EverythingDogBlog: Book Review (Africa, Wyoming, unforgettable), Part Two

Don’t Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight: An African Childhood, by Alexandra Fuller (Random House, 301 pages, 2002, $17)

Scribbling the Cat: Traveling with an African Soldier (Penguin, 269 pages, 2005, $16)

Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness (Penguin, 258 pages, 2011, $16)

Leaving Before the Rains Come (Penguin, 274 pages, 2015, $20.95)

Rains (continued from yesterday)

Rains grabbed me for the cover and for the author. I had read and laughed with Alexandra Fuller in her first book, Dogs, and wanted to relive the laughter. I was not disappointed. I was Fuller – she has that way of writing that puts you into the story. Her writing style is nothing less than magical but it came about with tears and years of living. Fuller first wrote a novel that nobody wanted. So, she wrote a second. And a third. And more. And finally, she tried her hand at her life and struck a vein that speaks to people.

Fulller went to university in Canada and returned home to Africa where she met her future husband, from Wyoming but who grew up on the Main Line in Philly which of course meant to our author that he was from a drug family. So, Wyoming was very doable for our little African survivor and her Charlie Ross, older, stable and a safari guide. Fuller, dreamer and writer, knew the hard land, and fell in love with the steady Ross who also knew the land.

Off to Wyoming

So they were off to Wyoming and horses and frozen pipes in the winter and childbirth alone. Then another child, as Fuller and Ross grew apart – he the quiet steady worker and she the volatile dreamer. The reader glimpses the why but only scarcely, but becomes the strangers, once lovers, on every page – feels what they feel, lives how they live, in sadness and anger and aloneness. For twenty years.

And, in the end, Fuller’s father explains “leaving before the rains come” and you, once again or perhaps for the first time, understand about “going to the dogs.”

In the midst of tragedy after tragedy, one lives life to the fullest in Rains, a classic that makes me want to read Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness next.

Caveat: This book was purchased for review.

EverythingDogBlog: Book Review (Africa, Wyoming, unforgettable), Part One

Don’t Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight: An African Childhood, by Alexandra Fuller (Random House, 301 pages, 2002, $17)

Scribbling the Cat: Traveling with an African Soldier (Penguin, 269 pages, 2005, $16)

Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness (Penguin, 258 pages, 2011, $16)

Leaving Before the Rains Come (Penguin, 274 pages, 2015, $20.95)

Now that I have your undivided attention, I must confess: this review is not of the book, Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight, although I loved that book so much that I recently picked up Leaving Before the Rains Come – I never thought to review Dogs when I read it (one of two books I wish I had reviewed at the time – the other is by Karen Pryor).

Leaving Before the Rains Come

Rains is a lovely book, one I took to bed every night and looked forward to relaxing with another rhythmical, mesmerizing episode. Rains is a collection of conversationally delightful, yet a bit sad, essays told in a non-sequential manner, each built around a chapter in Alexandra Fuller’s life, mostly in Africa but also in Wyoming, a logical location to live in for one with Africa in one’s blood. I, too, have felt the spirit of Africa, though never having even visited there – more so than SEAsia where I did live, though Asia does not seem like a foreign country.

But, I digress.

This is about Rains but also about Dogs, the prequel to Rains.

Fuller is “Out of Africa”

Alexandra Fuller (Bobo), born in England, is the child of two "Brits" who settled in Africa on farms they managed. Africa is a hard land, full of the big wild mammals who require respect, full of the weather and the landscape that forms those who live there.  

Fuller has an older sister and three siblings who didn’t make it, plus a unique mother, raised in Kenya, who experiences bouts of being a hippie (of sorts), an alcoholic of sorts, and even bi-polar at times – never a dull moment with the hardships of Africa and a slightly mad yet hardworking family.

Not your average mother. Not your typical childhood. But that is Africa, bigger than life.

There are droughts and rifles, there is heat and humidity and malaria and snakes and crocodiles and tigers and madness and episodes of sanity and verandas and fans and the ever constant struggle to remain lucid in the midst of such adversity, like the destitution in our own country 150 years ago – towns being miles away; doctors, seldom consulted – one fends for one’s self or uses native remedies. One has constant dogs and horses and learns from the native Africans all that which is important to know and to live.

And there is war, civil war and war against the white government in the capital. And there is one farm after another to manage, in one country after another from Zambia and Malawi to Rhodesia/Zimbabwe.

Tomorrow: Part Two

Friday Face-off: Cats and Dogs in TIME and The Economist?

Dogs and Cats and TIME Magazine, plus - The Economist!

1. The time/TIME is November 7, 2016 – before the election, before the world will have changed.

I remember when, in college, we all took out subscriptions to TIME or Newsweek or US News and World Report because they were weeklies and we could say at least once a week, “At least TIME loves me,” when we opened our dorm mailbox (most other days our mailboxes were empty unless we got a letter from our mothers).

A few years later, teaching in Thailand, I also subscribed to TIME once more, yearning for news from home, only to find TIME arrived three weeks late, if at all. Presumably it was also loved by those in transit. . . . accounting for its lateness and the condition in which it arrived!

TIME has changed: it used to be many many pages but now has slimmed down. I thought I wouldn’t see any dogs or cats as I thumbed through page after page, but then, a small dog starring in a movie* appeared, plus a cat on the Love It/Leave It page!

It seems cellist David Teie has recorded an album expressly for cats, complete with purrs and chirps. It even reached number one on the iTunes classical music chart.

However, I suspect that not many issues of TIME include cats, or dogs.

2. And The Economist

This is a first! Two magazines in one blog. What a bonus! Right? Nope. . . .

Why Not?

Due to a dearth of dogs (and cats), DogEvals looked at this week’s issue of The Economist, November 4, 2016. Did we see any dogs, any cats?

Nope, Nary a One

However, in the Science and Technology section you will find a short article on Shark Behaviour. Does that count, even if The Economist spelled behavior wrong?

*John Travolta, almost unrecognizable as a lawman, and Ethan Hawke in the current Western, Valley of Violence, also starring Border Collie-mix Jumpy as Abbie

Book Review: Chill Out, Fido! (dogs, non-fiction)

Chill Out Fido! How to Calm Your Dog, by Nan Arthur (Dogwise, 189 pages, 2009, $15.95)*

Do You Have One of Those “Dogs Gone Wild”?

Do you know a dog who is unfocused, hyper energetic, wild and crazy, unruly, stressed, out of control – a dog who never listens or listens only when he wants to? Do you personally have such a dog or have some of them as clients?

The Author and Expert

Nan Arthur, certified veterinary assistant, freelance writer and columnist, CPDT** and CDBC***, has the training and behavior experience that shows in Chill Out, Fido!

Friendly, Positive Help

The following quote says it all: “. . . never a need for anything other than positive methods of training and behavior modification” (p. vii).

Arthur may be the big sister everyone wishes they had: patient, encouraging, wise – a trainer who believes in using gentle, dog-friendly, science-based methods. 

Her lovely writing style explains all the points a frustrated dog-owner could bring up: Arthur fully counters everything in easy prose – her experience shows. The science is also here, mostly in side-bars but also in the references and resources sections. Arthur has thought of everything and keeps the client in mind always.

Bonuses

Chill Out! is a Dogwise**** book, most of which are recognizable at a distance by their distinctive covers. In addition to the “meat” in the book, Dogwise and Arthur thoughtfully added 30 quick ideas to help you and your dog relax when you don’t have time to manage or train your dog, a stress test for your dog, resources and references, 10 tips for going through the exercises (e.g., be realistic, be consistent, set your dog up for success), as well as a handy list of other Dogwise titles.

Simple, Easy or Not?

This is that rare book that was written for the self-starter with a hyper dog as well as for the dog professional (especially a day-trainer) since each entire procedure is spelled out in easy steps.

At first glance, I thought it to be rather simple with four short chapters and 11 exercises but I was quickly converted to a fan. The chapter on diet alone is worth the price of the book (fully palatable for the non-scientist [pun intended]).

What’s It All About?

Part One, with its own introduction, covers 14 reasons a dog may not be able to relax, how diet can affect behavior, the road to relaxation (what is a calm dog, how calm dogs play, canine calming behaviors), and training concepts for novices (markers, rewards (and fading them), reinforcement schedules, your voice as a tool, body language).

Part Two consists of 11 exercises or problem behaviors, best learned in order, but not necessary.  Especially helpful for clients may be the sections on calm greetings, what to do when the doorbell rings and how to do it, getting out the leash, and paw desensitization.

Each exercise has the same format: goals, benefits, what you will need (equipment, assistant), pre-requisite skills (like SIT), training time (how many minutes/day, how many days of training to expect so people don’t rush through but, instead, build a solid foundation), getting the behavior started (the precise steps), building the behavior (more step-wise instruction), raising the bar (final steps), and, finally, problem solving if the steps need to be modified.

Arthur teaches RELAX without a verbal cue and explains why, she will convince you to train a release cue if you don’t already, and Chill Out has converted me from “Click, treat” to “Mark, treat” which should be easier for clients to learn. And, as she says, “Don’t forget to smile!”

Final Words

Chill Out! will become a must-have book on every trainer’s shelf.

I would have preferred a detailed Table of Contents (more subheadings) and tighter copy editing but these mere blemishes do not deter one iota from the profound change Arthur’s book will make in the lives of dogs.

A new classic about “Dogs Gone Wild!”

*The review first appeared in various publications and online early on, circe 2009, but it is becoming the Go-To book again, so DogEvals is posting it here.

**CPDT – Certified Professional Dog Trainer, by an independent organization

***CDBC – Certified Dog Behavior Consultant, an in-house certification by IAABC, the International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants

****Dogwise is the premier publisher and seller of dog books. Visit the Dogwise site at www.Dogwise.com

Friday/Saturday Face-Off: Wine Spectator Revisited for Dogs and Cats

Revisiting Friday Face-off in Wine Spectator

Sample Covers of Wine Spectator

 DogEvals did not want to leave Wine Spectator without giving them a second chance for a dog or a cat, so we took a quick look at another issue, November 15, 2016, the 40^th Anniversary issue, with an added bonus of the very first issue (40 years ago) included.

It was a good thing we did!

We saw two dogs inside this very slick, oversized, jam-packed 288-page issue. A photo of the editor/publisher includes his granddog. Page 92 shows two swans and on page 117 we again see a vintner with her dog, perhaps a PBGV.

Bonterra organic vineyards’ ad has part of a beehive with bees, but that’s about it for a grand total of Dogs 2, Cats 0. Sorry, cats.

PS – did you know that Sting, Angelina and Brad, Greg Norman, Yao Ming, Sam Neill, Kurt Russell and Kate Hudson, Ernie Els, and teetotaler Donald Trump all had vineyards? I loved “Wineries of the Rich and Famous.”

I also enjoyed the Gallery of Covers and marveled at full-page photos of just one bottle of wine or just one wine glass.

And I do need to mention that many of my friends and clients are "winers": as a matter of fact, one couple names all their dogs after wines. They had a Beringer which I come across every once in a while, and then a Blackstone yellow lab, and a Meridian yellow lab, and . . . . 

For fun, check out Working Dog Winery in New Jersey,

and, on an island in Washington, Spoiled Dog Winery.

*PBGV – Petit Basset Griffon Vendeen