[HipCat]

Old Dogs Are the Best Dogs
by Gene Weingarten
144 pages

I've never had a dog, but I love animals, and I certainly understand how one becomes a part of your family. When this book crossed my desk, the dog portraits drew me in. Each spread shows a black-and-white photo of a dog older than 10 with his bio or an anecdote. There were times I literally laughed out loud, and often, you have to see the dog's facial expression to truly appreciate the story.

The only part that made me really sad was the intro, mainly because it reminded me of having to put down Lou, my cat. The author wrote the book in honor of his recently deceased dog, Harry S. Truman. In one part he writes:

I think the problem with trying to assess the intelligence of a dog is that with typical human chauvanism, we insist on applying our logic to their brains. This is a mistake.

Take Harry Truman and his relationship to the letter carrier. At mailtime, our haberdasher discovered within him the dark capacity to annihilate a city. He'd run to the front door, growling and snarling, and yank the mail in through the slot with his teeth in an effort to reach the beast beyond, and if possible, kill him. To us, this seemed not only a ridiculous expenditure of energy and a futile spasm of hatred, but above all, a lesson forever unlearned.

But think about Harry's logic. Over nearly 13 years, on approximately 4,000 occasions, he had confronted a stranger who was attempting to gain entrance to our home. Each time, because of Harry's diligence, the would-be evildoer was driven away. What's not to understand or admire?