What do you think?
Rate this book
Dog Stories
The unforgettable canines gathered here include Kipling's heroically faithful 'Garm', Bret Harte's irrepressible scoundrel of a 'yaller dog' and the aggressively affectionate three-legged pit bull who lives in a block of flats for dogs in Jonathan Lethem's 'Ava's Apartment'. Here are stories which touchingly illuminate the dog's role in the emotional lives of humans, such as Tobias Wolff's 'Her Dog', where a widower shares his grief for his wife with her grieving pet. Here, too, are humorous glimpses of the canine point of view, from O. Henry's tale of a dissatisfied lapdog's escape to P. G. Wodehouse's cheerfully naïve watchdog who simply wants everybody to get along. These writers and others - Ray Bradbury, James Thurber and Penelope Lively among them - offer imaginative, lyrical and empathetic portraits of man and woman's most devoted companion
384 pages, Hardcover
First published October 5, 2010
20 people are currently reading
350 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews
December 31, 2019
A good book full of a lot of different stories. Maybe I didn't like some so much, but considering the number of them, that made up for any that were lacking.
April 27, 2020
This was an enjoyable collection of stories without too many that had a sad ending. I especially enjoyed Kipling’s Garm – A Hostage.
January 3, 2014
Not all the stories in this excellent anthology are warm and fuzzy, but many are, but all of them are well worth reading. They all deal with dogs in one form or another, usually either as protagonist or object, but also as a state of mind in a couple of the stories. Some are humorous, such as Wodehouse's "The Mixer," in which a pub-born hound just wants people to get along and views the vagaries of human behavior as just downright perplexing at times. Other stories are poignant ("Her Dog"), or endearing ("A Yellow Dog"), or sad ("The Story of Two Dogs"). You probably will not gain any insights into the world of dogs or the lives they lead, but you will get a new perspective upon the human condition, as well as the often inhumane nature of humans. Some of the stories, especially those by Mark Twain and Patricia Highsmith might make you want to kick (or worse) the next person you see mistreat a dog. After reading these stories, you might even agree with Thurber (who also has a story in this book) that the worst dog he ever met is better than the best person he ever met...not to mention that all-dogs-go-to-heaven thing. A great collection of stories for the dog lover.
March 17, 2016
I did not know when I chose this book at the library that it was British. I can't stand the way the British write. So unfeeling and stilted.
January 26, 2020
Wonderfully varied collection of short stories featuring dogs in one way or another, spanning the last 150 years or so. I have to confess that I didn’t read Mark Twain’s ‘A Dog’s Tale’— I’ve read it a couple of times before, most recently about 20 years ago, and remember that it is too heartbreakingly sad to read again. Some favorites from this collection include Lydia Miller’s ‘Sir Henry ‘, Bret Harte’s ‘A Yellow Dog’, and Jonathan Lethem’s ‘Ava’s Apartment ‘. Highly recommended.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 22, 2023
I did not finish this book. I love most dog stories even if they are sad but this book has too much animal cruelty in it. The Mark Twain story is horrible! They are written in earlier periods of time where cruelty to animals was tolerated? and this is why I am rating it even though I didn't finish it. The Chicken Soup dog/animal/horse stories or stories by Roger Caras or James Herriot are much better.
August 11, 2023
Most of the stories were either dull or upsetting. I don’t want to read about dog abuse, and wasn’t expecting so much of it
December 23, 2019
Cute stories, not really my style but if you love short cute pet stories you will like this book.
August 9, 2022
Dogs must be trained by their masters, they must owe allegiance to one person...but even to state it is to expose its absurdity: what I adored was the graceless puppy, and what did I want with a well-trained dog? Trained for what? I ordered this book in February, during the middle of my senior year of medical school, about two weeks after I took my puppy home: Bertie, a playful, snug coffee-colored miniature Schnauzer. I don't buy paper books very often, but then again I don't get puppies very often either. It was a cold and rainy afternoon, thoroughly uncharacteristic of Miami, when I bought him home. This fluke of the weather complicated Bertie's homecoming; when I took him onto the balcony, where I'd lovingly arranged a pad for him to pee on, the frigid atmosphere outside rattled his nerves and kept him too agitated to do anything but whine; when I gave up and took him inside he thanked me by releasing a pent-up puddle over my living room floor. As any dog owner will tell you, the first accident is where the magic of having a cute little puppy first evaporates, and the responsibility which you've resolved to undertake--and your utter lack of preparation for its burdens--lodges into you like a freshly deposited gallstone, to settle its colic upon you for the next several months. More so than the nuts and bolts of raising a puppy--the toys and checkups and leash fittings and training classes--there was also the profound realization that I now shared my life with a creature who moved through life in ways that complemented mine but was simultaneously thoroughly alien to me. It astonished me the first time I managed to get him to sit on my command, to leave it, to lie down, to wait. How is it that a creature with no language, with motivations and behavioral instincts incomprehensible to me, could understand my requests? Bertie experiences the world through his nose first, his tongue second, his paws third and his eyes last; this means that the way I make sense of my environment must strike him as absurd; how can I know what's going on if I never smell or taste anything? It never ceases to astonish me, the understanding that we have now--the fragile, tenuous connection that I worked so hard to cultivate between us. Our world is not designed to be understandable to dogs; in those early months I sought desperately to expose him to other people, other settings, to increase his sense of comfort in the various environments of the world. I think it's the only humane thing to do--fail to do this for your puppy, and life becomes a constant parade of terrors to your dog. If there's love between us, it's the love that arises from my sense that I've taken on this project: to usher this living thing into the world at large, to watch him experience it without inhibition and find his place in it with me, and to shift my life to find a space for him in it as he grows. I never had the puppy blues; he's come along wonderfully, and I really do think I (a) got lucky with a smart, teachable puppy and (b) did mostly everything right in getting him good and trained before I started residency. But with all this pressure, it was only after I graduated from medical school, as I was uprooting myself across the country for residency, that I began reading this book so many months after I first purchased it. Of course I love reading fiction, but I suppose I was also hoping for...well, insight. I wanted to see how the writers of the world, across history, approached this experience which I was undergoing, and what they had to say about the various phenomena that accompany it which might prove resonant with me. And that's the main appeal of this anthology as a whole: the way each writer seems to seize on a particular aspect of our curious relationship with dogs, to dramatize and explore that as the anchor for their storytelling. Some, for example, write from the perspective of their dogs; O. Henry has his yellow dog understand everything, PG Wodehouse has his mixer pick up on language but not social cues, and Highsmith, perhaps most accurately, has her aging Baron understand a few key words--his name, the word "No!"--with the rest relegated to mere noise. Stories touch on a dog's ease of loyalty--Garm, Ava--and also on the cruelty which humans inflict on them--my heart wept, in particular, for Twain's dog licking and nursing her abacinated puppy. As Thurber notes, we love our puppies even when they aren't perfect; Wolff points out that our dogs can also be our connections to their former owner, and this can inspire in us devotion we didn't even know we possessed. Millet and McGuane wrestle with the duty we to ensure that our dogs are cared for should they outlive us. Both Bradbury and Watson show us how dogs connect us to the world around us: Watson, in particular, brilliantly evokes the difference in perceptive lenses through which dogs make sense of the world around them: Odd scents distinguished themselves in his nostrils and blended into a rich funk that swirled about the pedestrians who stopped next to them, a secret aromatic history that eddied about him even as the pedestrians muttered among themselves and moved on.. And yes, some of the stories sucked--looking at you, Madison Smartt Bell. But because of my newfound personal connection to this material, the stories in this book did not have to be brilliant to enrich my life and my relationship with Bertie. They just had to hit different notes on the wide, rich spectrum of this experience, this lineage of companionship to which I've admitted myself. And there's so much more to come.
"Memoirs of a Yellow Dog", O. Henry. 7/10
"Ava's Apartment", Jonathan Lethem. 7.5/10
“Garm — a Hostage”, Rudyard Kipling. 8.5/10
“The Emissary”, Ray Bradbury. 7/10
“The Mixer”, P. G. Wodehouse. 9/10
“There I Was, Stuck With Bubsy”, Patricia Highsmith. 10/10
“A Dog’s Tale”, Mark Twain. 8.5/10
“Josephine Has Her Day”, James Thurber. 7/10
“Kashtanka,” Anton Chekhov. 5/10
“The Oracle of the Dog,” GK Chesterton. 6/10
“Seeing Eye,” Brad Watson. 10/10
“Her Dog,” Tobias Wolff. 7/10
“Sir Henry,” Lydia Millett. 8/10
“Barking Man”, Madison Smartt Bell. 1/10
“A Yellow Dog”, Bert Harte. 7/10
“The Story of Two Dogs”, Doris Lessing. 10/10
"The Hermit's Story," Rick Bass. 9/10
“Flight,” Thomas McGuane. 8.5/10
“My Lord You”, James Salter. 6/10
“Black Dog”, Penelope Lively. 9/10
"Memoirs of a Yellow Dog", O. Henry. 7/10
"Ava's Apartment", Jonathan Lethem. 7.5/10
“Garm — a Hostage”, Rudyard Kipling. 8.5/10
“The Emissary”, Ray Bradbury. 7/10
“The Mixer”, P. G. Wodehouse. 9/10
“There I Was, Stuck With Bubsy”, Patricia Highsmith. 10/10
“A Dog’s Tale”, Mark Twain. 8.5/10
“Josephine Has Her Day”, James Thurber. 7/10
“Kashtanka,” Anton Chekhov. 5/10
“The Oracle of the Dog,” GK Chesterton. 6/10
“Seeing Eye,” Brad Watson. 10/10
“Her Dog,” Tobias Wolff. 7/10
“Sir Henry,” Lydia Millett. 8/10
“Barking Man”, Madison Smartt Bell. 1/10
“A Yellow Dog”, Bert Harte. 7/10
“The Story of Two Dogs”, Doris Lessing. 10/10
"The Hermit's Story," Rick Bass. 9/10
“Flight,” Thomas McGuane. 8.5/10
“My Lord You”, James Salter. 6/10
“Black Dog”, Penelope Lively. 9/10
October 31, 2012
Three and a half stars for this gorgeous little book that I've decided I'm keeping for presentation alone! Most of the stories in here are worth a read and I definitely recommend it for all dog lovers.
August 24, 2014
A random collection of stories... in some the dog is barely even a character!
June 14, 2016
I specifically liked The Hermit's Story by Rick Bass but I couldn't tell you why. I had chills the whole time reading it.
August 22, 2016
I enjoyed some stories more than others. In particular, I liked the ones where the story was written from the dog's point of view, and I did not care for the ones in which the DOGS DIED.
November 17, 2025
Diana Secker Tesdell’s Dog Stories is one of those anthologies that promises something simple—short fiction about dogs—but ends up delivering an unexpectedly rich literary map of human vulnerability, loyalty, and longing.
What makes the volume stand out isn't merely the range of authors—from Kipling and Jack London to Doris Lessing, Tobias Wolff, and Mark Twain—but the emotional precision with which the stories approach the human–animal bond. Rather than slipping into sentimentality, most of these pieces cut deeply into the complicated, sometimes morally ambiguous territory where animals function as mirrors of our better and worse selves.
What is personally striking about this anthology is its capacity to remind the reader that dogs often serve as narrative pressure valves in literature. They are the beings to whom characters confess what they cannot tell spouses, parents, lovers, or the indifferent universe.
Again and again, Tesdell selects stories in which dogs catalyze human revelation—not through magic or anthropomorphism, but simply by being present in a steady, grounding, unjudging way. This presence, uncomplicated but profound, is what gives the anthology its emotional coherence.
One of the recurring pleasures of the collection is noticing how differently each author imagines the moral intelligence of dogs. For some writers, dogs are companions; for others, they are tests. Kipling uses them to explore colonial anxieties. Jack London uses them to investigate the thin line between instinct and civilization.
Virginia Woolf turns the dog inward, toward a character’s anxieties and unspoken fears. In contrast, P.G. Wodehouse treats the dog as a comedic foil, with perfect timing and an almost mischievous sense of the absurd. If you approach the anthology expecting sweetness alone, the tonal diversity is startling—in the best way.
What elevates Dog Stories is Tesdell’s editorial intuition. She understands that dog stories are ultimately human stories in disguise. The most devastating pieces are not about the dogs themselves but about what the dogs witness: a marriage eroding, a war encroaching, an old age approaching, a childhood slipping away. It’s remarkable how consistently dogs become guardians of liminal spaces—of transitions, losses, reckonings.
Reading the anthology in 2025 adds another layer of resonance. Our digitally saturated lives often reduce attention to a frantic flicker, yet dogs remain creatures that demand presence rather than performance. Many of the stories seem to anticipate our modern condition: characters who cannot articulate their misery find consolation in the uncomplicated rhythms of their animals.
Tesdell’s selection makes you realize how deeply literature has depended on dogs as narrative anchors—symbols of stability amidst human chaos.
The anthology’s pacing is gentle but beautifully varied. A harsh wilderness tale might be followed by a whimsical domestic vignette; a melancholic meditation might sit next to a sharply comedic sketch. This rhythm makes reading the collection feel like walking through multiple emotional climates in a single day—sunlight, drizzle, fog, and the occasional storm.
And because Tesdell’s approach is neither chronological nor geographically rigid, you’re free to experience the stories as a constellation rather than a line.
If there’s a thematic through-line, it’s this: dogs expose us. They strip away the polite fictions humans habitually construct. In some stories, this exposure is healing; in others, it is unsettling. But rarely is it neutral.
For anyone who loves literature—not merely animals—Dog Stories is an unexpectedly resonant anthology. It demonstrates, with quiet conviction, that dogs are not sentimental props in fiction; they are emotional accelerants.
They sit beside humans in moments of loneliness, terror, joy, and transition, and in doing so allow the writer to illuminate what is most tender and most fragile in human life.
Tesdell has curated a collection that is not simply charming but emotionally diagnostic: it tells you more about yourself than about the dogs you think you’re reading about.
What makes the volume stand out isn't merely the range of authors—from Kipling and Jack London to Doris Lessing, Tobias Wolff, and Mark Twain—but the emotional precision with which the stories approach the human–animal bond. Rather than slipping into sentimentality, most of these pieces cut deeply into the complicated, sometimes morally ambiguous territory where animals function as mirrors of our better and worse selves.
What is personally striking about this anthology is its capacity to remind the reader that dogs often serve as narrative pressure valves in literature. They are the beings to whom characters confess what they cannot tell spouses, parents, lovers, or the indifferent universe.
Again and again, Tesdell selects stories in which dogs catalyze human revelation—not through magic or anthropomorphism, but simply by being present in a steady, grounding, unjudging way. This presence, uncomplicated but profound, is what gives the anthology its emotional coherence.
One of the recurring pleasures of the collection is noticing how differently each author imagines the moral intelligence of dogs. For some writers, dogs are companions; for others, they are tests. Kipling uses them to explore colonial anxieties. Jack London uses them to investigate the thin line between instinct and civilization.
Virginia Woolf turns the dog inward, toward a character’s anxieties and unspoken fears. In contrast, P.G. Wodehouse treats the dog as a comedic foil, with perfect timing and an almost mischievous sense of the absurd. If you approach the anthology expecting sweetness alone, the tonal diversity is startling—in the best way.
What elevates Dog Stories is Tesdell’s editorial intuition. She understands that dog stories are ultimately human stories in disguise. The most devastating pieces are not about the dogs themselves but about what the dogs witness: a marriage eroding, a war encroaching, an old age approaching, a childhood slipping away. It’s remarkable how consistently dogs become guardians of liminal spaces—of transitions, losses, reckonings.
Reading the anthology in 2025 adds another layer of resonance. Our digitally saturated lives often reduce attention to a frantic flicker, yet dogs remain creatures that demand presence rather than performance. Many of the stories seem to anticipate our modern condition: characters who cannot articulate their misery find consolation in the uncomplicated rhythms of their animals.
Tesdell’s selection makes you realize how deeply literature has depended on dogs as narrative anchors—symbols of stability amidst human chaos.
The anthology’s pacing is gentle but beautifully varied. A harsh wilderness tale might be followed by a whimsical domestic vignette; a melancholic meditation might sit next to a sharply comedic sketch. This rhythm makes reading the collection feel like walking through multiple emotional climates in a single day—sunlight, drizzle, fog, and the occasional storm.
And because Tesdell’s approach is neither chronological nor geographically rigid, you’re free to experience the stories as a constellation rather than a line.
If there’s a thematic through-line, it’s this: dogs expose us. They strip away the polite fictions humans habitually construct. In some stories, this exposure is healing; in others, it is unsettling. But rarely is it neutral.
For anyone who loves literature—not merely animals—Dog Stories is an unexpectedly resonant anthology. It demonstrates, with quiet conviction, that dogs are not sentimental props in fiction; they are emotional accelerants.
They sit beside humans in moments of loneliness, terror, joy, and transition, and in doing so allow the writer to illuminate what is most tender and most fragile in human life.
Tesdell has curated a collection that is not simply charming but emotionally diagnostic: it tells you more about yourself than about the dogs you think you’re reading about.
May 7, 2017
this was a great compilation of doggie short stories. :) i received this book as a gift from my dude many years ago -- then i lost gabbie and decided it was the perfect time to start reading it. i wasn't disappointed! i could have done without a few of the stories, but i really liked most of them. a few of my absolute favorites include: ava's apartment by jonathan lethem; the emissary by ray bradbury (the bestttt); there i was, stuck with bubsy by patricia highsmith (sad); a dog's tale by mark twain (also sad); josephine has her day by james thurber; her dog by tobias wolff; sir henry by lydia millet; the story of two dogs by doris lessing; and black dog by penelope lively (second bestttt). if you love dogs, you won't be disappointed by this collection. :)
November 29, 2018
An eclectic collection of stories that I think perhaps starts off a little more engagingly then it ends. There is a mixture of more directly “feel good” types of stories and decidedly troubling ones. There only a few that left me scratching my head on their merit. Overwhelmingly entertaining reads with a broad mixture of effects.
October 19, 2024
So many delicious little stories with different ways of thinking about dogs. From the absurd and surreal to the touching and grotesque, this was a great edit of authors and narratives. I discovered a couple of writers I want to dig into more after reading their take on man’s best friend. I will be passing along my copy to a fellow dog lover soon.
April 26, 2023
Denne var veldig bra jamt over, trass i at ikkje alle novellene var like spanande eller gilde å lese. Har elles òg funne ut at den beste måten for meg å tilnærme meg novellesamlingar er ved å lese ca. ei til dagen, kan anbefalast til andre
February 12, 2018
Nice selection of short stories.
December 30, 2022
I wasn't as engaged with this one as I was with Cat Stories, though there were still some good short stories in here.
June 25, 2023
Very nice selection of stories based on man's best friend.
August 23, 2023
Upsetting. A cursed item that does not belong on the dog-themed bookshelf of a sensitive dog-loving soul like me.
October 28, 2024
Up and down like all anthologies, but there were some really enjoyable stories here. I will keep this collection.
Warning: dogs die in some of the stories. I know some readers hate that.
Warning: dogs die in some of the stories. I know some readers hate that.
November 16, 2025
I really enjoyed all of these stories!! Some were a bit weird and seemed to only fit in this dog category by a stretch, but the majority were wonderful and so creative.
March 22, 2024
A mixed bag, as I often find with a collection. The following stories were the most memorable (although a couple had tragic endings); “Garm – A Hostage” by Rudyard Kipling, “A Dog’s Tale” by Mark Twain, “The Oracle of the Dog” by G.K. Chesterton, “A Yellow Dog” by Bret Harte, “The Story of Two Dogs” by Doris Lessing, “The Hermit’s Story” by Rick Bass.
May 10, 2016
This is an excellent compilation of short stories by a great diversity of authors. The main character of each story is a dog, and they all have very different, very interesting characters. I had read some of the stories before (e.g. Chekhov's Kashtanka) and I did not read all of the stories in the book that I hadn't read before - specifically, I only read the first six and the last one. Not only are the stories well-selected, this hard-cover edition is beautifully bound and designed. I highly recommend this selection of tasty morsels if you can get your hands on a copy.
May 3, 2014
This is a sturdy collection that gathers in strength as it progresses. Some of the stories by authors of earlier generations disturbed me with their depictions of man's inhumanity toward his "best friend," but there are many gems here: James Thurber's "Josephine Has Her Day," Ray Bradbury's "The Emissary" (and I never expected to appreciate Bradbury), Bret Harte's remarkable "A Yellow Dog," the masterly "The Story of Two Dogs" by Doris Lessing, and Penelope Lively's chilling "Black Dog." Highly recommended whether one is a dog lover or not.
July 21, 2016
I started it back in May and read each tale individually and at a very slow rate. Because these tales about my favorite beast/ pet were utterly amazing. From the very sad ones of loss and the best ones of how dogs make us feel worth a life. LOVED this 10 stars.
December 31, 2011
Some older works, some newer; all good.
February 24, 2011
I didn't read all of the stories in this book. I got a little bored with them. Some of the ones that I did read were pretty good. I might try to read it at another time.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews