Book Review: Travels with Casey (dog, dog rescue, RV, dog-human bond)

A modern Travels with Charley!

Travels with Casey: My Journey Through Our Dog-Crazy Country by Benoit Denizet-Lewis (Simon & Schuster, 2014, 341 pages, $26)

Our National Love Affair with Dogs

If you think 341 pages is a long book for a best seller, think again: Travels with Casey was too short!

The cover grabbed me first: a tall yellow lab-type dog holding an old-fashioned type postcard with the book’s title and CASEY in large cut-out letters (each with a partial photo of Casey inside) against a backdrop of a city by the sea (or river). . .

Why have I not read anything by Benoit Denizet-Lewis before? Is it because he writes for the New York Times Magazine and I live in the Washington area? Regardless, I will be looking for Lewis in the future. He is one funny writer – and sensitive to boot! A real canine academic and a true dog-person.

In a Nutshell

Lewis and his yellow lab-type dog set out from Massachusetts in a rented RV to see the country from a dog’s eye view and to explore the bond between man (Lewis) and dog (Casey).

Starting rather weakly with a long prologue comparing Lewis’ relationship with his mother to that of his dog and wanting to mend (strengthen) the latter, Travels  takes us down the East Coast, across the South, up the Pacific Coast and across the Great Plains back again in four months.

Travels is also a commentary on the importance of dogs in contemporary life, reminiscent of One Nation Under Dog (Michael Schaffer, 2010), Citizen Canine (David Grimm, 2014) and perhaps even Travels with Charley (Steinbeck, 1968). Lewis is informative and entertaining – and not to be missed. I am so glad I bought this book at my local bookstore and I will keep it (I usually pass on books I review to dog shelters or rescues). It is a book easy to take with you and read when you have ‘just a minute.’ You will want to return to it often.

How Did He Do It?

Lewis keeps mentioning his aversion to organized neat living, giving example after example, so how he managed to fill four months with interviews of almost all the dog people (daily) in the country you would ever want to know borders on miraculous – from the Westminster Dog Show in New York City, Ingrid Newkirk who founded PETA, the ‘dog poop lady’ in Virginia who was sued for not picking up her dog’s poop, dog rescuer Randy Grim, ‘rez’ dogs, K9 cops, Best Friends in Utah, and on and on. If he did not visit anyone, he at least read the books they wrote and quoted from (Ian Dunbar, Patricia McConnell, Karen Pryor among others).

Lewis and Casey blog about their travels and foreshadow to keep you reading (not necessary at all) about a new member of the family, and about heartache, for example.

Bonus Number One: Roadtripping Through Dog Nation

I, of course, tried to figure out which 18 states they did not travel through. Inside the front and back covers is a two-page map of their trip but with drawings of the RV and dogs met along the way and of other adventures, I wasn’t sure if they cut across a corner of some states (and some of the illustrations covered their path, as well, making my challenge even more challenging). I think I got all but four.

Bonus Number Two: Dogs in America Today

The 21 photos of Casey in the RV, Casey dock-diving, Casey with the Golden Gate Bridge in the background! Some by Amanda Jones, even! My favorite is of the Dog Bark Park Inn in Idaho (‘Sleep inside the World’s Biggest Beagle!’).

What Would I Change?

Although Lewis is well-read on dogs (from Dunbar to Pryor to McConnell to Derr) he obviously wanted to appeal to mainstream America by also visiting the popular Cesar Millan, not always respected by those dog-people in the know.

I might perhaps cut the chapters into shorter versions but that might lose the charming titles, all of which start with “In Which. . . .” 

Or I might recommend Lewis take another trip with Casey!

PS – If you have read this far and are still not convinced, check out the videos on the book's web page, 

Book Review: Citizen Canine (dogs, evolution of dog law)

Citizen Canine: Our Evolving Relationship with Cats and Dogs, by David Grimm (Public Affairs [Perseus Book Group], 337 pages, 2014, $26.99)

The headlines shouted, “Leona Helmsley Leaves $12,000,000 for Her Dog and Nothing to Her Grandchildren!”

What does that tell us about our society today? Is that where we are headed? Is that where we really want to go?

Similar to One Nation Under Dog (by Michael Schaffer), Citizen Canine is easy to read, easy to put down, and even easy to pick up again. However, One Nation covers many dog topics while Citizen Canine focuses primarily on one: whether dogs and cats will ever become more than “just property,” along with the pros and cons and history (and stories) thereof.

Dr. David Grimm

David Grimm, the author, and I have a lot in common. He has a PhD in Genetics. I have an advanced degree in Genetics. He lives in Maryland. I live in Maryland. He is an editor (at the prestigious journal Science). I was an editor (in military intelligence and aerospace R&D). He teaches journalism at the college level. I taught college Biology and Scientific English at the graduate level. And, lastly, he is a good writer while I am a good reader.

In a Nutshell: Family, Person, Citizen (in that order)

Twelve chapters are divided into Family, Person, and Citizen (four chapters each), thus, easy for you to refer to the Table of Contents to refresh yourself on where you are in the timeline and what is yet to come.

Family. Person. Citizen. In that order and yet, a change in terminology is more than mere semantics (p. 150).  The Family third is the most memorable with stories about Henry Bergh who founded the ASPCA, for example. Dogs and cats became family and moved into our houses as we left the countryside for the city and as flea and tick preventives and treatment came onto the market - even more so when we developed dog and cat food (kibble)

Story after Story to Entertain while Informing

Grimm toured the country, from Louisiana to Colorado to North Carolina to California to Minnesota and places in between. He was fortunate to be able to spend time with dog-people like Dr. Marc Bekoff* and Dr. Brian Hare**, fascinating, ground-breaking dog authors in their own right.

Volunteers of ARNO, the Animal Rescue of New Orleans, and LAPD’s Animal Cruelty Task Force (not just the Puppy Police) also received a visit from Dr. Grimm and his magic pen, along with several pages and stories in Citizen Canine.

Local Interest: “My Pit Bull is Family!”

Grimm, who lives in Baltimore and teaches at The Johns Hopkins University, spends a scintillating several pages on Maryland’s recent BSL (breed specific legislation) case: Citizen Canine also highlights one local Baltimore shelter, BARCS, and some pit-bull people I know who worked ceaselessly with the HSUS to overturn Tracey vs Solesky and, just recently (after publication) to implement breed-neutral dog bite liability law. “Ban the deed, not the breed.” (As a matter of fact, not even the CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention) endorses BSL.) I think we may be finally making progress!

And History Need Not Repeat Itself

Thanks to David Grimm, I will always have a warmer spot in my heart for the story of the ASPCA’s founder Henry Bergh. And, did you know that a study has finally confirmed that those who abused animals are five times more likely than non-abusers to commit violent crimes against people? This includes Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer, and nearly every other serial killer, all of whom started their infamous careers torturing animals.

And Now, Towards the Future. . . .

Service animals are close to becoming real citizens in that they are working dogs who are allowed to go wherever their person goes. So, too, law enforcement dogs have rights not given to family pets: just as injuring law enforcement personnel is more serious than injuring a member of the public, so, too, is injuring a member of the canine corps more serious than injuring a family dog.

But are we ready for another Leona Helmsley? Will we ever be? Should we be? That is the question in our future and the future of our dogs and cats.

Bonus: Citizen Canine also includes a Brief History of Cats and Dogs!

*Dr. Marc Bekoff, pony-tailed retired ethologist and author of 22 books (Colorado) including Wild Justice and The Emotional Lives of Animals, studies how dogs play.

**Dr. Brian Hare (‘Scientist. Author. Dog Guy.’), dog cognition (thinking and intelligence) professor at Duke in North Carolina and author of the very readable book, The Genius of Dogs

Book Review: The Other Wes Moore (not dogs but 'one name, two fates' to change your life)

The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates, by Wes Moore (Spiegel and Grau, 2014, 233 pages, $25)

The Story

Two black boys grow up in the same West Baltimore neighborhood, each in a dysfunctional family with a difficult boyhood, and each gets into trouble with the law – repeatedly and at a young age – influenced by peers, easy money, and males each is close to.

One goes away to military school, joins the Army as an officer and deploys, graduates from Johns Hopkins University, spends a semester abroad in Africa, becomes the first black Rhodes Scholar from Hopkins, interns with the Mayor of Baltimore, spends a year working with Condoleezza Rice, and ends up married and on Wall Street, after speaking at the Democratic Convention.

The other is living a life sentence in a correctional facility in Jessup, Maryland, for his part in killing an off-duty police officer during a jewelry store robbery.

Intriguing stories, both.

I had seen this book in my local bookstore a few times and looked for it in the library but not until the author spoke at my college was I absolutely convinced I had to read this book: I got it that day. I am absolutely convinced that you have to read it, too.

Wes Moore spoke to a full auditorium at my college – his book was chosen as the book of the year, to be read and discussed (and written about) by all freshmen. But Moore spoke very little of the two lives depicted in his book (he did tell us how the title was chosen though – and at the last moment!) and he did not attempt to determine why one boy succeeded and one didn’t. Instead, Moore spoke of spiritual things, inspirational things, attempting to gently goad us to action – the last pages of the book give information on 200 organizations we can involve ourselves with, to inspire the disadvantaged youth of today.

In a Word

Fantastically fascinating story - rather, stories.  And very well written. ‘You are there.’ You become each boy.

Jumps from Moore to Moore

Moore jumps from one boy to the other throughout the book, referring to himself in the first person and to the other Wes Moore as Wes. He even meets the other Wes Moore several times in the correctional facility, attempting to piece their stories together – in parallel.

In his visit to my college, the author related how readers might mix up the two boys with the same name. He also stated that it doesn’t make much difference because their backgrounds were the same: poor and fatherless. One gets out and one doesn’t – due to a quirk of fate and a mother who almost gave up, but didn’t.

More Than Just a Good Story – the Chilling Truth

The Other Wes  Moore is a fast read, a book you can’t put down. The only drawback I noticed was skipping so much of their lives that might help the reader understand what happened. But perhaps neither Wes Moore nor the reader can understand what made one boy do one thing and the other, the other. Events were recounted in easy readable detail but then time skipped ahead a few years to the middle of another chapter in their lives.

The subtitle of The Other Wes Moore is ‘The chilling truth is that his story could have been mine. The tragedy is that mine could have been his.’ What more can I say? The interpretation of that subtitle and any action you take after reading Moore’s book is up to you.

I wouldn’t be surprised if it becomes an inspirational movie and even if the author goes on to accomplish more great things – perhaps becoming mayor or governor or higher. Reminiscent of Montel Williams and Dr. Ben Carson who left Chicago’s Cabrini Green’s modern slum for medical school and eventually became head of Surgery at Johns Hopkins, the author Wes Moore is destined for great things. How wonderful if the other Wes Moore could have shared the same destiny.

Why?

The answer to why these two black boys from Baltimore turned out so differently lies in the future. And in you.

Book Review: Dogs Don't Look Both Ways (lab)

Dogs Don’t Look Both Ways: A Primer on Unintended Consequences, by Jane Hanser (Ivy Books, 2014, 162 pages, $12.99)

I LIKE it!

I like just about everything about Dogs Don’t Look Both Ways! I like the size, I like the title, I like the author’s first name (same as my middle name), I like the photos (very professional), I like the varying lengths of the nearly two dozen chapters, and I like the stories of Joey’s life. I like the cover: I even like Joey’s collar - Joey is so regal looking.

I really like the title! And I laughed at the photo of the Animal Control truck author Jane Hanser included on page 42! (It turns out the Animal Control Officer and Joey become fast friends!)

I like the dedication. In the words of Joey, the Labrador Retriever, the book is “dedicated to . . . the mail carriers who leave us treats every day, and the Animal Control policemen who bring us back home after we’ve escaped!”

I even like the Foreword, by Joey’s emergency veterinarian.

Will the Real Author Please Stand Up?

I know a lot of readers don’t like reading books that dogs have supposedly written. But I do. Perhaps I have only read those well-done, well-written books but I like getting into the mind of a dog to learn what makes him tick, what tickles his funny bone, how he observes us humans. What he thinks about and what he doesn’t.

Dogs is written by Joey, the chocolate lab, though his person’s name appears on the cover as the author. Dogs is so well written that I invite those skeptical dog-author dislikers to check this book out. You might just love it like I did.

At first, though, Dogs seemed a bit forced. Joey himself wrote the book but his adjectives are big enough to have come from an English teacher (like his human mom actually is): however, either I became used to the flow or Joey toned down his high-falllutin language to the vernacular so that it didn’t interfere with the flow of the stories after a few pages.

Suspenseful Beach Read

Dogs is a great beach read or plane book. I had hoped to finish it on the train from Washington, DC, to Connecticut but another part of me wanted to savor the stories. (I ended up reading it several times.)

Joey is a dog who never grew up though his command of the English language is commendable and his gift of gab is hilarious. You simply have to smile at Joey, his life, tribulations and antics all.

Have You Ever Wondered. . . . ?

Why does your dog continue to try to run away every once in a while (or constantly plot to do so) even when you scold him or shower him with kisses upon his return? Joey knows and will tell you if you listen hard enough. And he sneaks in quite a bit of information about Labrador Retrievers and dogs in general. I guess Joey wants a wise readership.

Joey Tells All - In Only Ten Years

Why do dogs dig? How does a lab grow up? Why does a lab want to do what his human family does? Why do dogs chew? Why do labs like sitting outside in the backyard? Why don’t dogs look both ways? What good is a dog’s nose? Do all retrievers retrieve? Do all labs love to swim?

What would you do if you were a dog and moved several hours away from your birthstate and then, quite by accident, were suddenly met by one of your litter sisters at a boarding kennel – would you recognize her, years later? Find out if Joey did.

And, of course, I love the chapters that relate the story of the title. What happens when dogs don’t look both ways and how long do the repercussions last?

Joey, the chocolate lab, will reveal all these and other secrets to you in Dogs Don’t Look Both Ways. Get it and read it over and over.