βPeople who love dogs often talk about a βlifetimeβ dog. Iβd heard the phrase a dozen times before I came to recognize its significance. Lifetime dogs are dogs we love in especially powerful, sometimes inexplicable ways.ββJon Katz
In this gripping and deeply touching book, bestselling author Jon Katz tells the story of his lifetime dog, Orson: a beautiful border collieβintense, smart, crazy, and unforgettable.
From the moment Katz and Orson meet, when the dog springs from his traveling crate at Newark airport and panics the baggage claim area, their relationship is deep, stormy, and loving. At two years old, Katzβs new companion is a great herder of school buses, a scholar of refrigerators, but a dud at herding sheep. Everything Katz attemptsβ obedience training, herding instruction, a new name, acupuncture, herb and alternative therapiesβhelps a little but not enough, and not for long. βLike all border collies and many dogs,β Katz writes, βhe needed work. I didnβt realize for some time I was the work Orson would find.β While Katz is trying to help his dog, Orson is helping him, shepherding him toward a new life on a two-hundred-year-old hillside farm in upstate New York. There, aided by good neighbors and a tolerant wife, hip-deep in sheep, chickens, donkeys, and more dogs, the man and his canine companion explore meadows, woods, and even stars, wade through snow, bask by a roaring wood stove, and struggle to keep faith with each other. There, with deep love, each embraces his unfolding destiny.
A Good Dog is a book to savor. Just as Orson was the authorβs lifetime dog, his story is a lifetime treasureβpoignant, timeless, and powerful.
Media Buzz
Diane Rehm Show - NPR - October 3, 2006 Saturday Early Show - September 30, 2006
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