The Dog I've Always Wanted

Winner of many sled dog races and most notably 1150-mile Iditarod (1993, 1996, 1998, and 2006) Jeff King is an individual with tremendous competitive  drive and a talent for single minded focus. These capacities have enabled him to fulfill his boyhood dream of living in a cabin by a lake in Alaska and mushing. He now does all these things in addition to running a breeding program and producing and training his own dogs. In season, his home, Husky Homestead, is open to visitors and many tourists make the trip.

His story telling talents are well displayed in this book. His narrative accounts of his mushing adventures are punchy and vivid. The reader will learn how to survive a plunge into icy water and the subsequent freezing of clothing. I like to read the accounts of grueling mushing runs [Read more]

A woman-meets-dog story

A brown dog curled up on the backseat of a police car after being found tied to a tree in a Manhattan park is taken home by a woman passing by; she claimed the dog and he claimed her. The woman, Louise Bernikow, being a journalist  named him Libro meaning “book” in Spanish. He was a male boxer, brindle and white. That is how a most remarkable relationship began.

The author is quite clear on the fact that she knew nothing about dogs and  in fact actually didn’t much like dogs but something prompted her to connect herself to this abandoned dog. Once she had made the committment  to Libro she proved to be an extremely dedicated dog owner. She massaged his bad leg which it turned out had a surgical pin in it. She quizzed other dog owners on the habits of their dogs. She took him traveling with her. Inevitably, she wrote about him.They shared a brush with fame. [Read more]