Book Review: Dog Park Wisdom

The title is misleading. Dog Park Wisdom, by Lisa Wogan covers a lot more than just the dog park.

This book is a handy guide for every aspect of dog ownership from picking the right puppy and choosing the right name, all the way to traveling with your dog.

From breaking bad habits to understanding canine emotions, Wogan covers everything from potty training tips to grooming, proper playtime and off-leash etiquette.

There are great anecdotal stories from the author, her friends, family, and sometimes from complete strangers. My favorite among these is why you should wear a belt when visiting the dog park.

Photos by Bev Sparks make Dog Park Wisdom visually a pleasure as well as a fun read.

Lisa Wogan continues to gather tips for dog care and share new tidbits at her blog, www.dogparkwisdom.com.

Bev Sparks photography is used by ad agencies and greeting card companies, appears in magazines and books. See her portfolio at dogphotography.com.

Book Review: Yorkie Doodle Dandy

21-year-old American Air Force Private First Class William A. Wynne, stationed in New Guinea during World War II, met and fell in love with with Smoky, a Yorkshire Terrier pup.

The story told in Yorkie Doodle Dandy is the history of their experiences together in war, being smuggled through customs, military discharge, their return to America, Will's wedding, two inter-coastal automobile trips, performing in show business and much more.

Smoky is actually a renowned WWII hero who strung telephone lines through an eight-inch drainage pipe under an airstrip in a combat area - a three day job which was accomplished in two minutes by the seven inch tall, four pound, Smoky.

Stories about Smoky appear in over 50 books and magazine articles Including Volumes I and II of the History of the Fifth Air Force. Smoky was YANK magazine's "Champion Mascot of the SWPA" in 1944.

Yorkie Doodle Dandy is a great cream puff of a book - an excellent way to spend a rainy Sunday afternoon.

Book Review: Merck/Merial Manual for Pet Health

A book that should be in the library of every pet owner and pet lover: The Merck/Merial Manual for Pet Health is an outstanding resource. Written by veterinarians and animal health specialists, the book is still aimed at the public at large. It's easy to understand and also easy to find information quickly.

The book covers health issues in common and exotic pets, but there are also some unusual and interesting special subjects. I found the chapter on diseases spread from animals to people (zoonoses) fascinating because I like this sort of off the wall stuff.

Merck/Merial Manual for Pet Health is a book I will keep handy and will refer to often for the well being of my pets.

Book Review: The World is Your Litter Box

The World Is Your Litter Box: A How-to Manual for Cats is a very unusual book in that it was written by Quasi, who happens to be a cat. This book is actually an instruction manual for cats who were unfortunate enough to be born without the innate feline abilities possessed by Quasi.

The cats who live in my house, Grace and Bandit, were very interested in the book. Grace, of course, wouldn't read it while I was looking, but she did read it after I was asleep for the night. Grace, the world's most prolific upchucker, learned of a few new places to throw up thanks to Quasi. Bandit thought the book was very flavorful - all four corners now are artfully decorated with fang marks.

Grace and Bandit have a few suggestions in case Quasi is thinking of a sequel. They'd like to teach him the "brush your tail against a candle during a party" trick to liven up social gatherings. Also, to encourage household remodeling and redecorating, there's the "get up into the ceiling and cause the drywall to collapse" trick.

On the whole though, we'd like to congratulate Quasi, and his human co-author, Steve Fisher, on a cute, humorous, and charming book.

Book review: Businesses for Pet Lovers

101 Best Businesses for Pet Lovers What You Need to Know about Starting and Succeeding in a Pet Business of Your Own is a great reference for anyone who loves pets and is thinking about turning that qualification into a means for making money.

The money spent on pets has more than doubled since 1994, creating a multi-billion-dollar industry that is even more lucrative than the human toy industry. 101 Best Businesses for Pet Lovers lists a wide variety of moneymaking opportunities from something as simple as dog walking, to careers which require education and training such as pet grooming and pet masseuse.

Authors Joseph Nigro and Nicholas Nigro are well qualified to write about this subject. Joseph began his entrepreneurial career with pet shops which he was eventually able to sell to the Petco Company in 1996 for $19.1 million.

101 Best Businesses for Pet Lovers interested me on a personal level because I am one of those people who turned my love of animals into a business - Internet Pet Supplies - Internet Pet Supplies has been selling pet treats and pet supplies on the Internet since 1998. i-pets.com does not have a physical store, we sell only on the internet. I started very cautiously, selling only a few items, mainly USA rawhide treats, and have increased the products carried because of customer feedback.

I would recommend this book, it is well researched, well written, and offers some very imaginative ways of making money.

What Your Cat Wants You to Know

Are you a cat person, or would you like to be one? Welcome to the club. Thirty-four percent of American households include at least one cat, which adds up to 90 million pet kitties owned in the U.S. If you're thinking about getting a cat — or want to know more about the one you've got — the new book The Cat Bible: Everything Your Cat Expects You to Know is an excellent place to start. Author Tracie Hotchner is one of the leading experts of the feline world.

TIME's Andrea Sachs (who has two cats herself) interviews Hotchner.

Online Guide to Insect Songs

Online Guide to Insect Songs, brought to you to complement the book, The Songs of Insects. Here you will be introduced to the songs of 76 species of crickets, katydids, and cicadas.

Ernest Hemingway and Cats

When you hear of Hemingway and Key West, you immediately imagine a yardful of six-toed cats. But Key West was not the only town known for Hemingway cats. In Cuba, Ernest’s hilltop home, Finca Vigia [Lookout Farm], once had fifty-seven cats roaming its grounds.

Among the many family letters describing his cats is one written in 1942. Ernest tells Hadley Mowrer that he had not been able to sleep the night before and had recalled a song they had composed for their cat, F. Puss, so many years earlier in Paris. It went like this, "A feather kitty’s talent lies In scratching out the other’s eyes. A feather kitty never dies Oh immortality." According to the letter, the Finca cats enjoyed Papa’s song.

Hemingway's Cats: An Illustrated Biography by Carlene Fredericka Brennen, details Hemingway's love for cats.

See the book's website.

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