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Buff: A Collie and Other Dog Stories
BUFF: A COLLIE And Other Dog Stories By Albert Payson Terhune
Buff : A Collie
"Something"
Chums
Human-Interest Stuff
"One Minute Longer"
The Foul Fancier
The Grudge
The Sunnybank Collies
Amazon's reprint of this dog classic.
379 KB
Buff : A Collie
"Something"
Chums
Human-Interest Stuff
"One Minute Longer"
The Foul Fancier
The Grudge
The Sunnybank Collies
Amazon's reprint of this dog classic.
379 KB
199 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1921
31 people are currently reading
147 people want to read
About the author
Albert Payson Terhune
327 books75 followersAlbert Payson Terhune (1872 - 1942), a local author of some fame, wrote numerous adventures about Collies, most notably, "Lad, A Dog", "Sunnybank: Home of Lad", and "Further Adventures of Lad". Sunnybank, his home on the eastern shore of Pompton Lakes in northern New Jersey, was originally the home of Terhune's parents, Edward Payson Terhune and Mary Virginia Hawes Terhune. Later as his home with his wife, Anice Stockton Terhune, Sunnybank became famous as "The Place" in the many stories of Terhune. Much of the land once constituting the Sunnybank estate was lost to developers in the 1960's with the house being demolished in 1969. Fortunately though, the central 9.6 acres was preserved through the dedicated efforts of Terhune fans and dog fanciers, and is now Terhune Sunnybank Memorial Park, administered by the Wayne Township Parks Department.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
March 10, 2019
The collection of stories, originally published in 1921, is a little spotty overall. The strength of all Terhune’s books is how he writes his dogs. They are not overly anthropomorphized, but are given emotions and ability to reason that are (for dog-lovers) not a stretch of the imagination, as are their relationships with their people. Terhune has been criticized for his elitist attitudes, and this is evident in some of his stories – there is an annoying use of vernacular, and “hill people” often feature as the villains in these stories. His female characters exist mostly to serve as lovely, gentle inspirations, but at least one does get to wield a shotgun with skill as she attempts to protect her own.
The title story is terrific and heart-wrenching, with a little bit of everything: heroism, loyalty, criminal acts, life-threatening situations, bloodthirsty revenge, love, romance, and pathos. Another, “Chums”, had me in floods of tears. It's the story of a boy who runs away and is homeless for a while, but befriends two stray mutts who become his whole world, and what happens when they are picked up by the dogcatcher one day while he's out working for dinner money. The others were okay to pretty bad, and the author loves to wallow in detailed descriptions of dog fights, which spoiled several stories for me.
The title story is terrific and heart-wrenching, with a little bit of everything: heroism, loyalty, criminal acts, life-threatening situations, bloodthirsty revenge, love, romance, and pathos. Another, “Chums”, had me in floods of tears. It's the story of a boy who runs away and is homeless for a while, but befriends two stray mutts who become his whole world, and what happens when they are picked up by the dogcatcher one day while he's out working for dinner money. The others were okay to pretty bad, and the author loves to wallow in detailed descriptions of dog fights, which spoiled several stories for me.
March 16, 2010
4 stars for the fine writing style! I love Mr. Terhune's way with words. I enjoy reading about dogs, but it seems like so many dog books have sad endings. So, it was nice to read this one and find that not every dog book ever written has to be depressing ;-)
This book is a collection of several dog stories; most of them didn't really stand out for me, plot-wise, but as I said, I do like the style, and I did enjoy them. Colllies are the starring breed here, but one or two stories feature other dogs as well. I'll probably read more of the author's works at some point, too.
This book is a collection of several dog stories; most of them didn't really stand out for me, plot-wise, but as I said, I do like the style, and I did enjoy them. Colllies are the starring breed here, but one or two stories feature other dogs as well. I'll probably read more of the author's works at some point, too.
July 6, 2017
I loved it. What a great collection of stories.
October 19, 2018
What a peculiar mix of stories.
At the outset, Buff: a Collie, strikes almost as an inspiration caused by the "compromise" between Master and Mistress in The Coming of Lad, for Buff is only mostly collie, but partially the sort of terrier the Master is said to have wanted. This has little bearing on the story, in fact, yet it is surprisingly worked into each chapter and never fully forgotten. I wish that Buff's story was longer, for I think there is much that could be more interesting about it given enough pages. Bizarrely, I even wish that more had been in the point of view of Buff's master, as I think that would have been interesting, for he is a more engaging character than most of Terhune's humans. But Buff does not stray much from the dog's view.
Peculiarly, the same cannot be said for the majority of the stories to follow. In fact, in at least one, the dog leaves near the beginning and is not seen again until close to the end. Because Terhune's stories were originally printed in magazines, I find it impossible to know how far apart his stories were written, or in what order, yet it seems likely most of these are fairly early stories of his, published in book format after the success of Lad: a Dog. In any case, not only are they for the most part not his best, some only feature dogs almost incidentally, as if they were intended to an audience other than dog lovers. For a refreshing change of pace, no mention is made of overweight antagonists in even one story. Usually the poorer the linguistic education of the speaker, the more evil they are in Terhune, but this book sees some surprising exceptions. Some reviewers make mention of the fact that women are more ornaments than anything, but there are a million instances where the men are no more use (how many dogfights did masters just stand about watching because they hadn't the wit to even try to do anything else? I want to say... at least three). The fact is, the opening of the book suggests that dogs are a far more good and wholesome race than human beings of any sort, "These are the friendly folk whose god I am. A blatant, foolish, stumbling, purblind god," he begins.
Out of the lineup, The Grudge is easily the least compelling of any of the stories, for it reads in exactly the fashion you would expect a story with that title to read. It also sees the dog with a character out of the story almost immediately, and the dog with no traits but the generic ones common to any collie in Terhune's books leaves shortly thereafter, not to reappear until the end. The story is mostly taken with the fruitless search for the dog, and another dog against whom he has a grudge. Strangely, one dog in the story is said to be Lad's son, despite many statements in many stories that Lad had but one son, and that was Wolf. The Grudge also makes ample use of Terhune's favorite topic, the closeness of the collie to the wolf.
Indeed, most of the stories in this collection are not merely violent, but specifically about fights and fighters. Buff's grandfather is lauded as a fighting dog, and Buff himself engages in at least one death battle with another dog. Though not explicitly stated, it seems likely that Buff's master was some sort of fighter, either that or Terhune had not yet learned to conceal his boxing knowledge.
Terhune in fact makes good use of that knowledge in The Foul Fancier, which is primarily about a boxer. The dog in this story is not so much the hero as the "make plot go" button for the story, which actually centers around the fighter. It also ends on a somewhat unsatisfying note, making me hope that is not the only story about that man and his dog, because I want a more conclusive -ideally happy- ending.
"Something" is a short, peculiar story that never quite finds its footing before it ends, but it is the only decisively unhappy story in the lot, unlike many of the stories in Heart of a Dog or even Lad of Sunnybank (not to be confused with the far better Lad: a Dog). Speaking of the former book, it also has the story, "One Minute Longer," which is a story about Wolf that was not in the book bearing his name. It is not a great story, but it is decent enough, and at least makes good use of the dog as the hero.
Chums is primarily about a boy, the dogs are almost incidental, but it is one of my favorite stories in this collection because it is rather different from so many of Terhune's stories, instead of being a mild rewrite of one I've already read by now (I've read several of his dog centered books at this point). It is also one of the few to center on dogs who are not collies (though it is really centered on the boy). It's a nice, satisfying little story about a boy who leaves home and the dogs he meets up with.
Human-Interest Stuff, which might ought to have been the title of the book, also features a not fully collie collie, making the book, by dint of number of pages mostly about mixed breeds (particularly if you include one of the dogs from The Grudge). It is not terribly interesting, featuring bits of things that seem to have been lifted from several Lad stories that don't really quite resolve into anything really worthwhile. It does have its moments though.
Terhune ends us on some talk about the Sunnybank Collies, primarily Lad. These are snippets not included in any of the three books about Lad, and are worth it for that if you must "collect them all." It is also interesting to read how Terhune spoke of Wolf while the dog lived versus after he died.
Overall, it's a decent read, not great, but the stories are -for the most part- quite different from his usual fare, and so are somewhat interesting from that point of view. He goes on a few of his signature tangents, but does not dwell overlong upon them, and certain parts of almost any given chapter are pretty good.
At the outset, Buff: a Collie, strikes almost as an inspiration caused by the "compromise" between Master and Mistress in The Coming of Lad, for Buff is only mostly collie, but partially the sort of terrier the Master is said to have wanted. This has little bearing on the story, in fact, yet it is surprisingly worked into each chapter and never fully forgotten. I wish that Buff's story was longer, for I think there is much that could be more interesting about it given enough pages. Bizarrely, I even wish that more had been in the point of view of Buff's master, as I think that would have been interesting, for he is a more engaging character than most of Terhune's humans. But Buff does not stray much from the dog's view.
Peculiarly, the same cannot be said for the majority of the stories to follow. In fact, in at least one, the dog leaves near the beginning and is not seen again until close to the end. Because Terhune's stories were originally printed in magazines, I find it impossible to know how far apart his stories were written, or in what order, yet it seems likely most of these are fairly early stories of his, published in book format after the success of Lad: a Dog. In any case, not only are they for the most part not his best, some only feature dogs almost incidentally, as if they were intended to an audience other than dog lovers. For a refreshing change of pace, no mention is made of overweight antagonists in even one story. Usually the poorer the linguistic education of the speaker, the more evil they are in Terhune, but this book sees some surprising exceptions. Some reviewers make mention of the fact that women are more ornaments than anything, but there are a million instances where the men are no more use (how many dogfights did masters just stand about watching because they hadn't the wit to even try to do anything else? I want to say... at least three). The fact is, the opening of the book suggests that dogs are a far more good and wholesome race than human beings of any sort, "These are the friendly folk whose god I am. A blatant, foolish, stumbling, purblind god," he begins.
Out of the lineup, The Grudge is easily the least compelling of any of the stories, for it reads in exactly the fashion you would expect a story with that title to read. It also sees the dog with a character out of the story almost immediately, and the dog with no traits but the generic ones common to any collie in Terhune's books leaves shortly thereafter, not to reappear until the end. The story is mostly taken with the fruitless search for the dog, and another dog against whom he has a grudge. Strangely, one dog in the story is said to be Lad's son, despite many statements in many stories that Lad had but one son, and that was Wolf. The Grudge also makes ample use of Terhune's favorite topic, the closeness of the collie to the wolf.
Indeed, most of the stories in this collection are not merely violent, but specifically about fights and fighters. Buff's grandfather is lauded as a fighting dog, and Buff himself engages in at least one death battle with another dog. Though not explicitly stated, it seems likely that Buff's master was some sort of fighter, either that or Terhune had not yet learned to conceal his boxing knowledge.
Terhune in fact makes good use of that knowledge in The Foul Fancier, which is primarily about a boxer. The dog in this story is not so much the hero as the "make plot go" button for the story, which actually centers around the fighter. It also ends on a somewhat unsatisfying note, making me hope that is not the only story about that man and his dog, because I want a more conclusive -ideally happy- ending.
"Something" is a short, peculiar story that never quite finds its footing before it ends, but it is the only decisively unhappy story in the lot, unlike many of the stories in Heart of a Dog or even Lad of Sunnybank (not to be confused with the far better Lad: a Dog). Speaking of the former book, it also has the story, "One Minute Longer," which is a story about Wolf that was not in the book bearing his name. It is not a great story, but it is decent enough, and at least makes good use of the dog as the hero.
Chums is primarily about a boy, the dogs are almost incidental, but it is one of my favorite stories in this collection because it is rather different from so many of Terhune's stories, instead of being a mild rewrite of one I've already read by now (I've read several of his dog centered books at this point). It is also one of the few to center on dogs who are not collies (though it is really centered on the boy). It's a nice, satisfying little story about a boy who leaves home and the dogs he meets up with.
Human-Interest Stuff, which might ought to have been the title of the book, also features a not fully collie collie, making the book, by dint of number of pages mostly about mixed breeds (particularly if you include one of the dogs from The Grudge). It is not terribly interesting, featuring bits of things that seem to have been lifted from several Lad stories that don't really quite resolve into anything really worthwhile. It does have its moments though.
Terhune ends us on some talk about the Sunnybank Collies, primarily Lad. These are snippets not included in any of the three books about Lad, and are worth it for that if you must "collect them all." It is also interesting to read how Terhune spoke of Wolf while the dog lived versus after he died.
Overall, it's a decent read, not great, but the stories are -for the most part- quite different from his usual fare, and so are somewhat interesting from that point of view. He goes on a few of his signature tangents, but does not dwell overlong upon them, and certain parts of almost any given chapter are pretty good.
November 2, 2021
The 100 year-old book that I read was a hardback, not a paperback. And for being 100 years old, the book is in relatively good condition.
From that point, despite the age of the book, I love to read stories about dogs. Admittedly, there are some dogs that I do not like, but Collies - which are the subject of this book have always been a favorite. When I started reading the book, I believed that the entire book was about Buff. The subtitle [And other Dog stories] was not on the cover of the book, nor was it on the first title page.
So I missed that part, and just started reading. The story of Buff was great and I loved it. But I noted that it seemed the story was ending and I was only half way through the book!
Then I made the discovery. The second half of the book was seven short stories about a variety of collies - all good, of course, and I enjoyed each of them. I could easily understand why the television series, LASSIE, was a success. Any middle school or older child or adult would love the stories.
From that point, despite the age of the book, I love to read stories about dogs. Admittedly, there are some dogs that I do not like, but Collies - which are the subject of this book have always been a favorite. When I started reading the book, I believed that the entire book was about Buff. The subtitle [And other Dog stories] was not on the cover of the book, nor was it on the first title page.
So I missed that part, and just started reading. The story of Buff was great and I loved it. But I noted that it seemed the story was ending and I was only half way through the book!
Then I made the discovery. The second half of the book was seven short stories about a variety of collies - all good, of course, and I enjoyed each of them. I could easily understand why the television series, LASSIE, was a success. Any middle school or older child or adult would love the stories.
August 7, 2021
As I would happily re-read this book as well as recommend it to others, it gets 5 stars from me. I learned more about collie (and pit bull) behavior. While it makes me sad and mad when Terhune writes about how people maltreat dogs, I know from my personal experience that sometimes humans are cruel. It helps to also be reminded how warm-hearted, patient, generous and sacrificing humans can be for the dog(s) they love. Even more so, I was moved to tears several times reading how collies would defend and protect the human they loved, even if it cost them their life! What smart, loyal creatures they can be!
I did not realize that the Sunnybank collies really existed. I wish I knew if all the stories were based on life experience but I guess it doesn't really matter. They are heart-moving stories of how dogs often bring out the best in us and how the right person can bring out the best in a dog.
I did not realize that the Sunnybank collies really existed. I wish I knew if all the stories were based on life experience but I guess it doesn't really matter. They are heart-moving stories of how dogs often bring out the best in us and how the right person can bring out the best in a dog.
January 11, 2026
A delightful book of short stories. Wonderful mature vocabulary in this book written in 1921. So much has changed in the interim, but these tales about brave, stalwart collies (and a few mixed breeds) survive the test of time. A young boy is robbed, and rather than go home to face the music, he travels a hundred miles away and lives on his wits with two mutts for a month. Can you imagine that happening today? Some of the stories have sad endings. Albert Payson Terhune still has the ability to make the collies of Sunnybank come alive!
September 9, 2018
Enjoyed the stories, and the hero dogs always come to a good end (no, I'm not marking that as a spoiler. If you're a dog person, you want to know that ahead of time). However, there are a few instances of historical racism, and a few scenes of dog injury and dogs fighting (not dogfighting per se).
September 27, 2022
A collection of dog stories by Terhune, a mix of general fiction and some (probably also fictionalized) anecdotes about his own, famous Sunnybank collies. Stories by a dog lover for dog lovers. This is one of my favorite authors.
December 2, 2021
Dogs are my fav. I liked how it was from dogs point of view.
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November 1, 2024This was a really fun and easy read. The stories were really cool. It made me want an amazing and well-trained dog!
June 16, 2010
I reread this book now and then. It's been part of my life almost as long as I can remember. Straightforward stories about noble dogs and somewhat less noble humans that consistently bring me to tears. I left this book at my parents' home so that they can introduce the next generation to these stories. Maybe it's time I reread it again myself.
December 9, 2012
It was okay, don't know why but I got bored with the stories 3/4's the way through it and quit reading, thus I felt it was worth 3 stars. Not a bad writer, just maybe the stories were a bit predictable to me.
April 6, 2011
More from my dad's book shelf.
August 23, 2013
Read this book for some wonderful dog stories..Do not expect it to be a balanced account - it is written by those who see their Collies as God's gift to mankind
June 6, 2014
This was a wonderful book writing in the 1920's about collies. Loved it!
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews