BOOK REVIEW: "Izzy & Lenore"

Izzy & Lenore, Two Dogs, an Unexpected Journey, and Me

-Jon Katz

 2008, Random House, Inc., New York, New York

 ISBN: 978-4000-6630-8

But Not as Eloquently...

This past March, my husband Andy called me from home as I drove back from 10 days in the city, most of which were spent caring for my Mom as she recuperated from hip-replacement surgery.

"I've been reading Jon Katz's book, Izzy & Lenore," he said.  This was an unusual book choice for him; he typically enjoys vegging out before bed with a good spy novel.  "Well," he continued, "Katz is a good writer, and it's nice that he is a hospice volunteer, but he has nothing on my wife."

What? I asked.

"All the stuff you do.  And have done.  Raising Future Leader dog puppies.  Caring for your mom, and your nieces.  And look at your own volunteer work for hospice, massaging all those people.  You could write a book as good as Katz."

I pulled over because my eyes suddenly welled with tears.  I'd been feeling a bit guilty spending so much time away from Andy, caring for others.  He would never ask me not to, but I sensed that he wished I was more available.

I guess I was wrong.  How can I not love this guy who always comes through for me?

However, as far as book-writing goes I'm not so sure I can write so from-the-heart as Jon Katz does in his book, Izzy & Lenore.  Katz has written several books about his dogs and life on Bedlam Farm in upstate New York, but it is in this book that he shares his personal journey with depression.

Over the course of one year, Katz finds renewal from his newly-recognized mental illness through several avenues--his creativity with photography and writing; a reconnection with his older sister; his rescue of Izzy, a near-feral border collie who possesses an uncanny ability to comfort the dying; the entrance of Lenore, a well-bred, sweet black Lab puppy, who immediately begins to lift his mood.  And shares all with his reader.

Smiling down a this affectionate, attentive creature, I realized that getting Lenore was already lifting my fatigue, brightening my funk, reminding me why I was up here in the country, and what I loved. (78)

Katz renders his volunteer hospice visits with precise imagery.  His descriptions of hospital beds set up in living areas are consistent with my own hospice experiences.

Izzy surveyed the room, his gaze lighting on the hospital bed set up in the middle of the living room.  Also increasingly familiar: living rooms serving as convenient places for sick people, a space where they can be comforted and monitored by family, friends, doctors, nurses, and social workers.  It keeps them in the middle of the activity, not shut away, and provides easy access to kitchens and TVs. (114)

Izzy, and Lenore too, are remarkable examples of the connections we humans share with dogs.  There are things they sense, or seem to just "know."  Dog lovers, perhaps, will not be surprised at Izzy's skill in "reading" his hospice patients, consoling them with soft, furry doors into their memories.

Fans of Katz will want to read Izzy & Lenore to get a closer look at the man of Bedlam Farm.  Dog-lovers should read Izzy & Lenore for a compassionate perspective of the incredible bond we share with these amazing animals.

(And thank you, Andy, for loving me so!)

BOOK REVIEW: "Scent of the Missing"

Scent of the Missing

-by Susannah Charleson
 2010, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, New York, New York
 ISBN:  978-547-15244-8

For readers who want "more" about Search and Rescue (SAR) dogs than what Nora Roberts presented in her romantic-fiction The Search, Susannah Charleson's Scent of the Missing is sure to please.  (To read my review of Roberts book, click on my post from September 1, 2010.)  Charleson's memoir of her experiences volunteering for a SAR team in Dallas, Texas, while training her own Golder Retriever puppy, Puzzle, to become a certified SAR team member, offers an intimate look at the rewarding, yet demanding world of Search and Rescue.

Charleson weaves personal narrative about her life with case studies of actual SAR operations, changing specifics of the incidents to protect those involved.  As she indicates in her opening "Author's Note,"

Who, where, and when are frankly altered; what, why, and how are as straightforward as one person's perspective can make them.  The dogs are all real.  You can hold up a biscuit and call them by name.

Altered or not, Charleson's descriptive writing pulls the reader out of bed with her as she heads out to middle-of-the-dark-and-rainy-night calls, looking over her shoulder as she supports canine SAR teams tramping through the wilderness or stumbling over debris in abandoned buildings.  The reader is with Charleson all the way during the two years of training Puzzle, and feels Charleson's misdoubts as she fights through fatigue caused by a serious illness.  Will she have the ability to both do the training and perform the Search and Rescue functions?

It is not surprising to read in Charleson's book that the qualities necessary for a SAR dog are drive, confidence, and willingness to work for a human.  What IS surprising is that only 20 percent of dogs trained to become a SAR dog actually become a SAR dog.

A free-floating statistic you hear in canine SAR states that 80 percent of would-be search dogs wash out.  They can't do the work or won't do the work or too many things stress them to overload and they shut down.  Aptitude testing for puppies gives an initial idea of a puppy's overall assurance, but there are  no guarantees which way the maturing dog will go.  (166-67)

This success rate is much less than those of dogs raised to become guide dogs.  Charleson relates that a trainer once told her, "some of those 80 percent dogs wash out because of their handlers" (173).  This is Charleson's fear.

Scent of the Missing is a many-layered book.  Charleson gives background information on dog breeds suited to SAR work, especially Golden Retrievers; she is open and honest about her divorce, her illness, and her own misgivings.  She paints a realistic picture of the physical demands and commitment level of SAR volunteers (as well as their camaraderie), including the mental anguish that sometimes accompanies a search with no resolution.  Charleson also celebrates successes, whether it is a lost person found, or the passing of the written and practical tests she and Puzzle endure to finally become "certified."


A FEW SURPRISING DETAILS

• It took three years of volunteering as a field assistant before Charleson earned a spot on the SAR team to train and run her own dog.

• Volunteering for a SAR team is a HUGE commitment that involves, among other things, infringement on personal time (can be called at any time to go anywhere), personal expense (volunteers are responsible for all costs associated with their dogs, equipment, and as a rule, their travel to and from a search site), and intense physical training (SAR teams even learn to rappel with their dogs!).

• SAR volunteers train 3-7 hours weekly and undergo 10-15 hours of wilderness training, including campouts.

• SAR volunteers take classes in scent theory, medical assessment, meteorology, report writing, building construction, situation size-up, Morse-code, knot tying, dog obedience, map and compass reading, GPS, first-aid, crime scene preservation, interviewing techniques, interagency protocols, and radio navigation.

For a dog-lover considering volunteering for a canine Search and Rescue team, it would serve you well to read Susannah Charleson's book Scent of the Missing first.  Charleson reports that a question she oftentimes hears from the uninitiated is, "You do this for fun?" (67).  Like the struggle that most Leader Dog for the Blind puppy-raisers that I know have with answering our most common question ("How can you give them up?"), Charleson feels that her pat answer, "We do it for service," doesn't quite express her multi-faceted reasons.

We do it for service would be the summary response, and accurate too, but sounds a bit lofty, and canine SAR folk are not generally a lofty group.  We trudge through Dumpsters too often, carry our dogs' warm poo bags too frequently to claim much glory. (67-8)

If you are not up to the commitment level demanded of a canine SAR volunteer, consider raising a puppy for Leader Dogs for the Blind (for more information, click their Raise a Puppy page).

You will still deal with puppy "poo," but you might be surprised that the puppy-raising community is just as supportive and dedicated as Charleson's SAR team members, and you will feel the same satisfaction that comes from giving service.

Check out Susannah Charleson's website: http://www.scentofthemissing.com/the-book/.

BOOK REVIEW: "Surviving Your Dog's Adolescence: A Positive Training Program"

Before I begin, a quick update on Leader Dog Mike!  A trainer named Mike (!) from Leader Dogs for the Blind is bringing LD Mike to his handler tomorrow.  I was lucky to be contacted by Wayne and he is anxious to partner with LD Mike (I love typing that:  LD).  LD Mike will be Wayne's third Leader Dog.  If any of you are interested in following the continuing story of LD Mike, check out Wayne's new blog at:  http://myleaderdogjournal.blogspot.com/.  Congratulations, Wayne!  We might be just as excited as you are!

Surviving Your Dog's Adolescence: A Positive Training Program

-by Carol Lea Benjamin
1993, Macmillan General Reference, New York, NY 
 ISBN: 0-87605-742-3

Carol Lea Benjamin's book, Surviving Your Dog's Adolescence: A Positive Training Program, is one book among many on a recommended reading list in my Leader Dogs for the Blind puppy-manual.  What better title to select just as FLD Gus hits the six-month-old mark?  I've been looking for signs of his approaching adolescence.

When FLD Gus retreats from the open van door and refuses to get out when I take him to the grocery store, is it because he is testing me?  Or is he just reluctant to leap down into the salty slush of the parking lot?  When FLD Gus balks as I attempt to put on his blue "Puppy Being Trained for Leader Dogs for the Blind" working jacket, is it because he doesn't want to "work?"  Or did I whack him in the face too many times with my shoulder purse as I bent over him to clip the buckle?

In my experience, when puppies hit their hormonal hurricane, it's as if the whirlwind erases everything they've ever learned; at the same time it suddenly occurs to them that maybe, just maybe, they DON'T have to do what I ask them to do.  I have strategies for dealing with this adolescent behavior (see my post from August 17, 2010, "Help, My Puppy is a Teenager!"), but I was interested in reading about Benjamin's approach.

Carol Lea is a long-time dog trainer and writer.  She's written several other books on dog behavior and has written a column ("Dog Trainer's Diary") for the American Kennel Club's Gazette since 1979.

The dog you want does not just happen all by itself.  You must build the dog of your dreams, slowly, carefully, with knowledge of dog behavior and training techniques, intelligent planning and an inexhaustible sense of humor.  (Page 25)

In her book, Surviving Your Dog's Adolescence: A Positive Training Program, Benjamin answers many puppy-owners' calls for help at that dreaded time called "adolescence."  She places no blame for this behavioral "brattiness" other than the "canine unemployment" that our puppies deal with today. Problems occur because exuberant young dogs are unable to use up their abundant energy; in the past, juvenile dogs were just too busy surviving to cause trouble.  (Interesting that Benjamin considers negative human adolescent behaviors to be the result of similar leisure time!)

The four sections in Benjamin's book are well organized, instructive, and frequently amusing.  She uses photographs to illustrate training techniques for specific commands.

FIRST
Benjamin leads the reader through a basic grounding in the human/canine relationship--it's all about ATTITUDE.  She believes that the most important lesson she can impart to her reader is than an adolescent dog NEEDS LEADERSHIP.  She advocates a traditional, "natural" training approach based on the way dogs "treat each other."  She warns that luring with food or treat training is great for "performance," but does not impart adequate respect.

Traditional training, which assumes intelligence on the part of both the teacher and the student, works.   It works on puppies, on adolescents, on adults--even those dogs who have been abused.  So use it with confidence.  This trainer will not have to apologize in midstream and send you off to find another style of dog training because the methods taught in this program are truly positive, positive, meaning clear, precise, sure, unequivocal.  (Page 35)

Benjamin details case studies in adolescent behaviors and follows with a list of eight "Dog Laws" as illustrations that, as she puts it, "your dog is not a little person in fur."  These "Laws of Nature from a Dog's Point of View" are worth the price of this book in themselves!

Equally valuable is Benjamin's "Trainer's Dozen," a list of 13 practical exercises designed to build leadership with your canine companion.  She also includes information about proper training equipment (like a short leather leash), and the qualities of a successful trainer (time, patience, sense of humor, and commitment).

I am familiar with many of Benjamin's "Trainer's Dozen," such as the use of body language, how to praise and correct appropriately, and reviewing basic obedience commands to reinforce good behavior.  Others are new to me, adding additional "tools" to my training toolbox; a couple of others are surprising.

In the first case, for instance, I was interested in Benjamin's training technique for what she terms an "emergency down" and how to use this command to keep your dog safe and respectful by obeying "without thinking."  A great tool!  Another unexpected exercise was her description of a "nose hug" to calm wildness--cupping your dog's muzzle with your hand, imitating a dominant dog's greeting of a subordinate.  I cup my dog's nose regularly, without knowing this!

However, I was surprised at Benjamin's advice not to pet a dog under its chin.  She says this mimics the response of the subordinate dog to the "alpha"--licking the dominant dog under the chin.  Benjamin also recommends teaching your dog to give you its paw, which she describes as a submissive gesture.  I always thought the opposite, that placing a paw on you is similar to jumping up, trying to "take up your space."


SECOND
Benjamin asserts that it is imperative to KNOW YOUR DOG.  Know more about your dog than what time he gets up in the morning, or what shoe he will likely chew.  She urges her reader to study breed AND personality types, and recommends specific training approaches for each type.  For example, a "smart" dog is easily bored--be "smarter" and change routines, don't go over and over the same commands, mix things up, take the dog to a different location to train.  A "dumb" dog on the other hand, needs patience--take things slowly.

When I helped my trainer-friend Katie run classes for obedience trainers, our mantra was LEARN TO READ THE DOG.  Benjamin advises, "pay attention."

Benjamin lets her reader in on "trade secrets."  What does a professional trainer do to be successful?

• She plans and sets short and long-term goals.
• She takes notes about how well each training session contributes to meeting these goals.
• She takes the time to establish leadership.
• She works on one "problem" at a time.

What does a professional trainer advise her client to do with an adolescent dog?

• Tire out your dog. (Ah, a familiar phrase!  "A Tired Puppy is a Good Puppy"--my TIP from April 6, 2010.)
• Teach and reward with play.
• Learn from your dog.
• Study your breed standards.
• Be creative.
• When you are frustrated and feeling angry, reestablish a warm relationship by petting your dog with warmed hands!
• Don't roughhouse with your dog.

THIRD
I think it was Cesar Milan who stated, "There are no bad dogs, just bad owners."  Benjamin states this a bit more gently in Surviving Your Dog's Adolescence.  A well-behaved dog is the result of what kind of owner you ARE, rather than what you DO.

Once you have garnered your dog's true respect, many of the problems you previously fretted over will begin to abate and his behavior will fall into line.  (Page 133)

If your adolescent dog exhibits any of the negative behaviors discussed in Benjamin's earlier case studies, she provides a list of behavior changes that YOU must do to "take charge."  Things like "no free treats," long down-stays, incorporating training into everyday situations (making your dog SIT before meals, for example), keeping your dog off the furniture.  I chuckled to myself when she described "constructive exercise" as a long walk, not "being tied to a tree in your yard."  My trainer-friend Katie often explained that thinking your dog exercises by running around in the backyard is like  taking your kid to "Chucky Cheese"--they get wound-up-like-a-cranky-two-year-old tired, not tired out and calm!

Fortunately, Benjamin offers practical strategies to correct these behavior problems.  You should read this book if any of these words fit your dog:  barky, bossy, crazy, destructive, thief, manipulative, fearful, shy, fussy eater, no self-control, mounting, selective hearing, to name a few.  (If you think your dog is truly "aggressive," Benjamin suggests you find professional help.)

Benjamin's discussion about "stress whining" caught my eye.  My nine-year-old lab/mix (maybe whippet/greyhound/terrier?) Gypsy, is a very nervous dog.  I sometimes call her my "whiner-rhymer!"  According to Benjamin, "Stress whining is an unconscious activity."

The first step in correcting Gypsy's unconscious whining is to make her aware of what she is doing.  Once she is conscious of her whining, I can work on getting her to stop whining.  It was interesting to learn from Benjamin that this whining behavior is common in dogs that "were bred for really tough work and are not getting the opportunity to do it" (page 184).  That sounds like my Gypsy!


FOUR
Benjamin emphasizes that building your "dream dog" is about establishing the proper relationship between you and your canine companion.  As she says, a dog isn't just a piece of furniture.  We have as much to learn from our dogs as they have to learn from us.  The loyalty and love we get from a happy, adjusted dog is worth the time, effort, and commitment it takes to do as Benjamin suggests.  It is a "lifetime project."  Embrace the exuberance of your adolescent dog and HAVE FUN!



Benjamin's book, Surviving Your Dog's Adolescence: A Positive Training Program, reinforces my own beliefs about dealing with an adolescent dog.  In the human/dog relationship, it is imperative that we humans remember that we are smarter than our canines (if we educate ourselves about canine-behavior and training techniques), and it is OUR responsibility to give them mental and physical exercise, and proper leadership.  Too often, our puppies train US.

When FLD Gus begins his "wild and crazy guy" imitation (ok, I'm telling my age--who remembers Steve Martin's character on "Saturday Night Live?"), I now have a few extra tricks of my own to help him through his hormonal hurricane...thanks to Carol Lea Benjamin!

BOOK REVIEW: "Follow My Leader"

FOLLOW MY LEADER

-by James B. Garfield

 First published in 1957, Viking Press.

 This edition 1994, Puffin Books, NY.

 ISBN 0-14-036485-4

This review (one of several) was on the Amazon.com website for Garfield's book, Follow My Leader:

From the Author's Granddaughter, July 7, 2008

This review is from: Follow My Leader (Paperback)

I'm James Garfield's granddaughter. He dedicated the book to my mother, Carolyn Lazarus, who is now 81 years old. My granddad lived to be 102 years old, living half of his life blind. He had a seeing eye dog, Coral, a golden retriever who was the sweetest animal I've ever met and she was so very attentive to him. He would have been very flattered to read these reviews so I thank all of you who have taken the time to write about Follow My Leader.

Follow My Leader is a touching story about an 11-year-old boy who looses his eyesight in an accident involving a firecracker (didn't our mothers always tell us this would happen?).  Jimmy Carter (no, not the President) learns to cope with his blindness through the help and guidance of Miss Thompson, a State Department of Rehabilitation therapist.  She teaches him Braille and mobility skills, including navigation with a cane.

Eventually, Jimmy is accepted into a guide dog school and travels 400 miles on his own to attend training and receives "Sirius," his German Shepherd "eyes."  Jimmy later changes the dog's name to "Leader," a name that turns out to be appropriate in more ways than one!

Jimmy's nine-year-old sister, Carolyn, his friends Chuck and Art, his single-mom, Ruth, and his aunt Martha accompany and support him in his journey through anger, fear, uncertainty, tentative confidence, forgiveness, and finally independence.  Jimmy finds allies at the guide dog school among his classmates and trainer, Mr. Weeks, but his roommate, Mack MacDonald, is the one who plants the seed that ultimately leads to Jimmy's "real" healing.

It was intriguing to read Garfield's granddaughter's review.  Garfield's blindness certainly enable him to draw upon his own feelings; real feelings that radiate clearly in his descriptions of Jimmy finding his way in this newly-dark world.  The fact that Jimmy's school refuses to allow access to Leader make it obvious that Garfield wrote Follow My Leader long before the American Disabilities Act (ADA), but details about Jimmy's mobility training are informative and entertaining.  For instance, the sequence when Miss Thompson coaches Jimmy in "facial vision" as he learns to feel air currents is fascinating.

    Jimmy clapped his hands and thought he heard the sound bounce back to him—like radar and like the bat.

    “Now I’ll lead you to the door.” Miss Thompson took his arm.  “You can clap your hands again and hear the difference.”

    Jimmy stood in front of the doorway and clapped his hands.  “Why,” he said, “it doesn’t sound just different, it feels different!”

    “Good!  You feel the air current,” she told him.

    “Yes, it’s blowing into the room a little.”

    “That is another way of seeing with your face.  You can both hear and feel.  Now Jimmy,” she went on, “if you will stand close to the wall I’ll let you try something else.  Here, stand about two feet from the wall and lean slowly toward it.”

    “What must I look for?”  Jimmy asked.

    “I’m going to let you see what you find.”

    “I found something.”  Jimmy turned his cheek to the wall.  “If I get close enough it sounds like putting a seashell to my ear.”

     “That’s too close,” she said.  “Remember you felt the air moving through the door.  All the air in this room is moving.  It strikes the wall and  starts back toward the center of the room, but meets another current of air that stops it.”

    “Then where does it go?” Jimmy tried to feel the breeze.

    “It just piles up against the wall and forms a sort of blanket or cushion,” Miss Thompson explained.

    “You mean the air is compressed near the wall?”  Jimmy asked.

    “Yes, Jimmy.”

    Jimmy turned his face in several directions.  “Hey, I think I’ve got it.”

    “All right.  Now how far are you from the wall?”  she asked.

    “Try it and see,” she suggested, and Jimmy found the wall.

    “Now step back a few steps and then walk slowly forward,” Miss Thompson instructed, “but stop just before you reach the wall and tell me how near you are to it.”

    The three children watched as Jimmy tried the experiment several times.

    “I want you to practice that, Jimmy, until you can walk right up to the wall and stop about one foot from it.”

    “All right, Miss Thompson, but I wish the walls wore perfume!”

p. 57-58

As a puppy-raiser for Leader Dogs for the Blind, I was particularly interested in Jimmy's experience at the guide dog school.  (However, it is unlikely today that an 11-year-old would receive a guide dog; age 16 is the requirement at Leader Dogs.)  Before Jimmy meets Leader, he spends three days with Mr. Weeks learning commands in much the same manner as is currently practiced at Leader Dogs.  Leader Dogs calls this "Juno" training--the trainer manipulates the harness and acts as the guide dog for the person!

The next morning Jimmy went for a solo walk with Mr. Weeks.  He was given one end of a handle like the one a guide dog wears on his harness, and Mr. Weeks held the other end....They practiced for about an hour over the obstacle course, with Mr. Weeks playing guide dog.  Jimmy said afterward that Mr. Weeks did everything but bite.  "He growled once in a while when I made a silly mistake, but it was a lot of fun.  I can't wait to get my dog."   p. 104-106

Read Follow My Leader if you are interested in guide dogs.  Share it with youngsters; there is hope and solutions no matter how dark things get, and lessons to be learned about forgiveness and healing.  Enjoy the book, but keep in mind that Garfield wrote it in the 1950's, before the ADA (and before women's rights).  Sorry, I tried not to go there--that's all I'll say!

BOOK REVIEW: "Year of the Dog"

YEAR OF THE DOG

-by Shelby Hearon
 2007, University of Texas
 ISBN-13:  978-0-292-71469-4






Caution:  The year-long process of raising a guide-dog puppy is the backdrop for Shelby Hearon's recovering-heart + new-relationship tale, Year of the Dog.  However, if you are interested in becoming a volunteer puppy-raiser for a guide dog school, or are currently raising one, the puppy-raising details in this book may prove to be a disappointment.

Janey Daniels, Hearon's twenty-something protagonist, takes a year-long sabbatical from her pharmacist job in the small, South Carolina town where she grew up to escape the town's incessant gossip after her divorce.  Janey flees to Vermont, home of her long estranged and secretive Aunt May, and plans to occupy her year raising Beulah, a yellow-lab puppy for Companion Dogs for the Blind (a fictional school).

In a scene reminiscent of the Jim Beam Whiskey television commercial where guys "rent" puppies in order to pick up women (click on this link to view the commercial:  http://www.adweek.com/aw/creative/ad-of-the-day/article_display.jsp?creativeId=270342), Janey meets high-school teacher James Maarten at the local dog park.  James is caring for one of his student's dog.  "The kids tell you, You want to meet someone, get a dog." James tells her on page seven.

Of course, it wouldn't be a story if Janey and James didn't juggle their respective past lives to overcome personal loss, and go on to explore a relationship together.  Along the way, mysteries are solved, and in spite of not much effort from Janey, Beulah grows up.

Beulah seems to function as an "accessory" in Janey's life; not once does Hearon depict the mischievous antics of an adolescent lab, or the frustrations of a first-time puppy-raiser (Janey has never owned a dog!)  Details of raising a guide-dog puppy feel "dropped" into the story, as if Hearon wanted to add authenticity instead of adding metaphoric depth.

Yet, this "authenticity" doesn't ring true to me, a third-time puppy-raiser for Leader Dogs for the Blind.  For example, at the "Puppy Social" described on pages 50-53, the future guide dogs have "free-time" after some basic obedience exercises and play with tennis balls and balls of yarn.  We do not allow our Future Leader Dog puppies to play with tennis balls or yarn!

When I take my Future Leader Dog puppy out in public, he must always wear his "working" vest or bandana.  In Year of the Dog, Beulah doesn't wear her working uniform all the time in public.  At a scene on page 180, Janey and James enter a New York restaurant and Janey removes Beulah's vest, "deciding the cafe' looked as if it would welcome her without a vest."

While it is clear that Hearon did some research into guide-dog puppy-raising, I can't imagine that she had first-hand knowledge as a puppy-raiser. 

Year of the Dog is a fun and quick read, but if you are looking for advice or training tips for raising a future guide dog, you'll do better by actually volunteering--and raising your own Future Leader Dog!

BOOK REVIEW: "The Search"

Someone asked for "more" on my last BOOK REVIEW post, so here you are--that is, if this person was referring to a book review!  If more scientific information about canines is what you want more of, you'll have to let me know via the comments.

Here is my tongue-in-cheek review of "The Search" by Nora Roberts, 2010, G.P. Putnam's Sons, New York, ISBN 978-0-399-15657-1.

Recipe for a romantic-suspense novel.

Standard. 

Utensils required:

• contemporary times
• plot versus character driven narrative

Ingredients:

• brooding hero
• uneasy heroine
• strong and immediate attraction
• internal conflicts
• threat
• action
• sex

First, combine one brooding hero with one uneasy heroine.  Add strong and immediate attraction.  Blend with internal conflicts.

Next, toss in a threat (which forces interaction).  Whip with action and formula sex scenes.

Bake for a short time.  Novel is done when the hero kills the villain to save the heroine, the two fall in love, and get married to live happily ever after.

Nutritional Analysis:

• reduced calories
• romance and suspense balanced

Recipe for romantic-suspense novel.
Nora Roberts' The Search.

Utensils required:

• isolated setting--Orcas Island off the coast of Seattle, Washinton, current times
• plot-driven narrative, with dog-training activities as background

Ingredients:

• heroine--Fiona Bristow, a single woman in her late-twenties, a dog-trainer who owns and works three search-and-rescue labs.  She is the lone survivor of a serial-killer and goes to Orcas Island to rebuild her life.
• brooding hero--Simon Doyle, a solitary, artisan carpenter, is new on the island.  He seeks seclusion, but needs Fiona's help with training his eight-week-old, out-of-control lab puppy.
• mutual attraction--Fiona is not Simon's "type," but he is attracted to her anyway.  Fiona holds back at first.
• internal conflicts--Fiona understandably suffers from her frightening past, but Simon's back story is not adequately revealed.
• threat--Francis X. Eckle is a "copy-cat" killer, trained by the first serial killer to finish Fiona off.  Eckle gets carried away with is own deviations.
• action--Roberts prose is easy to read, with lots of dialogue.  The plot is framed with search-and-rescue endeavors.
• sex--Gratuitous and often cliche.

First, combine one heroine (who was the victim of a horrible crime) with one brooding hero (who has a shady past).  Add mutual attraction.  Fold with internal conflicts.

Next, toss in a threat (which the heroine perceives early on).  Stir with action and formula sex scenes.

Bake for a short time.  Novel is done when the heroine, with the help of the hero, resolves the suspense and they live happily ever after.

Nutritional Analysis:

• extra light calories
• lacks fiber

Roberts' recipe includes a few slight twists:

• The heroine, instead of the hero, drives the resolution of the threat, causing the hero to fall in love with her.  Yet, while Roberts' protagonist appears strong and self-reliant, Fiona nevertheless leans on the "bad-boy" hero, Simon (who reveals his dark side at the climax).
• The villain is not killed.  (I'm not saying anything more.)
• Fiona and Simon get engaged, not married.

MY COMMENTS

• Read The Search for fun, not literary depth.
• Roberts' use of dog-training as back ground is in vogue, but if you are a dog-lover or interested in training techniques, you'll want more.

BOOK REVIEW: "Inside of a Dog"

Inside of a Dog.  What Dogs See, Smell, and Know.

- by Alexandra Horowitz, PhD in cognitive science

  2009, Scribner, New York

  ISBN 978-1-4165-8340-0

Alexandra Horowitz, a self-proclaimed "dog-lover" and scientist, strives to mesh what dog-owners sense about the remarkableness of their pets with current biological and psychological scientific studies of the canine.  

Her book, Inside of a Dog, is readable to the non-scientist, with loads of sources cited at the end of the book, arranged by chapter.  Just in case you are interested in reading the research on your own.

But you don't have to.

Horowitz's writing is interesting, entertaining, and easy to understand, even when citing studies by  scientists such as the German biologist Jakob von Uexkull or Russian geneticist Dmitry Belyaev (pages 20 and 35).  She introduces each chapter with a short narrative of her dog, Pumpkin, which relates to the topic of the chapter.

Horowitz warns against "anthropomorphisms"--projecting human traits onto our dogs' behavior.

...we are bringing animals inside and asking them to become members of our families.  For that purpose, anthropomorphisms fail to help us incorporate those animals into our homes, and have the smoothest, fullest relationships with them.  This is not so say that we're always wrong with our attributions:  it might be true that our dog is sad, jealous, inquisitive, depressed--or desiring a peanut butter sandwich for lunch.  But we are almost certainly not justified in claiming, say, depression from the evidence before us:  the mournful eyes, the loud sigh.  Our projections onto animals are often impoverished--or entirely off the mark...   p. 15-16

There were two specific things I learned from reading Horowitz's book which cause me to ponder what I think I know about dogs.  Canine olfactory and visual senses.

OLFACTORY

I understand that dogs view life through their noses more than humans do, but what I didn't realize is that dogs possess a vomeronasal organ between the roof of their mouth and their nose.  This specialized "sniffing" machine captures pheromones, hormone-like chemicals secreted by animals.  The wet nose of a dog helps the dog's vomeronasal organ to distinguish these chemicals.   So, dogs not only have two to three hundred million smelling receptors (humans have a mere six million) to help them sense the world through their noses, they have an additional sensing organ!

FLD Mike's wet nose.

VISUAL

Surprisingly, I did know prior to reading Inside of a Dog that human eyes "see" at the rate of about 60 frames per second, but I didn't know that this is called the "flicker-fusion" rate.  What I learned is that dogs "see" at a faster rate than we do, at 70 to 80 frames per second.  It's not just that they see things faster, but they see "more" things every second.  To demonstrate, think of high-speed photography and how it "freezes" motion that our eyes cannot discern.  Amazing, isn't it?

Gypsy, taking in the world.

I recommend Horowitz's book to anyone interested in learning more about dogs.  You will not be disappointed.  

You can read about Alexandra Horowitz by clicking here, or her learn more about her book Inside of a Dog (including excerpts) by clicking here.