What do you think?
Rate this book
My Friend the Dog
Eleven stories of collies, as children's pets, farmers' steady helpers, trackers or slayers of vicious beasts, and companions of very different men and one story of a wolf as tame and devoted as a dog.
326 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1926
About the author
Albert Payson Terhune
334 books76 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.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
May 13, 2024
My Friend the Dog, originally published in 1922, is I believe my 8th book of Albert Payson Terhune’s books that I have read. I believe I have all but 2 of his 27 books. I agree with what Stanley Coren, another favorite author of dog books of mine says about Terhune when asked in an interview:
‘However things took an unexpected turn when, out of the blue, the host of the radio show asked me who I would consider to be the best dog fiction writer ever. I don't think I have ever been asked that question before, nor can I remember thinking about it seriously, however I knew what my answer would be immediately—Albert Payson Terhune.’ – Stanley Coren, ‘The Best Dog Fiction Writer Ever? – Psychology Today online article.
Terhune’s books are the best as long as you don’t mind a little melodrama and a little brutality. I will give you some of his quotes in the context of this review so you can get a taste of his drama, and by brutality means the drama often comes from brutal challenges.
The book is composed of 13 chapters, and unlike some of his books almost all are stories involving different dogs. In them the dogs face many different foes. Now, before I go further, for fun you may want to think of all the dangerous animals in North America so you can guess what foes the dogs might have to face. One thing that Terhune and a lot of authors of dog books of in the early 20th century often did was take dangerous critters and then have a dog that has to protect his master from. Maybe because there was more wild still left then. So, consider stopping now and making a list that you can check off later. Actually, I will tell you some of them, but will leave out some so you can check them off after the read the book.
For those of you who have read some of Terhune’s books already, you will know there are some common themes. I will try to list some of those.
One is he often writes about collies. As I recall, all or most of the stories are about collies. Often he writes of collies in ways that indicate he feels they are better than other breeds. Statements to that affect are common in his stories in this book including this one:
‘But a collie is like no other dog. Back in his brain ever lurks the queerly wise instinct, though never incurable savagery, of the olden wolves he sprang from.’
Two is he likes to have his dogs be the hero and then turn around and win the championship. So, dog showing is a common theme to his writing. In one of the stories, he has:
‘The dog-show virus is as insidious and as potent as a Borgian poison. Once let man or woman fall under its spell, and the winning of a blue ribbon seems more important than the winning of a college degree. The purple Winner Rosette is worth a fortune. The annexation of the mystic prefix, “Champion,” to a loved dog’s name is an honor comparable to the Presidency.’
Third of course is about the chumship of dogs. Terhune seems to use that word often when talking about dogs, like this this passage:
‘The dog’s plumed tail was smiting the dusty floor of the baggage car with happily resounding thumps as Abner talked to him. The man’s voice and intonation were such as an animal likes. The collie licked the calloused hand that stroked his silken head. Mutely, a bond of chumship was established between the dog-lonely man and the ill-treated dog.’
I will now list the chapters and try to give you some of what the story is about while trying not to spoil things. Although if you guess that the dog saves the day, you will probably be right. Oh yah, for those worried about needing Kleenex at the end of the book, or story, you don’t need to in the stories in this book. (But that don’t mean there ain’t need for Kleenex in the beginning or middle of the stories.)
The Gorgeous Pink Puppy:
“You say you want the puppy for a chum for your boy. Well, these pups are fine for chums, and every on of ‘em is a grand show-prospect, besides.’
Later the dog helps raise a foundling wolf. They get a grim warning about raising a wolf:
“It may think it’s a dog, for a while. But some day it’s dead sure to find out it’s a wolf. When it does, look out!
Runaway:
I liked all the stories in the book, but this one makes reading the whole book worth it. 10 year old girl is entrusted with the dog before they take him to his final dog show to make him a champion. She is told not to let the dog in the garden or in the lake where he can get dirty an hour before the dog is supposed to be at the dog show. She gets bored and takes him on a gravel path, but when the dog sees a rabbit… Then the story takes a nasty turn-
‘Fay calling weepingly to the dog. Toiling up the slope, she plunged forward under a low-hanging bough to grasp him. Her eyes were blurred with tears. Ronny’s were not. Thus it was that the collie, turning around at her call, saw what she missed seeing. He saw, and collie-like, he went into immediate action.
As she ran below the bough the top of her head brushed glancingly against something soft and yielding. It was a hornet nest as large as a derby hat—the abode of several hundred giant black hornets with white-barred tails.’
This is a Terhune book so you can probably guess how the dog does in the dog show.
The Feud:
Five dogs go missing in The Feud, but you will need to read it to see what danger befalls the dogs and then the main dog in the story. I will give you a hint and say it is from an animal but one I don’t think anyone would guess.
The Destroyer from Nowhere:
Animals of all sorts are being killed in farms around. They think it may be the big throw-back collie dog Vulcan. Whatever is killing them could get into this:
‘Bran noted the awkward but highly efficient way in which the four-foot paddock fence had been transformed into a seven-foot stockade. As he approached he studied the wooden wall carefully. It offered no slope or foothold whereby a dog could take a preliminary run and then scramble up the sides of it. Here was a perpendicular wall, seven feet in height, and with a strand of barbed wire running some six inches above it.’
A couple of Miracles:
In this story, a man comes upon someone whipping their dog outside of a dog show, so he releases the dog so it would at least be a fairer fight. The man whipping him says:
“I paid one hundred dollars for this cur!” he stormed. ‘Bought him, last week, from a dealer who told me the mutt couldn’t help but win everything in the collie classes at this show to-day. If he did that, I figured I could sell him, before I left the building, for one hundred and fifty dollars. Maybe more. Well, he didn’t win anything but a couple of measly second prizes, the swine! So, of course, I never got an offer for him. I was stung good and plenty. And some one is due to pay for stinging me.’
The dog of course becomes the chum of the man who rescues him, but later the bad guy comes back. And of course the best way to get at an enemy of the dog, is for the dog to rescue him from some big dangerous farm animal.
Parsifal, Unlimited:
In this story a poor man who can quit his job he hates because he gets a legacy:
“it’s from Aaron Coyle,” said Maskell, “and it’s nine hundred dollars a year. That’s seventy-five dollars a month. It’s an annuity. I will get paid it by the month.”
Our man Maskell had saved the dog of rich Mr. Coyle.
‘Then Mr. Coyle up and dies. And what do you suppose one of the codicils of his will says? Says that there never was anybody but me who showed kindness to his dear dog Parsifal, and that there isn’t anybody but me that he’d be willing to trust him to, in case Mr. Coyle should die first. So, he’s fixed it that I’m to have seventy-five dollars a month for taking the best care of him, so long as he lives.’
Hopefully you caught the part ‘as long as he lives.’ The story spins around different ways with someone who is responsible paying out the seventy-five dollars who would rather not. Not my favorite story in the book, but I liked the clever ending.
Ginger!:
The story starts with:
‘Down the Closser hill bumped and squeaked Abel Shunk’s rattletrap pound wagon. On the front seat of the sinister vehicle slouched Abel Shunk himself, the Hoytsburg pound master.’
Mr. Shunk gets paid for picking up dogs, and also gets paid for killing strays. He founds a lost collie puppie and scoops him up and puts him in the wagon. Fortunately, a boy is around to save him. Later he saves a fox pup who he raises up as he has a knack for animals. Turns out the owner of the lost pup is the fox hunter in the owner of the lost puppy. Terhune finds a clever way of having things work out.
Foster Brethern:
In this story, the same boy as the last story raises up a bear cub same time he raises a puppy. The villains in this story is the same as in old Yeller, hogs:
‘A hog is neither a safe nor an easy animal for a dog to manage. A drove of pigs, such as Colonel Theron kept in his east orchard and low bog lot, cannot be turned and controlled as can even the most recalcitrant cattle. A collie can learn with ease to avoid flying heels or tossing horns of a cow, and to nip or bark her into line. A hog is different.
There is something latently murderous about an unpenned hog, especially a hog that is accustomed to root for a living and to roam at will. The tough hide is hard to hurt by even the sharpest nip. The teeth are rendingly terrible. There is a vicious devil lurking behind the red-rimmed little pale eyes.’
And as a boy, you of course you would try to round up the hogs and take them back through a gap in the fence they broke out of…
Love Me, Love My Dog:
In this one the guy loves a lady who doesn’t like his collie. But she does like his deer that he had raised up though, even though his father had warned him:
“If you had had to live in the backwoods as I did – in the days when backwoods were really backwoods,” answered his father. “you’d know that a deer is the deadliest and most dangerous brute anywhere in this part of the country. They’ve got soft eyes and they’re nice to look at. But they’re devils, at heart, every one of them. I’d rather take my chances with a wounded bear than with a wounded deer. Any expert hunter would.”
You may be able to imagine how things get reconciled. But I imagine a deer wasn’t one of the dangerous animals you thought Terhune would use in his story in the way he does.
A Glass of Milk:
A man is paralyzed but fortunately has his dog for a chum. He must have someone he doesn’t like help take care of the farm who has it in for the dog.
The Hero-Coward:
Nice story. Dog is afraid of something, but has to overcome it:
Laund was oblivious to the fivefold punishment the very hint of which had hitherto been enough to send him ki-yi-ing under Danny’s bed. He was not fighting for himself, but for the child who was at once his ward and his deity.
On himself he was taking the torture that otherwise must have been inflicted on Danny. For perhaps the millionth time in the history of mankind and of dog, the Scriptural adage was fulfilled, and perfect love was casting out fear.'
Collie!:
In this story, Glamis finds a cabin he can hide out in as:
‘The oil-lands swindle, which he had fathered, was exposed. It was a matter for federal prison, not for mere state penitentiary. And Uncle Sam has a bothersome way of sticking to the trail of federal criminals. Wherefore, Glamis hit on the one hiding-place likely to outwit his trailers.
Then he takes on a wolf pup he names ‘Collie’.
Afterward—The dogs of Sunnybank:
Terhunes seems to include these in the end of his books where he talks about his real dogs. What was surprising was this little bit in light of his love of collies and show dogs:
‘It is the custom to sneer at mongrels and to feel shame in confessing the ownership of one of them. And there could not be a worse mistake. The mongrel has more cleverness, more stamina, and sometimes more beauty than any thoroughbred. The best type of mongrel is often the very best dog alive.
Instead of being ashamed of owning one, be ashamed that you have not brought out his million fine traits of smartness and stanchness and general worth-whileness. Those traits are all there if you’ll both to look for them.’
So very good stories, especially the ‘Runaway’ story.
‘However things took an unexpected turn when, out of the blue, the host of the radio show asked me who I would consider to be the best dog fiction writer ever. I don't think I have ever been asked that question before, nor can I remember thinking about it seriously, however I knew what my answer would be immediately—Albert Payson Terhune.’ – Stanley Coren, ‘The Best Dog Fiction Writer Ever? – Psychology Today online article.
Terhune’s books are the best as long as you don’t mind a little melodrama and a little brutality. I will give you some of his quotes in the context of this review so you can get a taste of his drama, and by brutality means the drama often comes from brutal challenges.
The book is composed of 13 chapters, and unlike some of his books almost all are stories involving different dogs. In them the dogs face many different foes. Now, before I go further, for fun you may want to think of all the dangerous animals in North America so you can guess what foes the dogs might have to face. One thing that Terhune and a lot of authors of dog books of in the early 20th century often did was take dangerous critters and then have a dog that has to protect his master from. Maybe because there was more wild still left then. So, consider stopping now and making a list that you can check off later. Actually, I will tell you some of them, but will leave out some so you can check them off after the read the book.
For those of you who have read some of Terhune’s books already, you will know there are some common themes. I will try to list some of those.
One is he often writes about collies. As I recall, all or most of the stories are about collies. Often he writes of collies in ways that indicate he feels they are better than other breeds. Statements to that affect are common in his stories in this book including this one:
‘But a collie is like no other dog. Back in his brain ever lurks the queerly wise instinct, though never incurable savagery, of the olden wolves he sprang from.’
Two is he likes to have his dogs be the hero and then turn around and win the championship. So, dog showing is a common theme to his writing. In one of the stories, he has:
‘The dog-show virus is as insidious and as potent as a Borgian poison. Once let man or woman fall under its spell, and the winning of a blue ribbon seems more important than the winning of a college degree. The purple Winner Rosette is worth a fortune. The annexation of the mystic prefix, “Champion,” to a loved dog’s name is an honor comparable to the Presidency.’
Third of course is about the chumship of dogs. Terhune seems to use that word often when talking about dogs, like this this passage:
‘The dog’s plumed tail was smiting the dusty floor of the baggage car with happily resounding thumps as Abner talked to him. The man’s voice and intonation were such as an animal likes. The collie licked the calloused hand that stroked his silken head. Mutely, a bond of chumship was established between the dog-lonely man and the ill-treated dog.’
I will now list the chapters and try to give you some of what the story is about while trying not to spoil things. Although if you guess that the dog saves the day, you will probably be right. Oh yah, for those worried about needing Kleenex at the end of the book, or story, you don’t need to in the stories in this book. (But that don’t mean there ain’t need for Kleenex in the beginning or middle of the stories.)
The Gorgeous Pink Puppy:
“You say you want the puppy for a chum for your boy. Well, these pups are fine for chums, and every on of ‘em is a grand show-prospect, besides.’
Later the dog helps raise a foundling wolf. They get a grim warning about raising a wolf:
“It may think it’s a dog, for a while. But some day it’s dead sure to find out it’s a wolf. When it does, look out!
Runaway:
I liked all the stories in the book, but this one makes reading the whole book worth it. 10 year old girl is entrusted with the dog before they take him to his final dog show to make him a champion. She is told not to let the dog in the garden or in the lake where he can get dirty an hour before the dog is supposed to be at the dog show. She gets bored and takes him on a gravel path, but when the dog sees a rabbit… Then the story takes a nasty turn-
‘Fay calling weepingly to the dog. Toiling up the slope, she plunged forward under a low-hanging bough to grasp him. Her eyes were blurred with tears. Ronny’s were not. Thus it was that the collie, turning around at her call, saw what she missed seeing. He saw, and collie-like, he went into immediate action.
As she ran below the bough the top of her head brushed glancingly against something soft and yielding. It was a hornet nest as large as a derby hat—the abode of several hundred giant black hornets with white-barred tails.’
This is a Terhune book so you can probably guess how the dog does in the dog show.
The Feud:
Five dogs go missing in The Feud, but you will need to read it to see what danger befalls the dogs and then the main dog in the story. I will give you a hint and say it is from an animal but one I don’t think anyone would guess.
The Destroyer from Nowhere:
Animals of all sorts are being killed in farms around. They think it may be the big throw-back collie dog Vulcan. Whatever is killing them could get into this:
‘Bran noted the awkward but highly efficient way in which the four-foot paddock fence had been transformed into a seven-foot stockade. As he approached he studied the wooden wall carefully. It offered no slope or foothold whereby a dog could take a preliminary run and then scramble up the sides of it. Here was a perpendicular wall, seven feet in height, and with a strand of barbed wire running some six inches above it.’
A couple of Miracles:
In this story, a man comes upon someone whipping their dog outside of a dog show, so he releases the dog so it would at least be a fairer fight. The man whipping him says:
“I paid one hundred dollars for this cur!” he stormed. ‘Bought him, last week, from a dealer who told me the mutt couldn’t help but win everything in the collie classes at this show to-day. If he did that, I figured I could sell him, before I left the building, for one hundred and fifty dollars. Maybe more. Well, he didn’t win anything but a couple of measly second prizes, the swine! So, of course, I never got an offer for him. I was stung good and plenty. And some one is due to pay for stinging me.’
The dog of course becomes the chum of the man who rescues him, but later the bad guy comes back. And of course the best way to get at an enemy of the dog, is for the dog to rescue him from some big dangerous farm animal.
Parsifal, Unlimited:
In this story a poor man who can quit his job he hates because he gets a legacy:
“it’s from Aaron Coyle,” said Maskell, “and it’s nine hundred dollars a year. That’s seventy-five dollars a month. It’s an annuity. I will get paid it by the month.”
Our man Maskell had saved the dog of rich Mr. Coyle.
‘Then Mr. Coyle up and dies. And what do you suppose one of the codicils of his will says? Says that there never was anybody but me who showed kindness to his dear dog Parsifal, and that there isn’t anybody but me that he’d be willing to trust him to, in case Mr. Coyle should die first. So, he’s fixed it that I’m to have seventy-five dollars a month for taking the best care of him, so long as he lives.’
Hopefully you caught the part ‘as long as he lives.’ The story spins around different ways with someone who is responsible paying out the seventy-five dollars who would rather not. Not my favorite story in the book, but I liked the clever ending.
Ginger!:
The story starts with:
‘Down the Closser hill bumped and squeaked Abel Shunk’s rattletrap pound wagon. On the front seat of the sinister vehicle slouched Abel Shunk himself, the Hoytsburg pound master.’
Mr. Shunk gets paid for picking up dogs, and also gets paid for killing strays. He founds a lost collie puppie and scoops him up and puts him in the wagon. Fortunately, a boy is around to save him. Later he saves a fox pup who he raises up as he has a knack for animals. Turns out the owner of the lost pup is the fox hunter in the owner of the lost puppy. Terhune finds a clever way of having things work out.
Foster Brethern:
In this story, the same boy as the last story raises up a bear cub same time he raises a puppy. The villains in this story is the same as in old Yeller, hogs:
‘A hog is neither a safe nor an easy animal for a dog to manage. A drove of pigs, such as Colonel Theron kept in his east orchard and low bog lot, cannot be turned and controlled as can even the most recalcitrant cattle. A collie can learn with ease to avoid flying heels or tossing horns of a cow, and to nip or bark her into line. A hog is different.
There is something latently murderous about an unpenned hog, especially a hog that is accustomed to root for a living and to roam at will. The tough hide is hard to hurt by even the sharpest nip. The teeth are rendingly terrible. There is a vicious devil lurking behind the red-rimmed little pale eyes.’
And as a boy, you of course you would try to round up the hogs and take them back through a gap in the fence they broke out of…
Love Me, Love My Dog:
In this one the guy loves a lady who doesn’t like his collie. But she does like his deer that he had raised up though, even though his father had warned him:
“If you had had to live in the backwoods as I did – in the days when backwoods were really backwoods,” answered his father. “you’d know that a deer is the deadliest and most dangerous brute anywhere in this part of the country. They’ve got soft eyes and they’re nice to look at. But they’re devils, at heart, every one of them. I’d rather take my chances with a wounded bear than with a wounded deer. Any expert hunter would.”
You may be able to imagine how things get reconciled. But I imagine a deer wasn’t one of the dangerous animals you thought Terhune would use in his story in the way he does.
A Glass of Milk:
A man is paralyzed but fortunately has his dog for a chum. He must have someone he doesn’t like help take care of the farm who has it in for the dog.
The Hero-Coward:
Nice story. Dog is afraid of something, but has to overcome it:
Laund was oblivious to the fivefold punishment the very hint of which had hitherto been enough to send him ki-yi-ing under Danny’s bed. He was not fighting for himself, but for the child who was at once his ward and his deity.
On himself he was taking the torture that otherwise must have been inflicted on Danny. For perhaps the millionth time in the history of mankind and of dog, the Scriptural adage was fulfilled, and perfect love was casting out fear.'
Collie!:
In this story, Glamis finds a cabin he can hide out in as:
‘The oil-lands swindle, which he had fathered, was exposed. It was a matter for federal prison, not for mere state penitentiary. And Uncle Sam has a bothersome way of sticking to the trail of federal criminals. Wherefore, Glamis hit on the one hiding-place likely to outwit his trailers.
Then he takes on a wolf pup he names ‘Collie’.
Afterward—The dogs of Sunnybank:
Terhunes seems to include these in the end of his books where he talks about his real dogs. What was surprising was this little bit in light of his love of collies and show dogs:
‘It is the custom to sneer at mongrels and to feel shame in confessing the ownership of one of them. And there could not be a worse mistake. The mongrel has more cleverness, more stamina, and sometimes more beauty than any thoroughbred. The best type of mongrel is often the very best dog alive.
Instead of being ashamed of owning one, be ashamed that you have not brought out his million fine traits of smartness and stanchness and general worth-whileness. Those traits are all there if you’ll both to look for them.’
So very good stories, especially the ‘Runaway’ story.
January 7, 2024
These may be older books but they really knew how to write back then. This book is full of feeling and sucks you right into the story..My Dad bought these books for my mom when they were going together and I have all of them. What a wonderful author
October 31, 2018
Another highly variable collection of Terhune's (mostly) one-shot stories. The majority of these stories, in a peculiar departure from his usual theme, are in the point of view of the humans. In fact, sometimes the dog is almost incidental. Frequently in these chapters, the dog displays few character traits aside from being described as a collie, sometimes not even including the traits common to nearly every collie in Terhune's stories. A number of the stories end in tragedy, and Terhune continues his campaign against the keeping of wildlife as pets by using tragic ends to illustrate his point, but a few stories herein are quite good, or at least very different. A lot of the stories in this book concern working herding collies, not merely pets. Overall, I liked this book, though it's definitely not one of Terhune's finest, but -as with the majority of these collections- one really has to look at one story at a time. This is unlikely to be a book you'd pick up if you were not already a fan of Terhune, so I'm making a few assumptions about your familiarity with Lad and some of the others.
The first chapter is primarily memorable for its outrageous title "The Gorgeous Pink Puppy," and very little else. Unusually for Terhune, the collie around whom the majority of events turn is a she-dog. In fact, so is the adopted offspring of the dog, an orphaned wolf pup. Typically of Terhune whenever wild animals get involved, the story doesn't have a happy end. It was fairly decent, however.
The second chapter "Runaway" is somewhat familiar to any reader of Terhune, though it is unusual for a single story of his to feature both a rescued child and a dog show. The majority of the story is in the point of view of a little girl, which is also rather unusual for Terhune, who seldom gave much view of the perceptions of his child characters. Despite the emphasis on humans, which I normally resent, I was actually quite charmed by this one and count it as a favorite in the collection.
"The Feud" is more or less a repeat of another story by Terhune, "The Grudge" (not to be confused with Grudge Mountain), only I rather like this one better. It's actually almost spooky in some spots, which was a reoccurring theme in this book, making it a surprisingly apt choice of reading material for me in the month of October. It's a bit of a mystery story, in that dogs are inexplicably going missing and a boy and his collie seek answers. However, reading "The Grudge" did not give me any insight into who the culprit was going to be, so that was kind of cool.
In "The Destroyer from Nowhere" the theme of livestock killers again rears its overused head. It's not surprising that such a theme would crop up repeatedly, as Terhune himself confessed to a fondness for the novel "Bob, Son of Battle" by Alfred Ollivant. So our collie, who came to his master in a most unlikely way and was given the most incongruous name of Vulcan (this decades before Star Trek, of course; you couldn't get away Scot-free with that name today, I shouldn't think), is of course suspected of being the killer. Naturally, he is not, though the real killer is far less believable, as is the string of "evidence" leading anyone to suspect the collie. Strangely for Terhune, the pup with not a show point in his favor does not grow into a "show perfect" collie. Though this makes a refreshing change of pace, it's not one of Terhune's better stories.
"A Couple of Miracles" is a rather generic and forgettable story of Terhune's, in that I've mostly forgotten it. It borrows most of its pieces from existing stories of Terhune's, most notably one concerning Lad, though the one with Lad was better. A man gets a dog from a cruel owner, and a series of bland adventures later, he gets to keep the dog. An eclipse happens, which was presumably because an eclipse had actually happened recently and people were still all excited about it. In my experience, animals are not as reactive to eclipses as they seemed to be in this story.
In "Parsiful" the inheritance of a fat collie leads a lazy man to change his ways. It's an unusual plot for Terhune on several levels to be sure. It's amusing in spots, but I don't think it quite manages to carry itself off. The very end definitely left a negative impression on me. But it was okay.
"Ginger!" sees a return to the use of foxes, which have actually featured in several of Terhune's yarns. This is one with a semi-happy ending in a roundabout kind of way. It also involves a (technically stolen) collie, but not as significantly as one might expect.
"Foster Brethren" and "Love Me, Love My Dog" are actually about the same boy/man and his dog, which was quite a surprise to me, as the rest of the stories in this collection introduce a different set of characters each time. Both of these also concern wildlife, a bear and a stag respectively. The ending of one is surprisingly happy, the other unexpectedly tragic (not to mention somewhat illustrating the unintentional cruelty of which humans are capable; which is actually present in both, but only highlighted in one). The dog, rather than being gold and white, as the majority of Terhune's fictional collies are, is a gray and white (probably Merle, which would mean some black as well) farm collie. A damsel does require rescuing at one point in the story, but Terhune's males are usually equally inept (because the hero is nearly always a collie, as well it should be). Peculiarly, a huge span of time has gone by between the two stories, making me wonder if there are more stories about Thor the collie. I really liked "Foster Brethren," but the romance angle of "Love Me, Love My Dog" was kind of a turnoff. Aside from which, I feel it just wasn't as strongly written.
"A Glass of Milk" involves the aforementioned glass of milk almost more than it does the two dogs of the story. Most unusually, it is the dogs that have to be rescued in this story. This is one of multiple stories Terhune wrote featuring a character who is bound to a wheelchair. Most unusually for Terhune, the cripple in question is not a child. It wasn't of great interest to me, except for these divergences from Terhune's usual fare, but it was okay.
"The Hero-Coward" reuses material from a story about Gray Dawn and features a collie described as brown and white. Apparently Terhune had been turned off from using show color terms like "sable" and was just labeling dog by the colors the average pedestrian would recognize. This story also features a cripple, this time a child, as well as reusing the routine herding theme common to most stories in the book. It's... fine, but not as good as the similar story featured in Gray Dawn.
I don't know what to make of "Collie!" It's... extremely unusual for Terhune. It features wildlife, but the tragedy of the story is not in trying to make pets of wild animals. The main protagonist is anything but a good guy, and Collie is anything but a collie. It was quite an odd end note, and I didn't much care for it.
The final chapter is, as usual in Terhune collections, a short chapter where Terhune regales us with some true tales of Sunnybank collies. It's not one of his stronger showings, but it does tell a few stories I hadn't run across yet, and it makes a pleasing conclusion for this collection.
The first chapter is primarily memorable for its outrageous title "The Gorgeous Pink Puppy," and very little else. Unusually for Terhune, the collie around whom the majority of events turn is a she-dog. In fact, so is the adopted offspring of the dog, an orphaned wolf pup. Typically of Terhune whenever wild animals get involved, the story doesn't have a happy end. It was fairly decent, however.
The second chapter "Runaway" is somewhat familiar to any reader of Terhune, though it is unusual for a single story of his to feature both a rescued child and a dog show. The majority of the story is in the point of view of a little girl, which is also rather unusual for Terhune, who seldom gave much view of the perceptions of his child characters. Despite the emphasis on humans, which I normally resent, I was actually quite charmed by this one and count it as a favorite in the collection.
"The Feud" is more or less a repeat of another story by Terhune, "The Grudge" (not to be confused with Grudge Mountain), only I rather like this one better. It's actually almost spooky in some spots, which was a reoccurring theme in this book, making it a surprisingly apt choice of reading material for me in the month of October. It's a bit of a mystery story, in that dogs are inexplicably going missing and a boy and his collie seek answers. However, reading "The Grudge" did not give me any insight into who the culprit was going to be, so that was kind of cool.
In "The Destroyer from Nowhere" the theme of livestock killers again rears its overused head. It's not surprising that such a theme would crop up repeatedly, as Terhune himself confessed to a fondness for the novel "Bob, Son of Battle" by Alfred Ollivant. So our collie, who came to his master in a most unlikely way and was given the most incongruous name of Vulcan (this decades before Star Trek, of course; you couldn't get away Scot-free with that name today, I shouldn't think), is of course suspected of being the killer. Naturally, he is not, though the real killer is far less believable, as is the string of "evidence" leading anyone to suspect the collie. Strangely for Terhune, the pup with not a show point in his favor does not grow into a "show perfect" collie. Though this makes a refreshing change of pace, it's not one of Terhune's better stories.
"A Couple of Miracles" is a rather generic and forgettable story of Terhune's, in that I've mostly forgotten it. It borrows most of its pieces from existing stories of Terhune's, most notably one concerning Lad, though the one with Lad was better. A man gets a dog from a cruel owner, and a series of bland adventures later, he gets to keep the dog. An eclipse happens, which was presumably because an eclipse had actually happened recently and people were still all excited about it. In my experience, animals are not as reactive to eclipses as they seemed to be in this story.
In "Parsiful" the inheritance of a fat collie leads a lazy man to change his ways. It's an unusual plot for Terhune on several levels to be sure. It's amusing in spots, but I don't think it quite manages to carry itself off. The very end definitely left a negative impression on me. But it was okay.
"Ginger!" sees a return to the use of foxes, which have actually featured in several of Terhune's yarns. This is one with a semi-happy ending in a roundabout kind of way. It also involves a (technically stolen) collie, but not as significantly as one might expect.
"Foster Brethren" and "Love Me, Love My Dog" are actually about the same boy/man and his dog, which was quite a surprise to me, as the rest of the stories in this collection introduce a different set of characters each time. Both of these also concern wildlife, a bear and a stag respectively. The ending of one is surprisingly happy, the other unexpectedly tragic (not to mention somewhat illustrating the unintentional cruelty of which humans are capable; which is actually present in both, but only highlighted in one). The dog, rather than being gold and white, as the majority of Terhune's fictional collies are, is a gray and white (probably Merle, which would mean some black as well) farm collie. A damsel does require rescuing at one point in the story, but Terhune's males are usually equally inept (because the hero is nearly always a collie, as well it should be). Peculiarly, a huge span of time has gone by between the two stories, making me wonder if there are more stories about Thor the collie. I really liked "Foster Brethren," but the romance angle of "Love Me, Love My Dog" was kind of a turnoff. Aside from which, I feel it just wasn't as strongly written.
"A Glass of Milk" involves the aforementioned glass of milk almost more than it does the two dogs of the story. Most unusually, it is the dogs that have to be rescued in this story. This is one of multiple stories Terhune wrote featuring a character who is bound to a wheelchair. Most unusually for Terhune, the cripple in question is not a child. It wasn't of great interest to me, except for these divergences from Terhune's usual fare, but it was okay.
"The Hero-Coward" reuses material from a story about Gray Dawn and features a collie described as brown and white. Apparently Terhune had been turned off from using show color terms like "sable" and was just labeling dog by the colors the average pedestrian would recognize. This story also features a cripple, this time a child, as well as reusing the routine herding theme common to most stories in the book. It's... fine, but not as good as the similar story featured in Gray Dawn.
I don't know what to make of "Collie!" It's... extremely unusual for Terhune. It features wildlife, but the tragedy of the story is not in trying to make pets of wild animals. The main protagonist is anything but a good guy, and Collie is anything but a collie. It was quite an odd end note, and I didn't much care for it.
The final chapter is, as usual in Terhune collections, a short chapter where Terhune regales us with some true tales of Sunnybank collies. It's not one of his stronger showings, but it does tell a few stories I hadn't run across yet, and it makes a pleasing conclusion for this collection.
June 2, 2022
Albert Payson Terhune never disappoints and I finish my yearly May Blondie birthday reads with "My Friend the Dog". Terhune has 12 short stories about dogs and their human companions. The last chapter is his thoughts about dogs and the dogs from his Place, which was quite interesting. This set of short stories it seems all fictional, though he might have been inspired by some dog acquaintance, it does not have Lad or any of his dogs in these stories. I loved all 12 and especially enjoy the country setting which I would love to visit, I mean going back in time.
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 3823
One must look ahead in such matters. For, while many humans live too long, all dogs die too young. Your dog is not in his fullest prime of brain and strength and chum-ship until he has passed his third birthday
❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌Spoiler alert
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 44
I. The Gorgeous Pink Puppy
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 60
fourmonther.
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 70
“I like this one,” he said. “She has brain and pluck and instinct. She didn’t start the squabble, either. But
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 71
she finished it, to the queen’s taste. She’s true collie. How much?” For a moment Kerwin gaped in contemptuous amaze. Then he went into
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 73
“You’ve sure got a good eye for a dog, my friend,” said he. “Just at one glance you’ve chosen the pick of the two litters. She’s the best of the lot, by far. Sired by Sunnybank Gray Dawn; no less. I refused a hundred dollars for her, last week. I was planning to keep her, for the show circuit and as a brood matron. But
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 75
since you seem to have took such a fancy to her——” “Hold on,” interposed Breck, very quietly. “Let’s understand each other, please. You wouldn’t dare show this mutt, anywhere; and you know it.
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 96
Thus it was that Pink journeyed to her new owner’s farm, and a week later to the Maine woods. Breck’s son, Roland, was enraptured with her from the start. His father’s twelve-year-old collie—two years younger than Roland himself—had died a month earlier. The old dog’s passing had been a sharp sorrow to the animal-loving boy. He welcomed the puppy with open
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 99
arms. To him her absurd color was a delight.
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 113
Cuddled against Pink’s furry side were five moist and squirmy and rat-like morsels of caninity; her first puppies, feeble little mongrels sired by a near-by trapper’s rabbit-hound. To Breck they were of scant attractiveness. To Roland they were
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 114
the most wonderful creatures on earth. Breck had no intention of bringing up such a litter. Yet he dreaded to make his boy unhappy by decreeing their death. Nature came to the rescue. One by one, within the first two days, the tiny crossbreeds began to “squeak” (in other words, to refuse food and to cry continuously); then, one by one, after the way of “squeakers,” they died. Pink cuddled the cold and lifeless little things to her, crooning pitifully over their bodies, licking them and trying to make them feed. Roland’s grief was scarcely less than was hers. Breck solved the unhappy situation by ordering Pink out of the house with the boy, for a walk. Reluctantly she obeyed. In her absence the man buried her dead babies.
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 132
Evidently this was an infant of the same litter, overlooked in the tangled undergrowth by the trapper who had slain its mother. For two days it must have hidden thus, starving, until Pink’s keen sense of smell had located it in the thicket where it crouched. She had not harmed the starving little thing, in bringing it to Roland. It was thin and weak, but unhurt. Also, it snarled and snapped and growled ferociously at the collie and at the boy.
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 136
Roland laid the wolfling on the ground again, meaning to kill it with a stick. There was a cash bounty on all wolves. He was minded to collect a few dollars on this find of Pink’s. But Pink would not have it so. She had been peering worriedly up at Roland while he held the cub. Now, as he laid it down, she caught it gently in her mouth again, and set off at a canter toward home. Her overpowering new mother instinct had been too strong for the ancestral hate of dog for wolf.
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 147
Roland entered zestfully into his work of taming and training his collie’s foster child. The task was by no means as difficult as he and Breck had feared. It was Pink that did the bulk of it. Had the little wolf been brought up without a dog mother, its wildness might have been far harder to cure. But in a few days it forgot to snarl when the boy handled it. It lost its feebleness and thinness, and with them its forest ferocity. Soon it became to all intents a clumsy and non-belligerent collie pup, lapping
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 150
milk from the weaning pan, suffering itself to be petted, even consenting to romp with the lad and following him clumsily about the yard. “I’ve seen one or two wolf cubs that took to human training, that way,” said the trapper as he watched Roland and the changeling and Pink playing gayly together. “But most of them stay mean and ornery, no matter what pains you take with ’em. Watch out for that one, too. It may think it’s a dog, for a while. But some day it’s dead sure to find out it’s a wolf. When it does, look out!”
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 3823
One must look ahead in such matters. For, while many humans live too long, all dogs die too young. Your dog is not in his fullest prime of brain and strength and chum-ship until he has passed his third birthday
❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌Spoiler alert
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 44
I. The Gorgeous Pink Puppy
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 60
fourmonther.
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 70
“I like this one,” he said. “She has brain and pluck and instinct. She didn’t start the squabble, either. But
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 71
she finished it, to the queen’s taste. She’s true collie. How much?” For a moment Kerwin gaped in contemptuous amaze. Then he went into
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 73
“You’ve sure got a good eye for a dog, my friend,” said he. “Just at one glance you’ve chosen the pick of the two litters. She’s the best of the lot, by far. Sired by Sunnybank Gray Dawn; no less. I refused a hundred dollars for her, last week. I was planning to keep her, for the show circuit and as a brood matron. But
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 75
since you seem to have took such a fancy to her——” “Hold on,” interposed Breck, very quietly. “Let’s understand each other, please. You wouldn’t dare show this mutt, anywhere; and you know it.
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 96
Thus it was that Pink journeyed to her new owner’s farm, and a week later to the Maine woods. Breck’s son, Roland, was enraptured with her from the start. His father’s twelve-year-old collie—two years younger than Roland himself—had died a month earlier. The old dog’s passing had been a sharp sorrow to the animal-loving boy. He welcomed the puppy with open
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 99
arms. To him her absurd color was a delight.
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 113
Cuddled against Pink’s furry side were five moist and squirmy and rat-like morsels of caninity; her first puppies, feeble little mongrels sired by a near-by trapper’s rabbit-hound. To Breck they were of scant attractiveness. To Roland they were
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 114
the most wonderful creatures on earth. Breck had no intention of bringing up such a litter. Yet he dreaded to make his boy unhappy by decreeing their death. Nature came to the rescue. One by one, within the first two days, the tiny crossbreeds began to “squeak” (in other words, to refuse food and to cry continuously); then, one by one, after the way of “squeakers,” they died. Pink cuddled the cold and lifeless little things to her, crooning pitifully over their bodies, licking them and trying to make them feed. Roland’s grief was scarcely less than was hers. Breck solved the unhappy situation by ordering Pink out of the house with the boy, for a walk. Reluctantly she obeyed. In her absence the man buried her dead babies.
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 132
Evidently this was an infant of the same litter, overlooked in the tangled undergrowth by the trapper who had slain its mother. For two days it must have hidden thus, starving, until Pink’s keen sense of smell had located it in the thicket where it crouched. She had not harmed the starving little thing, in bringing it to Roland. It was thin and weak, but unhurt. Also, it snarled and snapped and growled ferociously at the collie and at the boy.
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 136
Roland laid the wolfling on the ground again, meaning to kill it with a stick. There was a cash bounty on all wolves. He was minded to collect a few dollars on this find of Pink’s. But Pink would not have it so. She had been peering worriedly up at Roland while he held the cub. Now, as he laid it down, she caught it gently in her mouth again, and set off at a canter toward home. Her overpowering new mother instinct had been too strong for the ancestral hate of dog for wolf.
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 147
Roland entered zestfully into his work of taming and training his collie’s foster child. The task was by no means as difficult as he and Breck had feared. It was Pink that did the bulk of it. Had the little wolf been brought up without a dog mother, its wildness might have been far harder to cure. But in a few days it forgot to snarl when the boy handled it. It lost its feebleness and thinness, and with them its forest ferocity. Soon it became to all intents a clumsy and non-belligerent collie pup, lapping
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 150
milk from the weaning pan, suffering itself to be petted, even consenting to romp with the lad and following him clumsily about the yard. “I’ve seen one or two wolf cubs that took to human training, that way,” said the trapper as he watched Roland and the changeling and Pink playing gayly together. “But most of them stay mean and ornery, no matter what pains you take with ’em. Watch out for that one, too. It may think it’s a dog, for a while. But some day it’s dead sure to find out it’s a wolf. When it does, look out!”
September 9, 2018
Well done, gripping short stories. They are long enough to make you care about the characters, and short enough that reading them is like eating potato chips - hard to do just one.
When we were cleaning out old books from my dad's garage, we told the kids they could take any that they wished. My middle schooler chose this volume, and declared it to be the favorite book in the world, not wanting me to even read it afterwards if I might cough on it, "... since it isn't made anymore." This particular copy was published in 1926, six years before my dad's birth, which made me wonder when and how it got it. I also wonder why it isn't still published. It is that good.
It surprised me somewhat that my dad would have such a book. He preferred fantasy and science fiction - Jules Verne, H. G. Wells, Lewis Carroll, L. Frank Baum, Rudyard Kipling, Edgar Rice Burroughs. But I agreed that there couldn't be a better book than "My Friend the Dog" for my middle schooler, and I am glad for that child to have such a momento of my dad's.
Mainly, the stories focused on the collie breed, although there are a couple of wolf stories. The author bred collies, his own personal favorite. The stories are full of courage, heroism, loyalty, and tall odds. It surprised me that the middle schooler wasn't troubled by some of the violence in the books, but it was not gratuitous, meaningless violence. It was always for protection of the beloved weak.
The writing style, particularly of the last story, "Collie!" not about a collie, but a wolf, reminded me of Zane Grey's wilderness writings, such as "Man of the Forest."
My middle schooler's favorite story was "The Destroyer from Nowhere," about an ugly collie pup tied to a stone and thrown from a bridge ... onto a swimmer underneath it. The story was about how the pup intertwined himself into the family life of the swimmer, and the adventures that followed.
Somehow, I remembered "The Feud," about the mystery of various missing dogs. That made me think that I may have read this book before, or else read that short story somewhere else. I knew where the dogs were going to be.
I would be hard pressed to pick a favorite. They were all good.
Terhune didn't write much about romance, but one of the stories had a little romance in it, and my favorite quotes came from that one, "Love Me, Love My Dog."
"If you had had to live in the backwoods as I did - in the days when backwoods were really backwoods, you'd know that a deer is the deadliest and most dangerous brute anywhere in this part of the country. They've got soft eyes and they're nice to look at. But they're devils, at heart, every one of them. I'd rather take my chances with a wounded bear than with a wounded deer. Any expert hunter would."
Thank you, thank you for the quote. My family liked to laugh at the time in my childhood when a buck charged me, but it was a terrifying experience. I had been in the woods with my uncle's dog, and saw, afar off, the dog was chasing something brown. Another dog, I thought. But then the brown thing turned and chased the dog. It was an angry buck, antlers lowered. The dog, a beagle, tried a few tricks to escape, and finally, in desperation ran to me for protection, hiding behind me, and wagging his tail at me as if he knew I could stop the charging deer.
But the charging deer didn't stop, and decided to charge me instead. I jumped over a water pipeline, about waist high, and ran out on a rickety, rusted metal bridge, barely wide enough to walk on, and with no railing. I didn't think it would hold the deer's weight. I wasn't sure it would hold mine.
Unarmed, I didn't know what to do to stop the onslaught, and then, in rage at the dog for getting me into this situation, I shouted, "What do you expect me to do about it?" Strangely enough, at the sound of my voice, the deer vanished. I don't mean it ran off. It vanished silently, camouflaged perfectly into the woods. I didn't know where it went, and I didn't hear it run. I don't think that the buck had understood that I was a human until I spoke, and that knowledge frightened it away. Either that, or I'm a lot scarier than I think I am whenever I shout. And I wasn't really mad at the dog anymore, either. His wagging tail happily told me that his confidence in me was justified, and how could I argue against that?
Anyway, my point is that I could fully understand the power in the fury of a raging buck. It's real.
"In this piece he says a woman asked him once if a sweet little fawn would be a safe pet for her child. He says he told her a sweet little Bengal tiger would be just as safe a pet. And he's right."
"Never yet was there a lovers' quarrel that was logical or even interesting, to any sane mind. Never was there one which did not seem as tragic as an earthquake and as ferociously eloquent as a Cicero oration, to its participants."
His parents "glanced amusedly at each other. They had reached an age when lovers' quarrels can be regarded as something less hideously devastating than a world war."
"She was glad she had found out his true character before it was too late. As a proof of her gladness, she began to cry."
When we were cleaning out old books from my dad's garage, we told the kids they could take any that they wished. My middle schooler chose this volume, and declared it to be the favorite book in the world, not wanting me to even read it afterwards if I might cough on it, "... since it isn't made anymore." This particular copy was published in 1926, six years before my dad's birth, which made me wonder when and how it got it. I also wonder why it isn't still published. It is that good.
It surprised me somewhat that my dad would have such a book. He preferred fantasy and science fiction - Jules Verne, H. G. Wells, Lewis Carroll, L. Frank Baum, Rudyard Kipling, Edgar Rice Burroughs. But I agreed that there couldn't be a better book than "My Friend the Dog" for my middle schooler, and I am glad for that child to have such a momento of my dad's.
Mainly, the stories focused on the collie breed, although there are a couple of wolf stories. The author bred collies, his own personal favorite. The stories are full of courage, heroism, loyalty, and tall odds. It surprised me that the middle schooler wasn't troubled by some of the violence in the books, but it was not gratuitous, meaningless violence. It was always for protection of the beloved weak.
The writing style, particularly of the last story, "Collie!" not about a collie, but a wolf, reminded me of Zane Grey's wilderness writings, such as "Man of the Forest."
My middle schooler's favorite story was "The Destroyer from Nowhere," about an ugly collie pup tied to a stone and thrown from a bridge ... onto a swimmer underneath it. The story was about how the pup intertwined himself into the family life of the swimmer, and the adventures that followed.
Somehow, I remembered "The Feud," about the mystery of various missing dogs. That made me think that I may have read this book before, or else read that short story somewhere else. I knew where the dogs were going to be.
I would be hard pressed to pick a favorite. They were all good.
Terhune didn't write much about romance, but one of the stories had a little romance in it, and my favorite quotes came from that one, "Love Me, Love My Dog."
"If you had had to live in the backwoods as I did - in the days when backwoods were really backwoods, you'd know that a deer is the deadliest and most dangerous brute anywhere in this part of the country. They've got soft eyes and they're nice to look at. But they're devils, at heart, every one of them. I'd rather take my chances with a wounded bear than with a wounded deer. Any expert hunter would."
Thank you, thank you for the quote. My family liked to laugh at the time in my childhood when a buck charged me, but it was a terrifying experience. I had been in the woods with my uncle's dog, and saw, afar off, the dog was chasing something brown. Another dog, I thought. But then the brown thing turned and chased the dog. It was an angry buck, antlers lowered. The dog, a beagle, tried a few tricks to escape, and finally, in desperation ran to me for protection, hiding behind me, and wagging his tail at me as if he knew I could stop the charging deer.
But the charging deer didn't stop, and decided to charge me instead. I jumped over a water pipeline, about waist high, and ran out on a rickety, rusted metal bridge, barely wide enough to walk on, and with no railing. I didn't think it would hold the deer's weight. I wasn't sure it would hold mine.
Unarmed, I didn't know what to do to stop the onslaught, and then, in rage at the dog for getting me into this situation, I shouted, "What do you expect me to do about it?" Strangely enough, at the sound of my voice, the deer vanished. I don't mean it ran off. It vanished silently, camouflaged perfectly into the woods. I didn't know where it went, and I didn't hear it run. I don't think that the buck had understood that I was a human until I spoke, and that knowledge frightened it away. Either that, or I'm a lot scarier than I think I am whenever I shout. And I wasn't really mad at the dog anymore, either. His wagging tail happily told me that his confidence in me was justified, and how could I argue against that?
Anyway, my point is that I could fully understand the power in the fury of a raging buck. It's real.
"In this piece he says a woman asked him once if a sweet little fawn would be a safe pet for her child. He says he told her a sweet little Bengal tiger would be just as safe a pet. And he's right."
"Never yet was there a lovers' quarrel that was logical or even interesting, to any sane mind. Never was there one which did not seem as tragic as an earthquake and as ferociously eloquent as a Cicero oration, to its participants."
His parents "glanced amusedly at each other. They had reached an age when lovers' quarrels can be regarded as something less hideously devastating than a world war."
"She was glad she had found out his true character before it was too late. As a proof of her gladness, she began to cry."
July 15, 2025
The book contains a group of short stories regarding the majestic wonder of the collie. It is an excellent book for younger readers as it will engage their attention with fairly short chapters and exciting stories. The book was written in the early 1920's, and I have wondered if perhaps our dogs today have been changed considerably since it was written for I have never had any dogs as spirited or as intelligent as those described in the book. Most specimens I encounter today seem to think they are spoiled children and really wouldn't know how to manage outdoors much less come to the aid of anyone.
October 3, 2022
I did not enjoy this collection of short stories as much as I expected to. The dogs were wonderful. Some humans were inspiring, but as every story needs a "problem to be solved," I was sadly reminded how many evil people there are in this world. I would not re-read this book for that reason.
February 1, 2025
I loved the book. Each chapter is its own unigue story, which made me either laugh, cry, or something in between. If you love dogs, you'll enjoy this book.
February 13, 2026
my name comes from this book! Rashe
Story #1 is amazing so far. This is Revenge of the Sith with dogs
Story #1 is amazing so far. This is Revenge of the Sith with dogs
December 30, 2011
I'm reading this book because it was part of my character's (Nina from The Cocktail Hour) childhood. She loves dogs. Loves them. Actually feels much more comfortable with them than with humans. So I started reading this book, which is a collection of stories about collies and their humans, simply as character research. But I found I can't stop reading it. The stories are lovely--mostly about canine loyalty, heroism, intelligence, and love with some human weaknesses thrown in for comparison. I find myself gripped by the stories and worried about the dogs.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews