Just A Dog

Sometimes a dog isn't just a dog--sometimes he's the glue the holds a whole family together. Mr. Mosely is a special dog. Not just because he's so big (he's part Great Dane.) Not just because he's all white (with one black spot under his eye and a heart shaped splotch on his chest.) Not just because he's clumsy, or because of tricks (he only knows one, and it's not very good.) He's special because he seems to know exactly what everyone in Corey's family needs, even when they don't know themselves. This is the story of Mr. Mosely, from his puppyhood to the last time he curls up on the back porch. It's the story of how sometimes a dog isn't "just a dog". Sometimes he's the glue the holds a whole family together.

Charlie Keefe is a world famous dog painter. Unfortunately, Charlie's belove muse, Pete, his fun-loving Jack Russell terrier, has just died and he's totally devastated by the loss of his furry best friend. After months of grieving, Charlie reluctantly agrees to foster a new puppy from the local shelter, a cute King Charles Cavalier named Brownie. Charlie falls head over heels for this new puppy as well as being attracted to Janelle Jordan, the head hound at the dog rescue. Complications arise when the ghost of Pete appears one night to haunt him and Brownie setting off a bizarre chain of events that throws Charlie's life, career and entire belief system into chaos.

Psychiatrists define cruelty to animals as a psychological problem or personality disorder. Legally, animal cruelty is described by a list of behaviors. In Just a Dog, Arnold Arluke argues that our current constructs of animal cruelty are decontextualized—imposed without regard to the experience of the groups committing the act. Yet those who engage in animal cruelty have their own understandings of their actions and of themselves as actors. In this fascinating book, Arluke probes those understandings and reveals the surprising complexities of our relationships with animals. Just a Dog draws from interviews with more than 250 people, including humane agents who enforce cruelty laws, college students who tell stories of childhood abuse of animals, hoarders who chronically neglect the welfare of many animals, shelter workers who cope with the ethics of euthanizing animals, and public relations experts who use incidents of animal cruelty for fundraising purposes. Through these case studies, Arluke shows how the meaning of "cruelty" reflects and helps to create identities and ideologies.

Three generations of independent women, driven in different directions by one man’s anger. Until his death reconnects them with their mystical Irish ancestors and wonders beyond this limited human existence. Trained in the shamanic arts by her Irish grandmother, Chessie Durand travels to alternate worlds to rescue animals in danger. Aided by her Chosen One, an angel dog and a mysterious merkaba necklace, she discovers powers unknown to most humans. Ever practical, her mother provides a sanctuary for these alien and exotic species stall-beside-stall with barnyard creatures. And when their paradise is threatened by ignorance and poachers and unknown dangers beyond the stargates, Marlise loads her shotgun and joins the fight.

Follows the adventures of a mongrel dog that alternately experiences human kindness and cruelty until she at last finds a loving home.

Mr Mosely isn't a pedigreed dog, but he is just the dog Corey and his family want: he is loyal, protective and loving. And he is much more than that. He might well be the one thing that holds them all together.

This book will make you laugh, make you cry and make you think in a way you have never done before. It explores both the canine “condition” and the human “condition” too, as many ‘dog problems’ are in fact ‘people problems’ but with more legs. Based on real life personal experiences of dogs that have come through our behaviour clinics or classes, it is a brutally honest and completely open expulsion of experience and knowledge expressed with great humour, insight and raw emotion. With tales of hilarity, happiness and success through to depression, grief, suicide and death, it brings to the reader a sense of perspective and compassion for others. Born of experience based on a lifetime of work with animals and close involvement with over 10.000 puppies and dogs, around 15,000 people, the breadth of experience is plain to see. The primary purpose of the book is entertainment that educates. Written in plain English, with easy to understand analogies, it is simple and enjoyable to follow. No technical knowledge of dogs or humans is required. As a public speaker I have learnt over the years, how people learn and what makes them laugh. Covering some of the most dangerous and worrying of behaviours, like dogs that bite people, dogs that aggress towards others, dogs that chase and kill things, puppy farms and many more. The range of this book provides something for everybody. It also covers the most common behaviour problems of all. One of the chapters about long coated breeds not being able to see properly and the range of behaviours that occur as a result, will help millions of dogs and owners, instantly. The blindingly obvious is obvious, only once the blindness is lifted. What could be better, puppies, dogs, people, laughter, success, heartache, real life quandaries, passion and finally, true love that conquers all. Literally.

From two of the world’s leading authorities on dogs, an imaginative journey into a future of dogs without people What would happen to dogs if humans simply disappeared? Would dogs be able to survive on their own without us? A Dog’s World imagines a posthuman future for dogs, revealing how dogs would survive—and possibly even thrive—and explaining how this new and revolutionary perspective can guide how we interact with dogs now. Drawing on biology, ecology, and the latest findings on the lives and behavior of dogs and their wild relatives, Jessica Pierce and Marc Bekoff—two of today’s most innovative thinkers about dogs—explore who dogs might become without direct human intervention into breeding, arranged playdates at the dog park, regular feedings, and veterinary care. Pierce and Bekoff show how dogs are quick learners who are highly adaptable and opportunistic, and they offer compelling evidence that dogs already do survive on their own—and could do so in a world without us. Challenging the notion that dogs would be helpless without their human counterparts, A Dog’s World enables us to understand these independent and remarkably intelligent animals on their own terms.