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I thought I’d share some recent dog-related books with you readers in the hopes you’ll have other animal works to recommend in return.  I only have dog-related books in my collection since I’m not a cat person and haven’t read anything good lately that involved any other four-legged or feathered creatures.

My most recent read was “The Darkest Evening of the Year” by Dean Koontz. This book was an unusual deviation for me as I typically don’t read fiction and when I do it’s not this type of woman-in-trouble murder mystery. But this one had a golden retriever as a main character and I thought I’d give it a shot. It wasn’t bad. Wasn’t great. I thought it got lost in it’s too-eager imagery and was a little hokey in the end.

Before that was “Merle’s Door: Lesson’s from a Free-Thinking Dog” by Ted Kerasote. This book struck me as an academic’s “Marley & Me” (which we’ll get into later.) Kerasote, an enthusiastic outdoorsman, inserts a lot of information about the evolution of dogs and their behavior as he tells the story of Merle who adopted him during an outing in the wilderness. Kerasote gets a little preachy at times as he chastises those of us that don’t let out dogs roam unrestricted. But guess what? My dogs weigh about 12 pounds and have no idea that running in front of a car en route to kill a squirrel is a bad idea.

Couldn’t get through a list of good dog books without naming “Marley & Me” by John Grogan.  This book has sort of set the stage for a whole host of books to follow, including the two books at the top of this list. Grogan tells the tale that many of us have lived. Family acquires dog, dog destroys this, family wonders if this was really the best thing they could have done, dog goes on to become a member of the family… you get the idea. But somehow reading about Marley’s misadventures was so much more entertaining than say … the day I came home and found that my puppy had chewed off a large portion of brick from the wall of the apartment I was renting.

There are many, many more great dog books I’ve read, but the final entry in this list goes to “Amazing Gracie: A Dog’s Tale” by Dan Dye and Mark Beckloff, founders of the Three Dog Bakery. Gracie, a Great Dane, was the inspiration for the bakery after her sensitive stomach rejected traditional food. This is the first book that ever made me cry.

So that’s my short list. Let’s hear your suggestions!

Life has that wonderful yet grating way of throwing you every curveball you could imagine until you want to get on your knees, throw your hands up in the air and scream “ENOUGH!” over and over until your neighbors call the police.

But when major life challenges pop up—new babies, foreclosures, job loss, etc.—- pets are often among the first to go.  I can speak from experience that many of the dogs coming into the Italian Greyhound Club of America rescue program, which I volunteer with, are surrendered after such life-changing events. And sometimes, it really is the best thing to do for the animal.

But there are things you can do to hang on to your animals. This recent MSNBC.com article gives several suggestions for low-cost pet health care and maintenance.

Locally, the Valley Hospital Parent Education Department in New Jersey will be holding a “Pets & Babies” program from 7 to 9 p.m. on March 20 at the Dorothy B. Kraft Center at 15 Essex Road in Paramus. The program, according to a news release, will give tips to expectant parents on how to bring home baby and still have room for Fido and Fluffy.

The fee for the program is $50 and those interested can call 201-291-6151.

Four paws up to the hospital for recognizing how important it is that the animals not be forgotten or neglected when a bi-ped child comes along.

There’s really not much else I can say here, other than to take a look at this.

Just a warning: there’s actually a picture of the snake in mid-devour. Ugh. You gotta wonder what possibly could have been going through this family’s mind. The CNN.com story states they had seen the snake stalk the dog for days. Then they get all surprised when it becomes dinner?

The snake’s just doing its job, but the parents here obviously weren’t.