by Jon Katz
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Product Description
“People who love dogs often talk about a ‘lifetime’ dog. I’d heard the phrase a dozen times before I came to recognize its significance. Lifetime dogs are dogs we love in especially powerful, sometimes inexplicable ways.”–Jon Katz
In this gripping and deeply touching book, bestselling author Jon Katz tells the story of his lifetime dog, Orson: a beautiful border collie–intense, smart, crazy, and unforgettable.
From the moment Katz and Orson meet, when the dog springs from his traveling crate at Newark airport and panics the baggage claim area, their relationship is deep, stormy, and loving. At two years old, Katz’s new companion is a great herder of school buses, a scholar of refrigerators, but a dud at herding sheep. Everything Katz attempts– obedience training, herding instruction, a new name, acupuncture, herb and alternative therapies–helps a little but not enough, and not for long. “Like all border collies and many dogs,” Katz writes, “he needed work. I didn’t realize for some time I was the work Orson would find.”
While Katz is trying to help his dog, Orson is helping him, shepherding him toward a new life on a two-hundred-year-old hillside farm in upstate New York. There, aided by good neighbors and a tolerant wife, hip-deep in sheep, chickens, donkeys, and more dogs, the man and his canine companion explore meadows, woods, and even stars, wade through snow, bask by a roaring wood stove, and struggle to keep faith with each other. There, with deep love, each embraces his unfolding destiny.
A Good Dog is a book to savor. Just as Orson was the author’s lifetime dog, his story is a lifetime treasure–poignant, timeless, and powerful.
From the Hardcover edition.
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Average Customer Review:
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 Mr Katz I want my money back..., 2009-01-06
Having reached the conclusion of this book (which I will not disclose here for those of you who still want to read this book) I was disgusted, angry and cheated.
I seriously contemplated mailing the book back to Mr Katz and demanding a refund.
Plain and simple I think Mr Katz not only let Orson down repeatedly during his troubled life ... but in the end he gave up on him in a way
that Orson could never ever contemplate, then to capitalize upon it
but writing a book about it only seals my opinion of the author ...
a man much much less than his dog, and unworthy of that dogs love, trust
and lifetime companionship.
I shall not buy another Katz book again.
1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
If You're a Dog Lover, Do Not Buy Any of Katz's Books, 2008-12-28
Jon Katz misrepresents himself as a dog lover in order to sell his books. He is instead an arrogant, irresponsible, selfish human being. He should have gone into therapy instead of using dogs to try and make himself feel better. The dogs in his life do not fare well (given up or capriciously killed).
This book is not about Orson, it is all about JON. It's all about how hard poor JON thinks he tried to help Orson. In reality he did very little to help Orson. Oh sure, he took him to some specialists but when he finally was doing something to try and ease Oraon's pain, he gives up on him and kills him. Maybe Orson was only useful to Jon when he was a problem. A well adjusted dog doesn't sell books. Jon used Orson when he was alive and he is still using Orson by profiting from his death.
1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
WARNING-deceptive and disturbing!!, 2008-12-18
The border collie in this book is a great dog, but Katz is no dog lover. He writes skillfully, but he writes to chronicle his own mid-life crisis "adventure" and selfishly uses his dog as "writing material." He fails to take the simple step of supervising his dog and then, rather than risk the fortune he has made from his earlier books about his faithful dog, he takes the "convenient" approach and justifies it with all sorts of mystical balderdash. No rescue group would let this man adopt a dog. I highly regret giving him money by purchasing his book.
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
One Very Sad Book, 2008-11-28
I was given this book as a gift. Had no idea what it was about. LOVED LOVED LOVED the first half of the book. Katz is undoubtedly an EXCELLENT writer. However, once it was growing clear what turn it was going to take, I put the book down and did not come back to it for a year. I finally finished it yesterday. Cried for a good while as I recalled my own putting my dogs down BECAUSE OF CANCER AND HEART FAILURE. Perhaps Katz did not well enough explain how dangerous Orson was because his decision to put him down for the sins related seemed to me to be horrifying. I agree that dogs that pose real danger to children or adults should be eliminated. However, Katz's decision (after outlining other very viable ones -- which he did not think Orson would like--COME ON!!!) seems cruel. He predicted that many of us would have this reaction and I agree this was his own personal choice. However, IMHO, he sure came up short when coming up with a plan for his Best Friend and the One Who Saved His Life! I don't mind the Shaman stuff or other alternate means of trying to get through to Orson, but I personally believe that a high quality dog trainer would have had a positive impact without ruinging Orson's spirit. So, this is a book with which I have more against the plot (true life story) than I do about the author's writing ability. But, I could never give it to my sister as a gift. It would kill her!
1 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
not recommended if you are a true animal lover, 2008-11-14
Obviously, the title of the book does not portrait the events of this book. If Orson was a good dog, then why was he put down. I am an avid animal lover and would have explored other avenues so I would not put down this beautiful, but troubled being.
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