on the kinds of sniffer dogs and highlights a few of them. However, with such great friendly photos,

the young reader will not realize the chapters are so long.

Did you know that dogs can sniff if someone's blood sugar is too high or too low and indicate that in advance to the diabetic? Did you know some dogs, eco-dogs, can sniff whale poop and then scientists can determine what that animal ate and even what species it is? Of course, you probably know that some dogs are trained to track lost people by sniffing the ground or the air and others 'work' in airports sniffing luggage for contraband, but did you know dogs can be trained to sniff out unmarked graves, even hundreds of years later? 

The chapter on history and the chapter on the science of smelling are unusually fascinating. The majority of Sniffer Dogs tells the stories of individual dogs, their training and daily work.

Meet the young puppy training to be a sniffer dog, find out the difference between an active alert and a passive alert, learn why a dog is not trained to locate explosives and narcotics. To them, it's all a wonderful game that precedes tug with their favorite person.

What We Liked

We liked the astounding facts interspersed throughout and we loved the photos of dog heroes that look just like the family dog. It turns out the author had actually visited the dogs she depicts. We liked the glossary at the end and the list of books and references, even if the author wrote down every conversation and newspaper article in addition to a few books and scientific papers.

And What We Would Change

Author Nancy Castaldo is obviously not a veterinarian nor a dog trainer: she has many animal books to her name. We would have preferred, however, that the highlighted paragraph on page 39 about alpha dogs and dominance and packs had been left out. 

All in all, Sniffer Dogs is outstanding with lively mesmerizing fascinating photos, just a few facts, and enough information on history and specialty dog training to make the reader begin to look into becoming a K9 handler in a few years.

*Riley on the back cover

Book Review: Always in Trouble (children's book)

Always in Trouble, by Corinne Demas (Scholastic Press, 2009, 40 pp, ages 4-8, preschool - grade 3, prices vary)

The Plot

The week starts with Emma and her dog Toby who does something different every day, from getting into the garbage on Monday to chewing up all the buttons on Emma's new coat on Saturday. And that's just one week! 

Emma's mom is mad so Emma decides to give Toby more attention. They do lots of fun things on Monday followed by Toby's good days and bad days. Emma's mom was mad. 

So Emma took Toby to dog school (taught by Mrs. Katz!) where he was a star! But then, after the course finished, Toby was back to his usual uncontrollable self. 

So, Emma left him at the dog trainer's for a week.

Can you guess what happened when Toby came back home?

The Words

Author Corinne Demas has penned the most delightful book we have read in a long long time with the possible exception of the ending, but it is the day-by-day story of Toby that will stay with your child and make an impression that will last and last.  Being such a long book, at 40 pages, the ending can actually be skipped or forgotten but the days of the week and Toby's antics will live on. And on. And on.

The Pictures

Drawings by Noah Jones represent every dog, their arrangements on each page are simply perfect, and the realistic portrayals of what Toby the dog does are so so realistic that every child will giggle all the way through Always in Trouble and love Toby just the same.

-------------------

You will want to check out more books by Demas, especially the award-winning Saying Goodbye to Lulu, about a girl and her dog Lulu, available at the Howard County, MD, public library.

Book Review: Poet Warrior (poetry and prose by an American Poet Laureate)(OT)

Poet Warrior: A Memoir, by Joy Harjo (W. W. Norton & Company, 2021, $25, 226 pp)

"Poetry can bring rain, make someone fall in love, hold the grief of a nation." (p. 175) And that is just prose from the three-term US Poet Laureate (since 2019) and author of her autobiography, Joy Harjo. 

Accolades for the Author

Author Harjo, a member of the Muskogee (Creek) Nation from Oklahoma and the first Native American to be selected as Poet Laureate, has accrued a lifetime of accolades. With an MFA, she has taught all over the country at the college level and received many honorary degrees. She even took up the saxophone in her 40s.

Accolades for the Book

'Poet Warrior' is a fitting and fabulous title for the book released in September, with references to the term throughout. The book has been the subject of several segments on National Public Radio, including eight minutes on The Book of the Day on November 3, 2021 as well as six other mentions. Diane Rehm selected Poet Warrior as the December Book of the Month Club in a one-hour book discussion with Harjo herself on December 15. Expect other accolades to follow.

The Review

Reading six chapters in this short book, the reader follows Harjo through her childhood, early motherhood, college degrees and teaching on the college level. Throughout, the thread is learning from nature, snakes and all, and from her ancestors, in the Indian tradition.

With a mixture of both poetry and prose, Harjo has penned a very creative little book, sure to be the subject of many college English Lit courses and perhaps even book clubs. This reviewer, however, found the circuitous life story to be fascinating with some segments told after the fact - easy to follow, though. What wasn't so easy to follow was the connection between the prose and the poetry selections as well as the words in her native tongue. A liberal arts or English major will love the story while a scientist may become bored and a bit frustrated. Regardless, look for Poet Warrior to be in the news for some time to come, along with Harjo's other memoir, Crazy Brave.

Book Review: Monty and Me (Golden Retriever, murder mystery)

Monty & Me, by Louisa Bennet (Clan Destine Press, 2021, 292 pp, $24.99 PB/$6.49 Kindle/$5.22 HC Int'l edition) Have fun watching Monty's inspiration, Pickles, at  https://lalarkin.com/cozy-mysteries/

If you loved Spencer Quinn's Chet and Bernie's baker's dozen (below) or his Bowser and Birdie series of three mystery novels for the younger set, you will also savor the Monty Dog Detective series which begins with Monty & Me. All are written, in part at least, from the dog's point of view with Monty educating us on a dog's life and loves (food, smells, ear rubs).

Monty's Three Lives

Monty Golden Retriever begins life as a guide dog whose voracious appetite causes him to lose his job. He then comes to live with Paddy, a bee scientist, whose murder Monty is unable to prevent because he, too, is stabbed, critically but not fatally. The dog's third life is spent with a budding detective who has to endure snide gender remarks on the job because she unknowingly messed up an undercover investigation by chatting up the suspect in a bar.

The Plot Thickens

Monty's person is murdered and Monty barely survives the attack. Luckily he ends up with a detective on the case, a Rose Sidebottom (after all, the story is set in England). Monty and company (and Rose) get into one scrape after another with the concomitant misunderstandings between the canine and human species. 

Superpowers! 

Our lovely Rose, however, has a superpower: she gets the tingles when someone is not telling the truth but she doesn't always trust those tingles. 

Monty, on the other hand, with his extraordinary sense of smell, understands human (hooman) language but can only converse with other dogs, and with cats, birds, rodents, and insects. Meet Celeste the ladybug private eye, Dante the magpie, Betty the rat, and three-legged Jake the Pit Bull, all who help Monty figure out 'who dun it.' But what good is that if you, a dog, can't tell the police who did it? 

Sidelines

Monty is picked up by the dog catcher and manages to escape from the pound only to get stabbed. Or was that vice versa? And Rose is put on probation and sometimes has to do scut work while other detectives get the exciting tasks. 

Rose and Monty, Outside and In

Author Louisa Bennet has fun with her readers starting with the unique cover illustration with our protagonists in silhouette. Rose or Monty also appear on each chapter's title page, alerting the reader to who will be the star of that chapter: Rose, the human detective, or Monty, Dog Detective. This reviewer noticed that on the cover, the girl is facing to the right and the dog is facing left, yet on the chapter title pages, their direction is usually reversed. One other mystery appears - why the chapter silhouettes are in different locations on the page for each chapter. Does this change signify anything in the chapter to come perhaps? Why does chapter 44 have no silhouette and why does chapter 41 depict both Rose and Monty?

Suggestions

We suggest you set aside a couple of evenings or an entire empty afternoon to race through all of Monty & Me. With a plethora of characters and a convoluted plot full of surprising twists and turns, you may even want to take notes.

Set in England, you will also run into new vocabulary words but they don't slow the reader down - just don't test me on too many of them. 

And, of course, if you have read DogEvals' reviews over the years, you will know that we prefer chapter titles rather than just chapter numbers. But Monty does have something we really really like - very short chapters (1-5 pages), even if there are 51 of them.

And The Future Is. . . .

I can see Monty's adventures being made into a movie, or a feature-length cartoon, or a series of short stories or picture books for children. And who wouldn't want a Monty of their own?

Monty tells us all about dog's sense of smell: how a dog can pick out odors from days ago and pick out several simultaneous odors: people can smell spaghetti sauce but dogs can detect the tomatoes and the garlic and the pepper and all the other ingredients. I wonder what Monty will teach us humans in the next book, The Bone Ranger.

I can't wait to read The Bone Ranger! I have never read an author with such a unique, creative way of describing things so humorously (or humourously, as Bennet would write). Your eyes will be opened to better appreciate your own dog, thanks to Monty.

Book Review: Dragons, Unicorns, Chimeras, & Clickers (How to train your critter)

Dragons, Unicorns, Chimeras, & Clickers: How to train your fantastic beasts, by Laura VanArendonk Baugh (AEclipse Press, 2019, 73 pp, $9.99)

In a Word: Wow!

At First Glance

I picked up this little book, one of three books in a series of Training Great Dogs, and figured I could read it in one evening, one sitting - and then I wondered if it would be worth the ten bucks I paid for it (about a dollar a chapter or approximately 16 cents a page). 

Second Glance: Entertaining Education

I was right on both accounts - it is a fast read, a story AND it is entertaining education! I am now going to give it to all my dog training clients to reinforce what we go over in our sessions. It is an especially fun read for kids - with real and imaginary creatures (chupacabras, dragons, mandrakes and banshees) and a story in 12 short chapters that illustrates training and tells you how to apply this type of training (clicker or positive reinforcement training) to your own dog.

Kids may read it for the story (taking a reporter on a tour of a very unusual zoo) and the imaginary creatures while adults will read the short short chapters to review what they learned from their favorite dog trainer.

So Good, The Dog Tried to Eat It!

True. I was dogsitting and placed the book on the couch when I went to answer the door. When I got back, I had to trade a treat for the book. I guess dragons are a canine delicacy!

Adjunct to a Summer Camp for Dogs and Their Kids

Like Denise Fenzi's Blogger Dog, Brito!, Dragons reinforces the steps in positive reinforcement dog training with a chapter a day for homework-fun at summer camp for dogs and their kids. And any kid (or adult) can make time to read less than five pages at a time - including illustrations.

What Do I Love?

The end-of-book summary of dog-stuff of treats, targetting, trouble-shooting, cues, and more.

What Would I Change?

It's hard to make an excellent book better so my suggestions as a former editor are perhaps only cosmetic. I would title each chapter rather than merely number them. For example, "Unicorns Love Dandelions," "Leash Train Your Favorite Gryphon," and "Shaping a Sasquatch." I would also include an index of the various critters and the training tips to help trainers assign chapters and create their curriculum, and to help families later find just what they need to brush up on training their Best Friend.

All in All

A great bargain!