Let's make up a listing of books for Dog Lovers! This will also be an indispensable tool to perhaps create a few more dog lovers?Here are my top 3 picks:

1.  The Dog Diet A Memoir, Patti Lawson. Have a friend who is always too busy to have a dog or any pet? And, too alone for their own good if you know what I mean ... This book is funny, fun and inspiring to single women (and men.) I took it out of the library then ordered a "girlfriend" copy to send out.

2.  Rescuing Sprite A Dog Lover's Story of Joy and Anguish, Mark R. Levin. You know how this story is going to end. It is what goes on in-between the rescue of the dog and the rescue of a man's heart that doesn't let you put it down.

3.  The Healing Power of Pets, Harnessing the Amazing Ability of Pets of Make and Keep People Happy and Healthy, Dr. Marty Becker. I always knew that animal love was powerful but I never knew the itchy bitsy fantastic metabolic details behind it. This is a fascinating read and a must have to effectively argue any family member or friend into adding a member into their pack OR volunteering regularly at their shelter. (We recently added Gengus Kitty ... the purring vibration helps keep their bones, and ours healthy.)

Now, here is my caveat ... You can read The Dog Diet anywhere - unless is it somewhere like a library during finals or a funeral. It will literally make you laugh out loud.

You can read Rescuing Sprite and The Healing Power of Pets anywhere but a hospital waiting room where people around you are worried and waiting to hear life or death verdicts. Why? Because I sniffed, teared and boo hooed constantly while reading them. (I caught an alarmed expression on a companions face and had to assure her I was o.k.)Sometimes I was sniffing out of sadness but most often I was simply “touched” by the beauty of what was being described.

Private Reply to Viveca Stone

Private Reply to Cathy Markowich

Private Reply to Viveca Stone

Private Reply to Ann Rader

Private Reply to Shannon Hill

Private Reply to June Krahn

Welcome back June! And congratulations on bringing another pup into your life! Someone told me awhile back that the greatest way we can express our love for those that move on (2 footed/4 footed) is to love again. Almost everyday I think about my Angel, my brother, my friend Fred ... It is all good - all great.

Funny you should post this because here a new book for our list and a quote from it! This is my new bedtime inspirational read. 

Dogs change lives. Half Buddha, half Bozo, they keep us tethered to the earth, and they teach us to fly. Our dogs are our sanity keepers. They are our suicide-prevention task force. (There I'd be with the gun in my hand, and Fenton would look at me and say, "What the hell do you think you're doing?" and of course he'd be right, as always.) They are the worthy and willing recipients of our fierce, unrelenting, and unconditional love. They are our personal trainers, our gurus, our reason to get up in the morning, our bed-warmers, our muses, our teachers, our hearts.
-Pam Houston, Forward "A Year Without Dogs," Woman's Best Friend Women Writers on the dogs in their lives

Private Reply to Viveca Stone

Private Reply to Sharon@Dove Chocolate Discoveries Sr. Chocolatier

Private Reply to Gail Nelson

Private Reply to Cathy Goodwin