Alice B. reviewed on 1/9/2013 + 3563 more book reviews

Dogs do the doggonest things. They often make us laugh, usually outsmart us, and sometimes break our hearts. No creature can top our canine friends in showing us the absurdities of life and even sex ... or in teaching us about kindness, courage, and love. Now America's number-one dog trainers, Brian Kilcommons and Sarah Wilson, tell us their favorite stories in a book as warm and wonderful as James Herriot's delightful Yorkshire tales, but set in our world and our time. Tails From The Bark Side A Jack Russell Terrier with a great and terrible passion for a tennis ball ... Murphy, a Rottweiler who played practical jokes ... a Newfoundland who was five minutes from death ... a Bullmastiff with a huge libido ... an unforgettable Christmas in a kennel running amok with queasy canines. Brian Kilcommons and Sarah Wilson, partners in business and in marriage, let us into their fascinating days and nights as animal trainers ... and into their private lives. Along with adventures in faraway places such as training a celebrity's seven Akitas in an Italian villa and a Siberian husky in the Bahamas, Brian shares delightful anecdotes about his mentor, the great and very eccentric Barbara Woodhouse. Here, as well, are his memories of the dog who owned a piece of his soul, a Rottweiler named Beau. Sarah tells of Urs, the German Shepherd she and Brian found on their honeymoon, of Caras, their amazingly smart Aussie, and of her incomparable Bouvier des Flandres, Kesl, the dog she loved ... and lost. Throughout Tails From The Bark Side, we discover dogs who are psychic, heroes, or just plain clowns. They are creatures who hit our funny bone and take aim at our emotions. But with expert training tips and gentle do's and don'ts, Brian and Sarah show us human mistakes and follies too...as they candidly, outrageously expose the reasons the nobler species on this planet is the four-footed one in this tail-wagging treat of a story collection for everyone who has ever loved a dog.

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