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Events Wed May 19 2010
Puppy Love
I didn't grow up with dogs. In fact, I was kind of scared of them, like some people are scared of lizards or children -- I knew they were harmless, but they were so alien to me that I didn't really know what to do with them. I didn't even know the proper way to pet a dog, so I'd just kind of pat it on the back and avoid any contact with its tongue.
But then I met Max. The day my roommate brought him back to our Chicago apartment, I fell in love. An all-black mini schnauzer with huge dark eyes, he was the size of my roommate's foot and excited by everything. He's bigger now (11 pounds at his most recent vet appointment), but he hasn't lost his puppy personality: searching through the trash for tissues to rip apart and eat, jumping up and down when he knows he's going for a walk, hiding in his carrying bag when he knows he's done something bad. He's not even my dog, but I can't imagine my life without the tiny pup.
Fellow dog lover W. Bruce Cameron (who's written such books as 8 Simple Rules For Dating My Teenage Daughter and How to Remodel a Man) shows the influence a dog can have on his humans with Cameron's first foray into fiction, A Dog's Purpose (coming out in July 2010). Told from a dog's point of view, the book shows the animal on a very human quest: to figure out why he's here.
Through July 6 Women & Children First Bookstore (5233 N. Clark St.) is running an advanced book sales promotion for A Dog's Purpose. Ten percent of the proceeds will be donated to New Leash on Life, a local no-kill shelter.
Note: I haven't actually read the book yet -- I am currently in the middle of about five other books, and I just got this one. But when I do, I promise a review from a true canophile.
Photo by Jeana Abboud.
