Bodhi, The All-American Lodge Dog, photography by Middleton Evans (Ravenwood Press, 2007, $35 HB, 192pp) Review by Skye Anderson
Who Says You Can't Tell a Book by its Cover?
The cover photo will draw you in and the inside photos will keep you enthralled and entertained!
Every hotel should have a hotel dog (there is at least one in New York City). Every dormitory, daycare, camp, school, retirement home, prison, fraternity and sorority house, too! And in Maryland, the Savage River Lodge* has its own resident yellow labrador retriever, Bodhi. Of course, if your favorite dog is the labrador retriever like so many Americans over the past decades, you will want to keep thumbing through Bodhi, The All-American Lodge Dog and 'dog-ear' your favorite photos! There are so many of them. . . .
Bodhi started out life as a little pup whose people built a wilderness resort for him (of course!) (well, sort of!) that was simply heaven on earth, full of adventures to experience, animals and people-guests to meet, winter snow to ski and snowshoe on, spring buds and 'baby wilds' to smell and befriend, autumn leaves to bound in (and wear).
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| Fall Fun |
Man's Best Friend, or - Everyone's Best Friend?
Bodhi is a healer: many lodge guests come to relax, commune with nature, escape the stresses of everyday city life while others come to ski or fish or . . . meet Bodhi!
In an interview with an animal communicator, Bodhi related that communication with him and his kind is becoming more understood. It is like learning another language. When we learn the language of interspecies communication, we can truly say "Bodhi speaks" and we listen (p. 161).
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| Game Warden |
With Six Chapters. . . .
With six chapters, each introduced by an essay followed by several two-page spreads on a specific topic, my favorite was "A Day in the Life," showing Bodhi's morning commute, his office hours, a sniff test of new canine guests arriving at the lodge and 'Kissing the Girls' who check in at three, three square meals, romper room, show business, and finally, "Good night and sweet dreams, Bodhi!")
What the Future Brings
Bodhi's book appeared in 2007 and there have been some changes since then, of course. First of all, in his book Bodhi mentions his people will soon travel to pick up a set of yellow lab twins, Koko and Karma, who Bodhi will train to be the welcome staff at Savage River.
Since the Bodhi book was written in 2024, Bodhi, Koko and Karma have passed away but left their legacy in calendars for a few years. We hope the Lodge will soon again have a canine ambassador with a calendar for those folks too far away to visit in person.
The Savage River Lodge, home of fine dining and delightful events such as Wine in the Woods and weddings (even elopements) and retreats, is still welcoming guests who stay in the lodge itself or in yurts or cabins. And the Lodge is dog-friendly, of course!
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| Y'all Come Back Now, You Hear? |
*about three hours from both Baltimore and Washington, DC
Bonus: some of my favorite Bodhi photos, besides the silly ones: inside the front cover (below)
and inside the back cover (below)
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| Summer Fun |
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| More Summer Fun |
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