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The Great Grisby: Two Thousand Years of Exceptional Dogs
Do you love your dog? Then this book is for you.
Inspired by the author’s love affair with her overweight French bulldog Grisby, prepare to discover a pack of the greatest canine personalities ever.
Through many barking tales, not to mention obsessional love, here is a celebration of man’s special bond with dog. Structured like a leisurely stroll in the park, you will meet exceptional dogs in these pages: from ‘Atma’ the name given by philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer to his succession of Standard poodles, to Frida Kahlo’s hairless Mexican dog Xolotl, to Zemire the adored Italian greyhound of Catherine the Great. We meet Picasso’s dachshund Lump; Freud’s chow Yofi; Bill Sikes’s mutt Bull’s Eye in Oliver Twist; and Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s spaniel Flush, whose biography was penned by Virginia Woolf. There are royal dogs, such as Prince Albert’s greyhound Eos, and dogs cherished by authors, like Thomas Hardy’s fox terrier, Wessex; and many many more.
As Brottman ruminates on her relationship with Grisby, she draws support and inspiration from history, art, philosophy and literature. Although the book ranges over different times and places, it reveals that exceptional dogs often share character traits, the most common of which is miraculous loyalty. It also shows how much dogs have to teach us about empathy, happiness, love and what it means to be human. Through quirky anecdotes and personal reflections, with side-trips into psychoanalysis and animal studies, this wonderful book for dog lovers everywhere shows us the many ways in which dog is the mirror of man.
No dog lover will be able to resist.
Inspired by the author’s love affair with her overweight French bulldog Grisby, prepare to discover a pack of the greatest canine personalities ever.
Through many barking tales, not to mention obsessional love, here is a celebration of man’s special bond with dog. Structured like a leisurely stroll in the park, you will meet exceptional dogs in these pages: from ‘Atma’ the name given by philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer to his succession of Standard poodles, to Frida Kahlo’s hairless Mexican dog Xolotl, to Zemire the adored Italian greyhound of Catherine the Great. We meet Picasso’s dachshund Lump; Freud’s chow Yofi; Bill Sikes’s mutt Bull’s Eye in Oliver Twist; and Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s spaniel Flush, whose biography was penned by Virginia Woolf. There are royal dogs, such as Prince Albert’s greyhound Eos, and dogs cherished by authors, like Thomas Hardy’s fox terrier, Wessex; and many many more.
As Brottman ruminates on her relationship with Grisby, she draws support and inspiration from history, art, philosophy and literature. Although the book ranges over different times and places, it reveals that exceptional dogs often share character traits, the most common of which is miraculous loyalty. It also shows how much dogs have to teach us about empathy, happiness, love and what it means to be human. Through quirky anecdotes and personal reflections, with side-trips into psychoanalysis and animal studies, this wonderful book for dog lovers everywhere shows us the many ways in which dog is the mirror of man.
No dog lover will be able to resist.
Hardcover
First published October 7, 2014
20 people are currently reading
483 people want to read
About the author
Mikita Brottman
32 books219 followersMikita Brottman (born 30 October 1966) is a British scholar, psychoanalyst, author and cultural critic known for her psychological readings of the dark and pathological elements of contemporary culture. She received a D.Phil in English Language and Literature from Oxford University, was a Visiting Professor of Comparative Literature at Indiana University, and was Chair of the program in Engaged Humanities with an emphasis in Depth Psychology at the Pacifica Graduate Institute from 2008 to 2010. She currently teaches at the Maryland Institute College of Art. Brottman's articles and case studies have appeared in Film Quarterly, The American Journal of Psychoanalysis, New Literary History, and American Imago. She has written influentially on horror films, critical theory, reading, psychoanalysis, and the work of the American folklorist, Gershon Legman.
Brottman also writes for mainstream and counterculture journals and magazines. Her work has appeared in such diverse venues as The Los Angeles Times, The Huffington Post, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Bad Subjects, The Fortean Times, Headpress, and Popmatters, where her column, "Sub Rosa", ran from January 2007 to July 2009. Her essays have also appeared in a number of books and anthologies.
She is the author of the cult film books Meat is Murder and Hollywood Hex, as well as books on psychoanalysis, critical theory and contemporary popular culture. Her most recent book, The Solitary Vice: Against Reading (Counterpoint, 2008) was selected as one of the Best Books of 2008 by Publishers Weekly, who said: "Sharp, whimsical and impassioned, Brottman's look at the pleasures and perils of compulsive reading is itself compulsively readable and will connect with any book lover."
Brottman's partner is the film critic David Sterritt.
(from Wikipedia)
Brottman also writes for mainstream and counterculture journals and magazines. Her work has appeared in such diverse venues as The Los Angeles Times, The Huffington Post, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Bad Subjects, The Fortean Times, Headpress, and Popmatters, where her column, "Sub Rosa", ran from January 2007 to July 2009. Her essays have also appeared in a number of books and anthologies.
She is the author of the cult film books Meat is Murder and Hollywood Hex, as well as books on psychoanalysis, critical theory and contemporary popular culture. Her most recent book, The Solitary Vice: Against Reading (Counterpoint, 2008) was selected as one of the Best Books of 2008 by Publishers Weekly, who said: "Sharp, whimsical and impassioned, Brottman's look at the pleasures and perils of compulsive reading is itself compulsively readable and will connect with any book lover."
Brottman's partner is the film critic David Sterritt.
(from Wikipedia)
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
March 12, 2017
I absolutely loved this book and as an ardent and unashamed life-long lover of dogs I am not surprised that I did either. Not only does Brottman understand the complex relationships people have with their dogs, she is able to explain it and show it for the beautiful thing that it is. Of course, the fact that she has such a relationship helps but still, she uses many examples from past and present to show that while society may mock the close relationship of pet and owner, it is just as natural as any other we have and not (necessarily) a replacement for supposed 'failures' elsewhere. As a dog lover and one who treats dogs as furry little people (which I have never been ashamed of doing...I often get more sense from a dog!), I love Brottman's take on this relationship and how she shows that everyone, however cynical, can fall foul of doleful dog eyes. If your not a dog person/lover, then this book could prove a useful insight into our world, especially if you know someone who is and just can't get your head around it.
October 14, 2014
Full disclosure: I was chosen a First Reads winner, and received an uncorrected proof of The Great Grisby in the mail. (The book actually just became available about one week ago.) That in no way influenced this review.
If I wanted to write a tribute to my dog, I hope I'd be witty enough to do what Mikita Brottman has done, and incorporate a series of A to Z essays featuring other dogs... with plenty of space for additional thoughts and tales about my own. Brottman's dog, Grisby, is a French bulldog who seems to be a perfect companion and definitely a source of information and observation. Whether the other dogs named in the A to Z stories are real (as in historical) or literary, famous or not, the author has done her research and managed to organize the stories into a sensible collection, complete with notes and a bibliography.
Dog lovers will adore this clever volume, which includes wonderful stories and anecdotes. (I enjoyed reading it, and I'm allergic to dogs!)
If I wanted to write a tribute to my dog, I hope I'd be witty enough to do what Mikita Brottman has done, and incorporate a series of A to Z essays featuring other dogs... with plenty of space for additional thoughts and tales about my own. Brottman's dog, Grisby, is a French bulldog who seems to be a perfect companion and definitely a source of information and observation. Whether the other dogs named in the A to Z stories are real (as in historical) or literary, famous or not, the author has done her research and managed to organize the stories into a sensible collection, complete with notes and a bibliography.
Dog lovers will adore this clever volume, which includes wonderful stories and anecdotes. (I enjoyed reading it, and I'm allergic to dogs!)
August 21, 2014
I am definitely the targeted audience for this blend of essays and tribute to the author’s beloved dog. There are plenty of great lines and quotes here for the dog lover - and they start from nearly the first page, like this great one: “What makes a dog exceptional is his owner. In other words, any dog can be exceptional if he’s loved enough.” Brottman sets up her book as an A-Z of dogs - some more well-known than others. It’s a fascinating and well-written book full of anecdotes, meandering sidetracks and interesting facts that beg to be shared with others. It’s a nice blend of dogs, too, and their breeds (though obviously the French Bulldog lover will relish all of the parts devoted to Grisby). There is a pretty heavy slant though towards the English 19th century dogs, so some readers may be disappointed that there aren’t more current examples in this collection. I think it is a missed opportunity to include some more modern literary dogs considering how much the attitudes towards dogs has changed in recent years.
Each essay though, leaves room for the titular Great Grisby, and Brottman’s love for him is quite evident (though it is funny that she claims not to be a dog-person, but rather a Grisby-person). I am quite sure that this book was just as much fun to research and write as it is to read. I think it makes for a great gift to the literary dog-lover, too! Maybe a follow-up with some more modern examples is in the works!
Each essay though, leaves room for the titular Great Grisby, and Brottman’s love for him is quite evident (though it is funny that she claims not to be a dog-person, but rather a Grisby-person). I am quite sure that this book was just as much fun to research and write as it is to read. I think it makes for a great gift to the literary dog-lover, too! Maybe a follow-up with some more modern examples is in the works!
October 20, 2017
I can’t imagine what it would be like for a person never to have had a dog until well into her fourth decade. But before pitying author Mikita Brottman for this deprivation, please note that once she met the dog love of her life, she not only fell head over paws, but devoted herself to compiling a history of similar love affairs in The Great Grisby. Its eponymous hero, Grisby himself, a 30-something pound fawn piebald French bulldog, romps through the book, joining hundreds of perhaps more illustrious but not better-loved pooches of all breeds and mixes of breeds.
Brottman is a scholarly professor and a psychoanalyst not afraid to address the question dog lovers – or perhaps female dog lovers – dread: Does our love for dogs mean we’re repressed neurotics, unable to form healthy relationships with members of our own species?
Her study, she writes, with scholarly deliberation, has led her not to an answer but to more questions. “Why is a woman’s lover for her lapdogs considered embarrassingly sentimental when men bond so proudly with their well-built hounds?” And: “Married women admit they sleep with their dogs, and married men deny it. . . who’s lying, and why?”
Brottman organizes the 26 chapters of The Great Grisby alphabetically (by dog names, naturally), from misanthropic German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer’s Atma (make that Atmas, because Schopenhauer gave each successive dog the same name) to the Zémire of French poet and intellectual Antoinette du Ligier de la Garde Deshoulières.
This doesn’t mean Brottman writes about only 26 dogs. Each chapter’s namesake dog is a springboard into discussions of similar dogs and their evolution both in conformation and human culture. The uncharacteristic disloyalty of Richard III’s greyhound Mathe inspires not only a history of the greyhound breed, but an exploration of the more common legends of dogs loyal to death to their masters and their alter-egos: man-killing dogs and supernatural dogs of doom.
The chapter entitled “Robber” (for Richard Wagner’s gigantic Newfoundland) becomes an excavation into the composer’s shady ethics and less than savory marital adventures, as well as a celebration of assorted canine musical muses.
I expected even Brottman would be stumped to find a famous dog whose name started with X, but she does – Xolotl, Mexican artist Frida Kahlo’s Mexican hairless (and avatar of the Aztec god of the underworld), a connection that lets Brottman range from the role of dogs as guards and guides of the dead, to serving, literally, as sustenance for the living. And also as the familiar demons of witches and sorcerers.
“I’d like to think of Grisby as my familiar,” Brottman writes, “but opinions are mixed on whether familiars can be pets. . . According to one source, a spirit that appears in the form of a bulldog is always accursed or accusatory, but anyone who believes this nonsense has obviously never met Grisby.” In the end she concludes, “in most cases, a dog is just a dog. Thankfully, Grisby is neither shaman nor guru nor archetype, but himself – my living, snorting companion. That’s magic enough for me.”
Still, Grisby serves as a loveable, undoubtedly doggy mascot for his own book. Written in prose both erudite and sprightly, readers don’t have to be dog lovers to lap up The Great Grisby. But be warned, if you’re not hooked on canines when you start, you may find they’ve stolen your heart before you reach the final page.
And the answer to whether it’s a good thing or a bad thing to be totally besotted with members of the canine persuasion is simply – who cares? Just give us our dogs!
Brottman is a scholarly professor and a psychoanalyst not afraid to address the question dog lovers – or perhaps female dog lovers – dread: Does our love for dogs mean we’re repressed neurotics, unable to form healthy relationships with members of our own species?
Her study, she writes, with scholarly deliberation, has led her not to an answer but to more questions. “Why is a woman’s lover for her lapdogs considered embarrassingly sentimental when men bond so proudly with their well-built hounds?” And: “Married women admit they sleep with their dogs, and married men deny it. . . who’s lying, and why?”
Brottman organizes the 26 chapters of The Great Grisby alphabetically (by dog names, naturally), from misanthropic German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer’s Atma (make that Atmas, because Schopenhauer gave each successive dog the same name) to the Zémire of French poet and intellectual Antoinette du Ligier de la Garde Deshoulières.
This doesn’t mean Brottman writes about only 26 dogs. Each chapter’s namesake dog is a springboard into discussions of similar dogs and their evolution both in conformation and human culture. The uncharacteristic disloyalty of Richard III’s greyhound Mathe inspires not only a history of the greyhound breed, but an exploration of the more common legends of dogs loyal to death to their masters and their alter-egos: man-killing dogs and supernatural dogs of doom.
The chapter entitled “Robber” (for Richard Wagner’s gigantic Newfoundland) becomes an excavation into the composer’s shady ethics and less than savory marital adventures, as well as a celebration of assorted canine musical muses.
I expected even Brottman would be stumped to find a famous dog whose name started with X, but she does – Xolotl, Mexican artist Frida Kahlo’s Mexican hairless (and avatar of the Aztec god of the underworld), a connection that lets Brottman range from the role of dogs as guards and guides of the dead, to serving, literally, as sustenance for the living. And also as the familiar demons of witches and sorcerers.
“I’d like to think of Grisby as my familiar,” Brottman writes, “but opinions are mixed on whether familiars can be pets. . . According to one source, a spirit that appears in the form of a bulldog is always accursed or accusatory, but anyone who believes this nonsense has obviously never met Grisby.” In the end she concludes, “in most cases, a dog is just a dog. Thankfully, Grisby is neither shaman nor guru nor archetype, but himself – my living, snorting companion. That’s magic enough for me.”
Still, Grisby serves as a loveable, undoubtedly doggy mascot for his own book. Written in prose both erudite and sprightly, readers don’t have to be dog lovers to lap up The Great Grisby. But be warned, if you’re not hooked on canines when you start, you may find they’ve stolen your heart before you reach the final page.
And the answer to whether it’s a good thing or a bad thing to be totally besotted with members of the canine persuasion is simply – who cares? Just give us our dogs!
August 25, 2014
I received an uncorrected proof copy of this book from HarperCollins.
The Great Grisby is an ode to man's best friend, unveiled in twenty-six chapters, the A to Z chapters each named for a famous dog. These include both fictional and historical dogs from Prince Albert's greyhound to Elizabeth Barrett Browning's spaniel. Each chapter is a chance for the author to ponder her own, but also human's relationship, with dogs.
Despite their importance in our everyday life, the dogs of well-known individuals are often overlooked by history. For example, despite reading several biographies about Queen Victoria's husband Albert, I never knew that he had a beloved greyhound named Eos, so beloved that the queen commissioned several portraits featuring the dog. I also never knew that George Washington had coonhounds named "Drunkard, Taster, Tipler, and Tipsy; he also had American staghounds named Sweetlips and Scentwell" (76-77). I was surprised to learn that it was a "commonplace racket in Victorian London" to steal dogs in order to force their owners to ransom them back (50).
At times, I felt like Brottman's analysis of dog's significance went a bit too far. For example, concerning David Copperfield, she argues that "by breaking all the rules, Jip is a living embodiment of Dora's unruly id. The dog enacts everything Dora strives to repress" (86). Brottman also breaks down pet owner's propensity to animate their dogs; "to speak in the voice of your dog is to engage in an act of self-deceiving ventriloquism, allowing you to be at the same time both beloved child and adoring parent. In this voice, you can buffer complaints, elicit apologies, confess wrongdoings, and mediate outlawed or forbidden impulses" (61). I don't necessarily disagree with her assertions, however, I felt her book was stronger when it relied more on historical examples than delving into deep significance to explain further what we know - people love their dogs.
There was something very about poignant reading this book, while sitting beside my own dog, because there is something inexplicable and ferocious about our relationship with our pets. "We keep our dogs to the very end, she observes, even when they are 'mange-ridden, scabbed with eczema, half-paralyzed, cataracts in both eyes - not to mention that dreadful old dog smell.' [...] Dogs adore us steadily and without change until the end, which makes it easy to love them back the same way" (190). And yet, no dog compares to your own dog, as each dog owner is secretly sure "in the knowledge that our own dog is unquestionably superior" (207).
The Great Grisby is an ode to man's best friend, unveiled in twenty-six chapters, the A to Z chapters each named for a famous dog. These include both fictional and historical dogs from Prince Albert's greyhound to Elizabeth Barrett Browning's spaniel. Each chapter is a chance for the author to ponder her own, but also human's relationship, with dogs.
Despite their importance in our everyday life, the dogs of well-known individuals are often overlooked by history. For example, despite reading several biographies about Queen Victoria's husband Albert, I never knew that he had a beloved greyhound named Eos, so beloved that the queen commissioned several portraits featuring the dog. I also never knew that George Washington had coonhounds named "Drunkard, Taster, Tipler, and Tipsy; he also had American staghounds named Sweetlips and Scentwell" (76-77). I was surprised to learn that it was a "commonplace racket in Victorian London" to steal dogs in order to force their owners to ransom them back (50).
At times, I felt like Brottman's analysis of dog's significance went a bit too far. For example, concerning David Copperfield, she argues that "by breaking all the rules, Jip is a living embodiment of Dora's unruly id. The dog enacts everything Dora strives to repress" (86). Brottman also breaks down pet owner's propensity to animate their dogs; "to speak in the voice of your dog is to engage in an act of self-deceiving ventriloquism, allowing you to be at the same time both beloved child and adoring parent. In this voice, you can buffer complaints, elicit apologies, confess wrongdoings, and mediate outlawed or forbidden impulses" (61). I don't necessarily disagree with her assertions, however, I felt her book was stronger when it relied more on historical examples than delving into deep significance to explain further what we know - people love their dogs.
There was something very about poignant reading this book, while sitting beside my own dog, because there is something inexplicable and ferocious about our relationship with our pets. "We keep our dogs to the very end, she observes, even when they are 'mange-ridden, scabbed with eczema, half-paralyzed, cataracts in both eyes - not to mention that dreadful old dog smell.' [...] Dogs adore us steadily and without change until the end, which makes it easy to love them back the same way" (190). And yet, no dog compares to your own dog, as each dog owner is secretly sure "in the knowledge that our own dog is unquestionably superior" (207).
September 28, 2014
It can definitely come across as self-indulgent and distinctly non-literary to write a book about your dog, but Mikita Brottman deftly avoids this problem by instead writing a series of essays about alphabetized literary dogs, worming her own dog into the story into the process. It could have easily turned out badly, but I was honestly surprised by how well this turned out and by how much I enjoyed this book. I do think you probably have to be a dog lover to enjoy it, but if you are, then you'll be happy to read about the 26 famous dogs in this collection, along with Mikita Brottman's own Grisby (may he rest in peace).
FYI - got this book as a Goodreads Giveaway
FYI - got this book as a Goodreads Giveaway
March 3, 2016
This was a very well done and extremely interesting read! It concerned dog owners throughout history. It was wonderful to see how much in common we have with many well known people through the ages in regards to the love and treatments of our beloved dogs. The author also added many things about her own dog and her love for him which was so heartwarming. I was especially impressed with how much research went into this terrific book.
November 10, 2014
This is one of the best dog books I've read in a long time. I love the author's take on the relationship between a dog and it's owner is so original. I loved reading about all the different famous dogs as well. The book was also full of numerous books and stories about dogs which I am excited to read as well.
March 19, 2014
A review of this book will be posted closer to the release date.
May 15, 2016
I’m pretty sure the original subtitle to this book was “Sick sh!t people have done to loyal companions in literature and life—oh and here are some cute anecdotes about the author’s dog.”
January 18, 2015
As a devoted dog lover myself, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and the stories about dogs throughout history, literature and art.
August 18, 2016
Literate, literary, thoughtful, entertaining.
March 9, 2020
I love reading anything by Mikita Brottman, and also I am crazy about dogs, so I was thrilled to buy this thoughtful, revealing book. While Brottman says she got her first dog at about 40, I was luckily born into a dog-loving family, in 1941, and have NEVER been without a dog except for a few years in NYC when I contented myself with a cat. Most of my dogs have been found, by me, and I have two now, to whom I read aloud partial pages at night, because they like my voice. I put their names in place of actual names in writing. There are 16 chapters in this book, each about a dog she found in art, literature, history. I loved the chapter about Alexander the Great's dog... Peritas. Each chapter also includes Grisby...Brottman's wonderful little chubby active armful of French Bulldog. She loved him to pieces, and I got to meet him at a reading one time. IF YOU LOVE DOGS YOU MUST READ THIS BOOK. There is so much reality in it. It is so wonderful to read about dogs from even a thousand plus years ago who were loved. We are lucky as humans to have them.
November 25, 2017
A beautiful combo here to enjoy the weekend after Thanksgiving. I Love books, essays, dogs and famous folk gossip about their dogs. What is not to love here and I didn't even mnd the bits where the author threw in stuff about his dog. I LOVE Canine books.
August 14, 2021
Really enjoyed the history, but could've down without the author's rhapsodic fawning over their French bulldog. Well-researched and easily read.
May 6, 2020
Full Discloser: I hate books like this, so I’m probably not the right person to review a short story/information type book... but I can usually make it farther then three chapters... and I simply couldn’t bother myself to read anymore.
If short stories with in-depth information and flowery language for its own sake is your thing, go for it!
If short stories with in-depth information and flowery language for its own sake is your thing, go for it!
September 15, 2014
Posted first to Blog Critics as Book Review:'The Great Grisby' by Makita Brottman.
Dogs have been noble companions to both the rich and the poor. One of the characteristics that make them so popular is the loyalty and love they shower on the owner. Because of the power of such devotion, many consider their animal much as they would their children. The devotion goes in both directions, often in ways that may seem strange to those who have never had a pet, or that have not connected in such a way.
In The Great Grisby by Mikita Brottman, we follow the history of such bold tales of the love of these creatures, from kings and princes, to artists and philosophers. Women as well as men tell the tales of love and throughout the telling we are also given snippets of the author about her own companion, Grisby. There is an amazing array of information, much taken from journals and even news of the day. The feelings are jettisons around the globe through letters between friends and family, all extoling the virtues and care of their companion.
While each story is different to the other, there is the over lying dependence on these creatures for that devotions often lacking elsewhere in their lives, or in some cases just and addition of devotion. When the animals age and pass one, there is such a tragedy of feeling, and when the grief has passed and with the addition of a new dog, in many cases this animal may actually be names exactly the same as the deceased.
You will find many of the antics and stories somewhat odd and even occasionally over the top, and yet if you know any dog lovers you already know that there is a special bond, that is shared between the pet and their owner. Often tongue in cheek, the author gives us glimpses into her own feelings, and we find ourselves wondering what Grisby is up to as we follow the history of dogdom through the ages.
If you love animals and are an aficionado of dogs this is a wonder look at the trials and tribulations of those in the past as they come to terms with the differing personalities of the pets they call their own.
The antics and the treatment seem sometimes over the top, and to an unwary dog fan you may mutter a few ewes. The true dog person does not find any of the situations that you read about as out of the ordinary, and yet I believe there are certainly degrees of dog people. There is a spectrum of behaviors from both the animal as well as their owner. You will find yourself interested in the differing patterns and attitudes that become oddly entertaining on closer inspection.
If you enjoy history and animals you will find this to be an unusual treat. This would be a great book for a discussion group, giving rise to questions and answers, as well as antidotes from those in the know of how the animal is often the real owner and not vice versa.
Dogs have been noble companions to both the rich and the poor. One of the characteristics that make them so popular is the loyalty and love they shower on the owner. Because of the power of such devotion, many consider their animal much as they would their children. The devotion goes in both directions, often in ways that may seem strange to those who have never had a pet, or that have not connected in such a way.
In The Great Grisby by Mikita Brottman, we follow the history of such bold tales of the love of these creatures, from kings and princes, to artists and philosophers. Women as well as men tell the tales of love and throughout the telling we are also given snippets of the author about her own companion, Grisby. There is an amazing array of information, much taken from journals and even news of the day. The feelings are jettisons around the globe through letters between friends and family, all extoling the virtues and care of their companion.
While each story is different to the other, there is the over lying dependence on these creatures for that devotions often lacking elsewhere in their lives, or in some cases just and addition of devotion. When the animals age and pass one, there is such a tragedy of feeling, and when the grief has passed and with the addition of a new dog, in many cases this animal may actually be names exactly the same as the deceased.
You will find many of the antics and stories somewhat odd and even occasionally over the top, and yet if you know any dog lovers you already know that there is a special bond, that is shared between the pet and their owner. Often tongue in cheek, the author gives us glimpses into her own feelings, and we find ourselves wondering what Grisby is up to as we follow the history of dogdom through the ages.
If you love animals and are an aficionado of dogs this is a wonder look at the trials and tribulations of those in the past as they come to terms with the differing personalities of the pets they call their own.
The antics and the treatment seem sometimes over the top, and to an unwary dog fan you may mutter a few ewes. The true dog person does not find any of the situations that you read about as out of the ordinary, and yet I believe there are certainly degrees of dog people. There is a spectrum of behaviors from both the animal as well as their owner. You will find yourself interested in the differing patterns and attitudes that become oddly entertaining on closer inspection.
If you enjoy history and animals you will find this to be an unusual treat. This would be a great book for a discussion group, giving rise to questions and answers, as well as antidotes from those in the know of how the animal is often the real owner and not vice versa.
July 26, 2024
If you knew how fascinated I am by dogs and the people who love them! This book was full of fun information about famous folks and their dogs. Tied in with literature, music, and art I even looked up many of the cited art works just to see the famous folks and their dogs. Both of my most recent beloved pets included- the English Mastiff and The Mexican Hairless- though mine was known as a Chinese Crested Hairless. Mikita Brottman owns a French Bulldog and to her he is the most wonderful creature in the world. Dog lovers will enjoy this book.
April 30, 2015
I'm so glad to find out I'm not the only one with a French Bulldog that laughs! I thought we were crazy. I found myself relating so many experiences the author relates to our own little Bully, Ember. Love how all the history was seamlessly woven into the life of little Grisby. I was so sad to learn he passed away but he was beloved for sure.
September 2, 2014
As a source of bountiful facts and keen observations on the unique human-dog relationship, The Great Grisby is a must read book for all dog owners. See my full review at: http://myshelf.com/miscellaneous/13/g...
June 7, 2014
As I read this book about Grisby and his owner and famous dog-owners and their dogs throughout history, I kept thinking how enjoyable it must have been to research this book.
September 28, 2014
Review can be found on my blog at www.the-family-french.webs.com Thank you for reading!
October 30, 2014
What a great book. I received this via Goodreads and as a dog lover I enjoyed it from start to finish. Well researched and written in an engaging manner.
November 16, 2014
I won this book through a Goodreads giveaway and thoroughly enjoyed it.
A great read for any dog lover.
A great read for any dog lover.
May 12, 2015
It was neat, fun, educational and interesting! Cannot ask for much more than that.
May 13, 2020
Re-read April 2020
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews