What do you think?
Rate this book
The Dogs Who Found Me: What I've Learned From Pets Who Were Left Behind
Disaster-prone writer and reluctant dog rescuer Ken Foster finds himself adopting an ever-growing collection of stray dogs, from a beagle abandoned in a New York City dog run to a pit bull in a Mississippi truck stop. Their circumstances offer a grounding counterpoint to his own misfortunes: the shock of New York City after 9/11, the evacuation of New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina, and the day his heart nearly stopped for good.
194 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 2006
38 people are currently reading
4671 people want to read
About the author
Ken Foster
35 books96 followersKen Foster is the author of a memoir, The Dogs Who Found Me, which was a national bestseller. His collection of short stories, The Kind I'm Likely to Get, was a New York Times Notable Book. He is also the author of Dogs I Have Met, a collection of essays, and the editor of two anthologies, The KGB Bar Reader and Dog Culture. His work has been translated into German, Turkish and Arabic, and has appeared in The New York Times, Bark, Fence, The Village Voice, Newsday, Salon, and other publications. He lives in New Orleans.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 266 reviews
January 5, 2008
I admit, this is not the literary accomplishment of the ages (thus the four stars), but it's near and dear to my heart. Last March (2007) I found a dog roaming outside around my house, and he had clearly been on the road for days. Long story short, I sent him to the pound, rescued him from the pound when no one came for him, nursed him back from a number of illnesses and diseases he had, and he lived in my garage for almost five months (my own dogs weren't exactly being nice to him, so the garage thing was for his own good) while I tried to find him a home. Anywho, during the beginning of this odyssey, I found this book in a Barnes and Noble in Alexandria, Virgina and - most likely as an attempt to justify my one-woman dog rescue and rehabilitation program - I bought it. It's a really touching story of a guy who ended up in NYC during 9/11 and moved down to New Orleans (just in time for Katrina) and rescuses, finds homes for, and keeps some of the pups - mostly Pits - along the way. I'm not a big fan of emotional dog books that make me cry (Marley and Me, for example), but this one - despite a few tears - is inspirational and did capture what I felt about Smarty (who now has an excellent home - and is still named Smarty!)
The paragraph I would read to anyone who questioned my insane decision to keep this high-maintenance dog and that got me through it in some sense, can be found on page 26: "There's a strange intimacy between a lost animal and the person who finds him. In terms of time, what you've shared is tiny and insignificant, but that moment is a vital pivot in the animal's life, the line between his old life, and a better, new one. In some cases, that fine line is the one between life and death. It's easy to get cheesy and sentimental about it, and the truth is that what transpires in that moment of finding a lost dog is really not that compelling. The person who saves a dog is not saving the world - so it is remarkable that more people don't make the effort. But the people with the longest list of reasons why they can't help - they are too busy, there are too many other causes that are more important than some animal - aren't really likely to appear on the volunteer lists of any charitable organization. It's not just the dogs they are too busy for."
The paragraph I would read to anyone who questioned my insane decision to keep this high-maintenance dog and that got me through it in some sense, can be found on page 26: "There's a strange intimacy between a lost animal and the person who finds him. In terms of time, what you've shared is tiny and insignificant, but that moment is a vital pivot in the animal's life, the line between his old life, and a better, new one. In some cases, that fine line is the one between life and death. It's easy to get cheesy and sentimental about it, and the truth is that what transpires in that moment of finding a lost dog is really not that compelling. The person who saves a dog is not saving the world - so it is remarkable that more people don't make the effort. But the people with the longest list of reasons why they can't help - they are too busy, there are too many other causes that are more important than some animal - aren't really likely to appear on the volunteer lists of any charitable organization. It's not just the dogs they are too busy for."
July 25, 2012
This book was not what I expected. The chapters read more like a personal journal than a book - and it's not especially an uplifting book. The best thing about this book, in my view, is Foster's ability to describe our reluctance to help animals that clearly are starving before our eyes. He articulates his and others' fear and selfishness in a way that is realistic, albeit painful.
The writing is honest and not sappy-sentimental. But it's hard to follow sometimes, as Foster frequently seemed to leave out critical details - location, transition to a new location, people present, people no longer present - in a scene. A little maddening.
On the up side: the author delivers in the book exactly what the title indicates - it's about what he learned by interacting with neglected and homeless animals. On the down side: the author's self-described feelings of helplessness and anxiety, especially early in the book, left me very frustrated and several times I had to put the book down.
Foster expresses anxiety over things that, to me, seem like simple decisions: Yes, you should take the dog in; no, do not wait until tomorrow. Yes, you should help your friend's dog that's being punched in the face by a strange woman and is clearly in emotional distress; no, do not wait until she leaves the dog park and then complain about her to other silent witnesses. No, you should NOT give the starving, lost puppies back to their neglectful owner, etc, etc. Argh!
The stories are more sad than happy, but again this is the author's tone in the telling.
The back of the book has some excellent resources for people who live in the dog world, including web sites on training, quality dog foods and snacks, and sites devoted to pit bull rescue and providing reliable info about the breed.
The writing is honest and not sappy-sentimental. But it's hard to follow sometimes, as Foster frequently seemed to leave out critical details - location, transition to a new location, people present, people no longer present - in a scene. A little maddening.
On the up side: the author delivers in the book exactly what the title indicates - it's about what he learned by interacting with neglected and homeless animals. On the down side: the author's self-described feelings of helplessness and anxiety, especially early in the book, left me very frustrated and several times I had to put the book down.
Foster expresses anxiety over things that, to me, seem like simple decisions: Yes, you should take the dog in; no, do not wait until tomorrow. Yes, you should help your friend's dog that's being punched in the face by a strange woman and is clearly in emotional distress; no, do not wait until she leaves the dog park and then complain about her to other silent witnesses. No, you should NOT give the starving, lost puppies back to their neglectful owner, etc, etc. Argh!
The stories are more sad than happy, but again this is the author's tone in the telling.
The back of the book has some excellent resources for people who live in the dog world, including web sites on training, quality dog foods and snacks, and sites devoted to pit bull rescue and providing reliable info about the breed.
December 8, 2014
how easy was this book for me to read? essays about how dogs change our lives -- i'm all over it! foster writes about his dogs Brando, Zephyr and Sula with compassion and honesty. each of them has his/her own unique story of how they came to be in foster's home and heart. it reminds me of my many mutts that we've rescued and loved over the years. now that my dogs are getting older, it made me remember each of their rescue stories with fondness. it seems as if my dogs have always been in my life - even when they began their lives with someone else. eager to read more of his essays.
January 25, 2013
Tells the story of dog rescuer Ken Foster from 9/11 to Hurricane Katrina in both a practical and a personal way. Low on sentiment and - remarkably, given some of the segments - anger. High on responsibility and love for dogs. Would have liked pictures of those he's rescued and his own dogs.
March 3, 2021
Joyfully told stories with lotsa good advice on dogs (choosing, care, emergency situations, with a list of helpful associations and internet sites at the end, and much more.). The man loves animals, especially dogs. Narrated lovingly and clearly by Patrick Lawlor.
September 9, 2011
Ken Foster is a somewhat disaster-prone writer and academic who didn't set out to do dog rescue. After he adopted his own dog, Brando, though, it was just a matter of time. He loves dogs, especially pit bulls, and can't ignore the stray or abandoned dogs he's now seeing as he moves around New York City with Brando. At first he's just making sure someone (else) takes home dogs abandoned at the dog park. Then he's calling his friends in dog rescue to find foster homes.
Then he starts taking in dogs himself. Even if he has to cut across traffic and, once, nearly hit a pedestrian, to do it.
He and Brando (a Great Dane mix) survive 9/11, but are driven out by increasingly restrictive dog laws and enforcement that goes after easy and obvious minor violations, targeting mostly responsible dog owners, rather than pursuing dog fighters or other real cruelty violations. They move to Florida, and eventually New Orleans. By the time they reach New Orleans, they are a household of four; Ken has adopted first Zephyr, and then Sula--both pit bulls.
They're in New Orleans when Katrina targets the city, and evacuate to a friend's house outside the city. Then they need to evacuate from there, after the storm, when conditions are so bad as to be basically unlivable.
It’s Zephyr, one of his pit bulls, who first identifies the heart problem that nearly kills him. (I did mention “disaster-prone”, right?)
Through all of this, Ken keeps rescuing dogs--a border collie in a shopping district while he's on vacation, a pit bull by the highway on his way home to Florida from a visit to New Orleans, a corgi in his still mostly abandoned neighborhood in New Orleans when he returns there after Katrina. Ken tells his story and theirs in a gentle, sometimes self-mocking way, and makes every single dog memorable.
Highly recommended.
Then he starts taking in dogs himself. Even if he has to cut across traffic and, once, nearly hit a pedestrian, to do it.
He and Brando (a Great Dane mix) survive 9/11, but are driven out by increasingly restrictive dog laws and enforcement that goes after easy and obvious minor violations, targeting mostly responsible dog owners, rather than pursuing dog fighters or other real cruelty violations. They move to Florida, and eventually New Orleans. By the time they reach New Orleans, they are a household of four; Ken has adopted first Zephyr, and then Sula--both pit bulls.
They're in New Orleans when Katrina targets the city, and evacuate to a friend's house outside the city. Then they need to evacuate from there, after the storm, when conditions are so bad as to be basically unlivable.
It’s Zephyr, one of his pit bulls, who first identifies the heart problem that nearly kills him. (I did mention “disaster-prone”, right?)
Through all of this, Ken keeps rescuing dogs--a border collie in a shopping district while he's on vacation, a pit bull by the highway on his way home to Florida from a visit to New Orleans, a corgi in his still mostly abandoned neighborhood in New Orleans when he returns there after Katrina. Ken tells his story and theirs in a gentle, sometimes self-mocking way, and makes every single dog memorable.
Highly recommended.
June 14, 2010
Ken Foster writes about dogs he has found and those who have found him. Each chapter is a story about an individual dog as well as lists related to dogs. I inherently liked this book due to his focus which is rescue. I have worked in rescue as well as fostered dogs and cats myself. I continue to volunteer in this area but no longer foster. It takes a special person to do this type of work and Ken Foster is definitely that good hearted kind of person. He talks about seeing strays where other people do not notice them. He says it is because they don't want to take responsibility. I see dogs (not dead people) as well on the side of the road and have stopped more than once.
There were parts of this book that made me cringe because I disagreed with things Ken had done or other people had done. But that is why I loved this book. Nobody in rescue does things the same way. And there are lots of disagreements about what "the right way" is. I was happy Ken is out there doing what he believes in. Many people, those who don't see the strays, might talk about the sad state of stray dogs and cats but will never stop to do anything.
I think this book will mainly resonate with those who have done rescue but everyone whould read it and know what it is like for an animal to be left and abandoned by those he/she loves.
There were parts of this book that made me cringe because I disagreed with things Ken had done or other people had done. But that is why I loved this book. Nobody in rescue does things the same way. And there are lots of disagreements about what "the right way" is. I was happy Ken is out there doing what he believes in. Many people, those who don't see the strays, might talk about the sad state of stray dogs and cats but will never stop to do anything.
I think this book will mainly resonate with those who have done rescue but everyone whould read it and know what it is like for an animal to be left and abandoned by those he/she loves.
December 10, 2011
It is proving very difficult for me to review this book. I purchased it in March 2006 when our bookstore reopened post-Katrina, but then I let it sit on my shelf for five and a half years because I wasn't sure I was ready to read it. Sure enough, even now, the chapter about the storm hit me hard. (He mentions a man and woman evacuating in two separate vehicles with dogs and birds. I met them while evacuating, too, and that memory hit me vividly when I read that part.)
So, the end of the book was very emotional for me and is clouding my ability to write a coherent review.
But. It's a good book, especially if you're a dog lover. Maybe even if you're not a dog lover. It's not a typical "dog book." It is, as the subtitle says, a book about the things Ken Foster has learned along the way. It is about his journey from not-really-a-dog-person to being the kind of person who evacuates for a hurricane with dog food but no personal documents.
The story is bookended by 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina, but it's also not a book about either of those events. It's a book about a man and his (sometimes complicated) relationships with the dogs who come in and out of his life. It is by turns funny, sad, heart-warming, and even brutal. Foster's writing style may not be for everyone, but it felt very real to me.
So, the end of the book was very emotional for me and is clouding my ability to write a coherent review.
But. It's a good book, especially if you're a dog lover. Maybe even if you're not a dog lover. It's not a typical "dog book." It is, as the subtitle says, a book about the things Ken Foster has learned along the way. It is about his journey from not-really-a-dog-person to being the kind of person who evacuates for a hurricane with dog food but no personal documents.
The story is bookended by 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina, but it's also not a book about either of those events. It's a book about a man and his (sometimes complicated) relationships with the dogs who come in and out of his life. It is by turns funny, sad, heart-warming, and even brutal. Foster's writing style may not be for everyone, but it felt very real to me.
December 15, 2015
If you're looking for a heart warming, feel good book (similar to something like Chicken Soup for the Dog Lovers Soul), this book is not it. I found the writing to be very unemotional, and while the author talks about several dogs he found, he seems to have no connection to them. I fall in love with every dog I meet so I cannot relate to the indifferent and apathetic approach to both the dogs he owns and the ones he finds.
I also found the tone to be arrogant and patronizing. For example, he scolds owners who's dogs get out of the yard and suggests that they are unfit pet parents. He then almost immediately discusses how he encountered times when he couldn't afford to feed his three dogs and that one of his dogs was an escape artist and got out regularly. I found him to be critical of everyone but himself.
But more importantly, I wasn't looking for any criticism at all! I was looking for a story of growth and love, and I'm really disappointed that this book included none of this. I would not recommend this book.
I also found the tone to be arrogant and patronizing. For example, he scolds owners who's dogs get out of the yard and suggests that they are unfit pet parents. He then almost immediately discusses how he encountered times when he couldn't afford to feed his three dogs and that one of his dogs was an escape artist and got out regularly. I found him to be critical of everyone but himself.
But more importantly, I wasn't looking for any criticism at all! I was looking for a story of growth and love, and I'm really disappointed that this book included none of this. I would not recommend this book.
October 25, 2011
I'm blazing through it and loving it so far. I'm about 75 pages into it but just had to put it down and compose myself as two sentences made tears spring into my eyes and drove me here to make a note. To quote : "When you let animals into your life, even as a foster parent, you are making a promise that you will take care of them for as long as it takes, until they find a home of their own. When they finally do leave, there's a part of them that stays with you and a part of you with them." I've fostered 20+ kittens in my time as an animal foster mom and what the author said is so true. That second sentence made me miss my sweet foster kitten, Zorro. He was my favorite and sometimes I just miss him so terribly. I'm sure he's happy and healthy in his forever home, wherever that is, but there will always be a little Zorro-shaped hole in my life.
December 30, 2009
I wasn't completely sold on this book, as Foster has a particular way of writing that's a bit off-putting to me. He seems somewhat gruff and uncaring - almost detached - when he talks about some of the animals he's met. But, throughout the story, you realize that he really does care about these animals. It's just something about his attitude (frustration, maybe?) that comes through in his writing style. I kept wondering, "how does this guy actually care about animals?" Though, just because he doesn't have a sappy, mushy writing style, doesn't mean he hasn't cared about every animal he's come in contact with.
dnf
September 7, 2016This book made me angry. The author is soooo superior the entire time (or at least the first half that I read), looking down openly on those that can't make animal rescue their entire lives. He writes like he is God's gift to dogs, but then suddenly about halfway through the book he talks about PUTTING DOWN A DOG BECAUSE IT GOT INTO A FIGHT WITH HIS DOG. What the actual fuck. He goes so far as to say that that particular pit bull was "not the dog he deserved." You, sir, are gross and disgusting. You want to save animals but only if they don't have any problems.
I had to get this book out of my life.
I had to get this book out of my life.
December 3, 2009
Cute book. I really liked it, but it's one that only true dog lovers will appreciate. Foster's writing was a bit amateur-ish, but the simplicity made it an easy read. What I loved about the book was the comfort in knowing there are people who go above and beyond to help animals. Foster is like any typical dog lover. Once you have one dog who shows you unconditional love and wags his tail every time you walk in the room, you're hooked.
September 16, 2007
Even though I'm a cat lover, it restored me emotionally to read stories of one man's love letters to his dogs.
January 16, 2016
Interesting Dog lovers book. Dogs just seem to know this is the one to get a home or help. Some stories are sad and some silly but all are good.
January 21, 2017
This book has helped me a lot with dealing with my current foster dog and giving her up. Ken has good stories and really good tips on finding dogs and other rescue related stuff.
January 30, 2021
“Dogs are like tattoos…”
The very first page perfectly explains the emotional impact dogs leave on their owners in the too short of a life they have. For the ones who stay with us for years or just a few days, they teach us humans new things about ourselves.
Ken Foster tells personalized stories as he commits such selfless acts in an attempt to make sure every dog experiences a good life, no matter the circumstances. It can be quite embarrassing at times but his compassion and patience for dogs is rather admirable.
This book hit so close to home for someone whose dog found our home. Skippy showed up at our doorstep on Thanksgiving of 2004 and he ended up never leaving. Skippy was only a few months old and the most precious mutt you would have ever seen. We all fell in love immediately, although my dad would never admit to it. He became my best friend and we watched each other grow up together. However, I saw his youth wear away much quicker than mine and eventually see the last of his energy that made him so unique deteriorate all together. In July of 2020, his old age got the best of him and it was time for us to let him go. It was the hardest goodbye I had ever given. After almost 16 years, our house was empty of joy and comfort that was always present with him.
I read this book back in 2012 and re-read it again this year. After losing such a close friend, these stories feel much more intense than they did back then. What I wouldn’t give to have Skippy back and feel the same solace Foster does with Brudos, Zephry or Sula. These loyal creatures only share a brief moment of time here on earth with us, appreciate it for all that it is worth.
The very first page perfectly explains the emotional impact dogs leave on their owners in the too short of a life they have. For the ones who stay with us for years or just a few days, they teach us humans new things about ourselves.
Ken Foster tells personalized stories as he commits such selfless acts in an attempt to make sure every dog experiences a good life, no matter the circumstances. It can be quite embarrassing at times but his compassion and patience for dogs is rather admirable.
This book hit so close to home for someone whose dog found our home. Skippy showed up at our doorstep on Thanksgiving of 2004 and he ended up never leaving. Skippy was only a few months old and the most precious mutt you would have ever seen. We all fell in love immediately, although my dad would never admit to it. He became my best friend and we watched each other grow up together. However, I saw his youth wear away much quicker than mine and eventually see the last of his energy that made him so unique deteriorate all together. In July of 2020, his old age got the best of him and it was time for us to let him go. It was the hardest goodbye I had ever given. After almost 16 years, our house was empty of joy and comfort that was always present with him.
I read this book back in 2012 and re-read it again this year. After losing such a close friend, these stories feel much more intense than they did back then. What I wouldn’t give to have Skippy back and feel the same solace Foster does with Brudos, Zephry or Sula. These loyal creatures only share a brief moment of time here on earth with us, appreciate it for all that it is worth.
May 15, 2011
http://iwriteinbooks.wordpress.com/20...
“It is true that pit bulls grab and hold on. But what they most often grab and refuse to let go of is your heart, not your arm.”
Vickie Hearne
When Ken Foster was growing up, he encountered dogs but didn’t hold them (literally) as dear as he does, as an adult. Perhaps that’s because, back then, he didn’t carry the aura he does now. Seemingly everywhere he goes, there is a dog peaking around a corner, walking across a busy intersection or just generally in the wrong place at the right time, waiting to be rescued.
His collection of stories in The Dogs Who Found Me is an emotional whopper for dog lovers. Now, I think that’s true but then, I can only speak as someone with two shelter dogs and a dog that we steered clear of heading to the death chambers at Fulton County. For those who have pure bred or store-bought dogs, this might not hit as close to home. However, for me, it was so clued in to how my dogs have ended up in my life that I couldn’t help laughing, crying and reminiscing through the whole thing.
Foster’s prose isn’t what I’d call eloquent but it’s about the level of trotting around that I have come to expect from “dog writers”. For some reason, I think that this should be different as I connect complete passion with both writers and dogs. Together, that means that dog books and dog articles should be overflowing with flowery and amazing verbiage. I know that this isn’t true after reading myriad examples of dog stories, long and short. Who knows why it’s the case but it just is and something, I suppose, I have just learned to accept.
Acceptance is key, though, because once past the average word choice, the stories are simply to die for. Ken has a way of relating to the average dog experience though, brusquely tearing through 9/11, heart surgery and Katrina. Each disaster, personal or global, is both a major catastrophe and a literal walk in the park, according to Foster, simply because of his connection to his dogs.
I highly recommend this to all “dog people”. I’m also contemplating buying it as gifts for those people in my life who simply never seem to “get” my (or my husband or son’s) connection to dogs when they’re up or down and out.
One of the random perks of the book is a little frivolous but I think it’s worth noting. In the back, Foster lists a huge collection of links and addresses for shelters and organizations, in real life and on the web that helped him and can help others. Really, do check this out! Here are some of the links but see the book for more:
Animal Farm Foundation
Animal Rescue New Orleans
Bad Rap
Best Friends
Pit Bull Rescue Central
Sit Stay Dog Rescue Directory
The Louisiana SPCA
The Unexpected Pit Bull
(Also, this is a bit of a spoiler, post book, but he has set up a foundation for one of his beloved dogs and the site is worth checking out: http://www.sulafoundation.org/)
“It is true that pit bulls grab and hold on. But what they most often grab and refuse to let go of is your heart, not your arm.”
Vickie Hearne
When Ken Foster was growing up, he encountered dogs but didn’t hold them (literally) as dear as he does, as an adult. Perhaps that’s because, back then, he didn’t carry the aura he does now. Seemingly everywhere he goes, there is a dog peaking around a corner, walking across a busy intersection or just generally in the wrong place at the right time, waiting to be rescued.
His collection of stories in The Dogs Who Found Me is an emotional whopper for dog lovers. Now, I think that’s true but then, I can only speak as someone with two shelter dogs and a dog that we steered clear of heading to the death chambers at Fulton County. For those who have pure bred or store-bought dogs, this might not hit as close to home. However, for me, it was so clued in to how my dogs have ended up in my life that I couldn’t help laughing, crying and reminiscing through the whole thing.
Foster’s prose isn’t what I’d call eloquent but it’s about the level of trotting around that I have come to expect from “dog writers”. For some reason, I think that this should be different as I connect complete passion with both writers and dogs. Together, that means that dog books and dog articles should be overflowing with flowery and amazing verbiage. I know that this isn’t true after reading myriad examples of dog stories, long and short. Who knows why it’s the case but it just is and something, I suppose, I have just learned to accept.
Acceptance is key, though, because once past the average word choice, the stories are simply to die for. Ken has a way of relating to the average dog experience though, brusquely tearing through 9/11, heart surgery and Katrina. Each disaster, personal or global, is both a major catastrophe and a literal walk in the park, according to Foster, simply because of his connection to his dogs.
I highly recommend this to all “dog people”. I’m also contemplating buying it as gifts for those people in my life who simply never seem to “get” my (or my husband or son’s) connection to dogs when they’re up or down and out.
One of the random perks of the book is a little frivolous but I think it’s worth noting. In the back, Foster lists a huge collection of links and addresses for shelters and organizations, in real life and on the web that helped him and can help others. Really, do check this out! Here are some of the links but see the book for more:
Animal Farm Foundation
Animal Rescue New Orleans
Bad Rap
Best Friends
Pit Bull Rescue Central
Sit Stay Dog Rescue Directory
The Louisiana SPCA
The Unexpected Pit Bull
(Also, this is a bit of a spoiler, post book, but he has set up a foundation for one of his beloved dogs and the site is worth checking out: http://www.sulafoundation.org/)
August 13, 2013
The Dogs Who Found Me: What I’ve Learned from Pets Who Were Left Behind, by Ken Foster, $12.95, The Lyons Press, 2006 (sequel: Dogs I Have Met: And the People They Found).
Hiding in plain sight, the Dogs Who Found Me is an exquisite gem. Ken Foster, where have you been? How did I miss this book for so many years?
Dogs has short chapters (one is only one page in length) and medium-length chapters from New Your City (9/11) with Brando, his first rescue, to Florida to New Orleans (Hurricane Katrina) to Mississippi, from living in an efficiency to rental houses and on to grad school, from emergency surgery and the untimely deaths of a couple of human friends.
Perhaps there is such a thing or person as a dog-magnet. If so, Foster is it. He is also a damned good writer – understated. Interspersed between chapters of success are rescue stories that are less successful and short non-fiction chapters on heartworm and the difficulty of treating it compared to the small financial outlay for prevention. You can read the chapters in any order but they do follow a timeline in his moves south and west and his acquisition of three permanent best friends of the canine kind.
I drive a red Toyota. I don’t recall seeing any red Toyotas before I bought one but now I see them often. I always honk (and get strange looks from strangers!). I also live in a dog-walking neighborhood: there are more dogs being walked than babies in strollers. I notice the dogs first, then look at the owners and if the dog is a golden, I look closely to see if we know each other. (Sometimes I even recognize the dog and not the human.)
So, too, Foster didn’t pay too much attention to dogs on the streets of NYC before Brando, a shelter puppy, made him a dog person – then, all of a sudden, abandoned dogs started appearing everywhere. They also began to read his body language: strays would come up to him and, of course, he would take them to the vet then the shelter or a rescue or a friend or even foster the dog for a short while. I guess he was sort of the underground railway during the Great Depression – if one traveling man (hobo) found a certain farm to be hospitable, he would spread the word by marking the gate or fence.
Dogs is a rare find.
Hiding in plain sight, the Dogs Who Found Me is an exquisite gem. Ken Foster, where have you been? How did I miss this book for so many years?
Dogs has short chapters (one is only one page in length) and medium-length chapters from New Your City (9/11) with Brando, his first rescue, to Florida to New Orleans (Hurricane Katrina) to Mississippi, from living in an efficiency to rental houses and on to grad school, from emergency surgery and the untimely deaths of a couple of human friends.
Perhaps there is such a thing or person as a dog-magnet. If so, Foster is it. He is also a damned good writer – understated. Interspersed between chapters of success are rescue stories that are less successful and short non-fiction chapters on heartworm and the difficulty of treating it compared to the small financial outlay for prevention. You can read the chapters in any order but they do follow a timeline in his moves south and west and his acquisition of three permanent best friends of the canine kind.
I drive a red Toyota. I don’t recall seeing any red Toyotas before I bought one but now I see them often. I always honk (and get strange looks from strangers!). I also live in a dog-walking neighborhood: there are more dogs being walked than babies in strollers. I notice the dogs first, then look at the owners and if the dog is a golden, I look closely to see if we know each other. (Sometimes I even recognize the dog and not the human.)
So, too, Foster didn’t pay too much attention to dogs on the streets of NYC before Brando, a shelter puppy, made him a dog person – then, all of a sudden, abandoned dogs started appearing everywhere. They also began to read his body language: strays would come up to him and, of course, he would take them to the vet then the shelter or a rescue or a friend or even foster the dog for a short while. I guess he was sort of the underground railway during the Great Depression – if one traveling man (hobo) found a certain farm to be hospitable, he would spread the word by marking the gate or fence.
Dogs is a rare find.
October 4, 2011
1: Summary
-The Dogs Who Found Me is all about Ken Foster and how rescuing dogs and being close to dogs every day affected him. Also he speaks about how to rescue animals. This book is basically a how to save homeless dogs. He also puts inspirational stories of how he has helped dogs in the past. In the back of the book he put organizations that help dogs and other animals and then put store both on line and off that helps with making a dog happy or in helping rescuing.
2: Opinion of Novel
-I loved this book mainly because of the touching stories about him rescuing animals. I wish I could rescue animals too. Pit bulls are one of my favorite dogs and i like how he talks about them some in the book. I also love how it isn’t always serious and it seems more like a journal and that you are talking to a sincere person. I like how helpful this book is to people who want to rescue dogs. He puts a lot of how too stuff that comes in handy.
3: Authors Purpose
-the author’s purpose is to inspire people to help animals. He understands how hard it is and he talks about that a lot in his book. He also uses pathos by sometimes using sad words while talking about homeless dogs. He talks about how animals can help a person. He even gives examples on how he does it so he makes it seem easier.
4: Theme
-The theme of this book is helping some might be hard but it’s worth it in the end. In this case we are helping dogs instead or people. The book shows how rescuing a dog is very hard sometimes hard then other times. Ken talks about how it cost money and how u gets attached and then has to let the dog go. On the other side he does gives happy stories about how dogs have affected his life and could affect yours too. The Dogs Who Found Me also talks about the dangers and how to know if an animal is violent or not and how to approach a homeless dog. Ken Foster wrote this book to motivate you to help those animals who need it the most and he showed throughout the book how helping can be hard but is worth it.
-The Dogs Who Found Me is all about Ken Foster and how rescuing dogs and being close to dogs every day affected him. Also he speaks about how to rescue animals. This book is basically a how to save homeless dogs. He also puts inspirational stories of how he has helped dogs in the past. In the back of the book he put organizations that help dogs and other animals and then put store both on line and off that helps with making a dog happy or in helping rescuing.
2: Opinion of Novel
-I loved this book mainly because of the touching stories about him rescuing animals. I wish I could rescue animals too. Pit bulls are one of my favorite dogs and i like how he talks about them some in the book. I also love how it isn’t always serious and it seems more like a journal and that you are talking to a sincere person. I like how helpful this book is to people who want to rescue dogs. He puts a lot of how too stuff that comes in handy.
3: Authors Purpose
-the author’s purpose is to inspire people to help animals. He understands how hard it is and he talks about that a lot in his book. He also uses pathos by sometimes using sad words while talking about homeless dogs. He talks about how animals can help a person. He even gives examples on how he does it so he makes it seem easier.
4: Theme
-The theme of this book is helping some might be hard but it’s worth it in the end. In this case we are helping dogs instead or people. The book shows how rescuing a dog is very hard sometimes hard then other times. Ken talks about how it cost money and how u gets attached and then has to let the dog go. On the other side he does gives happy stories about how dogs have affected his life and could affect yours too. The Dogs Who Found Me also talks about the dangers and how to know if an animal is violent or not and how to approach a homeless dog. Ken Foster wrote this book to motivate you to help those animals who need it the most and he showed throughout the book how helping can be hard but is worth it.
October 31, 2012
A sweetly-written heartfelt account from a man who sees the abandoned dogs that all of us other people ignore, TDWFM is well worth reading. He tracks life with first one dog, then two and so on from the aftermath of 9/11 to living through Hurricane Katrina. I wish his account of post-Katrina New Orleans had been longer, but since the focus of his book is the dogs instead of the people, that is probably just as well.
When one side of his heart stopped working, Foster's dogs tried to tell him that something was wrong, but he did not get the message until he passed out and ended up in surgery. He relates many such incidents of how living with dogs has changed his view of the world. There is also practical information at the end of this book about animal shelters, pet supplies, and what to do if you find a stray dog, which I feel that many more people are doing nowadays after reading this book.
When one side of his heart stopped working, Foster's dogs tried to tell him that something was wrong, but he did not get the message until he passed out and ended up in surgery. He relates many such incidents of how living with dogs has changed his view of the world. There is also practical information at the end of this book about animal shelters, pet supplies, and what to do if you find a stray dog, which I feel that many more people are doing nowadays after reading this book.
July 24, 2011
Ken Foster has done things that I only wish I could personally do. He didn't ask to be these animals' savior. They just found him one day and that was that. He couldn't say no. In this book, Foster talks about how his life came to revolve around the animals that found him and especially the ones that he couldn't let leave. I have a special place in my heart for pit bulls and I have the same feelings about them that the author expresses in his novel, but I won't go into a diatribe here about how much I REALLY have to say about the pit bull debate.
This book will pull at your heartstrings, especially if you are a dog lover and have ever thought about the things that can happen to your furry children. (The author and his pets were in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina). There is some definite gaps in the story telling but the message is there and it is still a great read.
This book will pull at your heartstrings, especially if you are a dog lover and have ever thought about the things that can happen to your furry children. (The author and his pets were in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina). There is some definite gaps in the story telling but the message is there and it is still a great read.
October 2, 2007
How could I not love a book written by someone who has succumbed to the charm of pit bulls as much as I have. Some of the things he wrote with which I really identified were his friends who say they never see a stray animal, and how those people just aren't allowing themselves to see them; or that when you rescue an animal you do it despite not knowing how it will work out or what it's going to cost simply because you have no choice. I kept reading bits and pieces out loud to my husband -- I laughed, cried and felt affirmed by so many passages. I thought the writing was very good, though at times I felt the progression of the chapters lacked a little coherence... as though they had been written separately and then compiled. But still, great.
December 1, 2011
Just got a replacement copy of this! Beautiful book. Tells it like it is in reference to rescue and to what pit bulls are like. I love Foster's three dogs, rotten spoiled as they sound. Boy, is Foster something! People think I'm obsessive about animals! Our two rescued pits do sleep in the bed, and we do additionally have around ten cats at any given time (all but the original one pulled from county kill shelters, just like the dogs - our first cat was a stray), but I have given up doing rescue work anymore, since I went back to school. And our dogs do not get peanut butter bone-shaped cakes on their gotcha days. We don't even keep gotcha days recorded anywhere. They are our darlings, but not our children.
February 19, 2010
I thought it was rather serendipitous that Ken Foster mentions meeting some friends in front of Three Dog Bakery in New Orleans bacause the last book I read was written by one of the founders of Three Dog Bakery.
I was also pleased to see the author tout Wellness brand dogfood. I'm a big advocate of feeding your pet nutritous food, which usually does not include grocery store brands that are full of by-products, gluten, corn, preservatives, and other things that are not good for your pet.
I admire people who rescue dogs, although I am not one of them. I adopted my dog from a shelter, but I don't think I have what it takes to pick dogs up off the side of a road and rehabilitate them. Go, Ken!
I was also pleased to see the author tout Wellness brand dogfood. I'm a big advocate of feeding your pet nutritous food, which usually does not include grocery store brands that are full of by-products, gluten, corn, preservatives, and other things that are not good for your pet.
I admire people who rescue dogs, although I am not one of them. I adopted my dog from a shelter, but I don't think I have what it takes to pick dogs up off the side of a road and rehabilitate them. Go, Ken!
March 4, 2016
If you are a person who has found yourself trying to coax a stray out of the road, knocked on doors to track down a missing owner, or took a challenging shelter dog into your life, you will find a kindred spirit in Foster. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and admire his tenacity. Lots of people have compassion for animals; not everyone has follow through. One does wonder briefly why homeless animals bother him when he does not seem particularly distraught by homeless humans, but perhaps that's another story.
Foster's personal experiences with both the terrorist attacks in New York as well as the hurricane in New Orleans are poignant but don't veer into the maudlin. An excellent read and compelling story, especially for dog-lovers.
Foster's personal experiences with both the terrorist attacks in New York as well as the hurricane in New Orleans are poignant but don't veer into the maudlin. An excellent read and compelling story, especially for dog-lovers.
June 15, 2008
This was a very touching, heart-warming book. I think any animal lover has probably been in some of the same situations as Mr. Foster when it comes to finding dogs (or dogs finding us). You question if you can keep it yourself with the ones you already have or would it better with someone else. And if you do let them go, you worry if you did the right thing and how they are doing. I know I certainly have. I look forward to finding a copy of his next book. I'm hoping he picks up where he left off.
Also, I love the cover of this book. It's what drew me to it and made me buy not one, but two copies...gave one to my mother.
Also, I love the cover of this book. It's what drew me to it and made me buy not one, but two copies...gave one to my mother.
December 23, 2009
I really, really enjoyed this and I sooo needed this book right now. I've stopped reading two or three books this month because I didn't like them and the a few of the recently finished ones weren't all that great. So when I started this, even though I love dog stories, I was skeptical. One of the last dog stories I read was horrendous with the author not even being a dog lover IMO.
This was just the opposite - it's obvious from page 1 that Foster is a true dog lover and it's also obvious how honest Foster is. He admitted to a few things that other people wouldn't because of the fear of what people would think.
I'll definitely be reading more by Ken Foster!
This was just the opposite - it's obvious from page 1 that Foster is a true dog lover and it's also obvious how honest Foster is. He admitted to a few things that other people wouldn't because of the fear of what people would think.
I'll definitely be reading more by Ken Foster!
July 18, 2009
The Dogs Who Found Me is a quick read and worth the afternoon it takes to do so. Ken Foster and his dog Brando rescue -- almost inadvertently in some cases -- a variety of dogs, adopting some and finding homes for others. The story follows Foster from New York, which he left after September 11th, to New Orleans where he was living when Hurricane Katrina struck. Despite the tragedies that bookend the story and the everyday tragedy of so many people who treat their animals as disposable, the overall tone of the book is positive and presents a lot of nice vignettes of dogs who were saved by caring people who stop and pay attention when they encounter strays.
August 29, 2009
An enjoyable and quick read. I laughed to myself a few times because it seemed as if the author spent quite a bit of time trying to avoid some of the dogs who found him, but that is something most of us who find a lot of animals has done. The author seems authentic and honest and writes the same way. He is never overly sentimental about the animals and is frequently quite honest about the future awaiting some of the unwanted, yet this book has a lot of heart. There is also some good practical advice about dogs; finding them, loving them, helping them. And it will probably change the way you look at pitbulls forever.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 266 reviews