Dog Lovers Delight - This author is a MUST read!
A delightful surprise - I thought like many old books, it would be written in convoluted old-style prose, but no, this was a refreshing, delightfully easy read. It's easy to tell that this is a story written by a man - the emphasis was on action, the plot a little corny (like an early film).
But! The enchanting thing about this book is the engaging and insightful descriptions about the dog of the lead title - Buff. Terhune certainly is fondly intimate with dogs - particularly Collies - and his fondness and respect sparkles through his writing.
This book - full of short stories, not just about Buff - is a terrific example of how books about dogs are infinitely more enjoyable than simply watching a movie made of the story.
The reader (you!) is introduced to new insights and observations that strengthens their own understanding and wisdom about dogs/collies. I learned how collies behave when fighting, and that they don't sprawl with their hind legs laid out behind them - apparently that's a terrier trait.
There are quite a few presumptions made about how a dog thinks - but they ring true, at least to my own observations of my dogs.
It's a pity that Albert Payson Terhune's works have fallen from the public mind. I will be resurrecting quite a few on my own website - those that are no longer in copyright - see the reviewer nickname as a clue of where this website is. Terhune's abundant body of works about dogs deserves to be resurrected for the 21st century.
