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| A Good Dog: The Story of Orson, Who Changed My Life | 
 enlarge | Author: Jon Katz
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
Category: Book
List Price: $13.95
Buy New: $4.99
You Save: $8.96 (64%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  145 reviews
Sales Rank: 34936
Media: Paperback
Edition: Reprint
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 256
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 7.7 x 5.1 x 0.7
ISBN: 0812971493
Dewey Decimal Number: 636.73740929
EAN: 9780812971491
ASIN: 0812971493
Publication Date: June 26, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
“People who love dogs often talk about a ‘lifetime’ dog. I’d heard the phrase a dozen times before I came to recognize its significance. Lifetime dogs are dogs we love in especially powerful, sometimes inexplicable ways.”–Jon Katz
In this gripping and deeply touching book, bestselling author Jon Katz tells the story of his lifetime dog, Orson: a beautiful border collie–intense, smart, crazy, and unforgettable.
From the moment Katz and Orson meet, when the dog springs from his traveling crate at Newark airport and panics the baggage claim area, their relationship is deep, stormy, and loving. At two years old, Katz’s new companion is a great herder of school buses, a scholar of refrigerators, but a dud at herding sheep. Everything Katz attempts– obedience training, herding instruction, a new name, acupuncture, herb and alternative therapies–helps a little but not enough, and not for long. “Like all border collies and many dogs,” Katz writes, “he needed work. I didn’t realize for some time I was the work Orson would find.”
While Katz is trying to help his dog, Orson is helping him, shepherding him toward a new life on a two-hundred-year-old hillside farm in upstate New York. There, aided by good neighbors and a tolerant wife, hip-deep in sheep, chickens, donkeys, and more dogs, the man and his canine companion explore meadows, woods, and even stars, wade through snow, bask by a roaring wood stove, and struggle to keep faith with each other. There, with deep love, each embraces his unfolding destiny.
A Good Dog is a book to savor. Just as Orson was the author’s lifetime dog, his story is a lifetime treasure–poignant, timeless, and powerful.
From the Hardcover edition.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 140 more reviews...
 I absolutely love this book. June 29, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
I so loved reading this book. This' my second book my Jon Katz. A Good Dog: The Story of Orson Who Changed My Life was a book that made me giggle and also weep. His love for the much loved Orson was so touching and real. Jon Katz has become my new favorite author.
I wish I could've met Orson.
 Good dog- Deplorable dog owner June 18, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
This book is more about the self exploration and justification of tragic misdeeds by the egotistical and inconceivably selfish Jon Katz than it is about Orson... who was, by the way, a good dog that could have had a very happy, well adjusted, balanced life if he had not had the misfortune of crossing paths with this lazy, self-professing dog lover who obviously has no true love of anyone or anything but himself.
Please do not waste a dime on this book. You will spare yourself the displeasure of reading this tragic, preventable (and poorly written) story. And, more importantly, you will avoid the further pocket lining of this misguided man, who if given the opportunity will forsake and exploit another innocent soul, as he did Orson.
Strange, sad tale of a dog lover April 18, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Having recent thoroughly enjoyed Marley and Me, I was keen on tackling another 'journalist with difficult dog' story. But Katz and his trials with a what seems to me - as a non dog owner - an unappealing and dangerous dog do not make entertaining reading. This is a rather sad tale about Katz and his search for a new life for himself, which he attributes to his problem dog. I am not a dog owner, but I was bothered about this book. So I decided to read another of Katz's books and was surprised at how much good sense there seemed to be, compared to his actions with A Good Dog. I would never pretend to know the answers to training a dog like Orson, but I found Katz's love for this Collie rather worrying. We get the story of the endless ways he tries to train Orson. All I can say is that I am glad I didn't live next door to Katz and Orson.
It's important to say this is a very well written book - Katz has an easy writing style and he takes you smoothly through the story. But there is something totally unsatisfactory about the relationship between Katz and Orson that leaves you feeling we never really got to the meat of this tale. If you need a 'man and difficult dog' story, read Marley and Me.
A bad story beautifully written March 23, 2008
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
I read Katz's "Katz on Dogs" hoping to glean some useful information about handling dogs. I own a Golden Retriever and a rescued Flat Coat Retreiver mix. Both dogs are wonderful companions and live a good life in the country with little in the way of a harmful environment to worry about. About the only thing I learned is that Katz doesn't take the time to apply any of the training techniques he learns. His techniques, if you can call them that, is to throw treats at the dog. Treats have their place if you use them effectively. If not then the dog learns they mean nothing.
Then I got this book. Man! I have to tell you that I wasn't ready for what I encountered. PJF is right on the money with his review (Jan 2007). I could think of a half dozen things I could have done off the top of my head to minimize the dangerous situations this animal was put in. I too bought an ATV but it wasn't to let my energetic herding animal ride with me on the seat (a very dangerous proposition in itself) but to give my very energetic 2 year old Golden the exercise he needs. He loves running across the farm fields with me and his sister and after a half hour ride/run he happily chills out for the rest of the day - usually in the pond. And thats what Orson needed, probably more than anything, exercise. Not having a natural inclination to herd sheep and therefore having no job to do, unlike Rose who did and who happily spent her days guarding the flock and the barnyard and staying out of trouble , Orson was crazy with boredom and frustration. A twice daily run behind the ATV would have probably cured most of his manic behavior problems. A walk in the woods with a half crippled old man wasn't going to cut it. And he should have known it.
I was outraged and very sad at the outcome but was initially inclined to let Katz be the final judge of what he should or shouldn't do with his own dog. After reading PJF's review, it put it in perspective for me. My recommedation? Don't buy this book or any of his books. Stop funding the lifestyle of someone who doesn't really know what he's talking about. He can't teach you anything about dogs except maybe how not to raise and keep them.
If you want a recommendation for a book from someone who loves dogs and does know what they are talking about (especially Border Collies and sheep herding) and can write well about it, I recommend For the Love of a Dog: Understanding Emotion in You and Your Best Friend by Patricia McConnell. She too has to deal with sometimes out of control Border Collies and also the death of a beloved companion (from disease); but not like Jon Katz.
A realistic read for dog lovers.... March 9, 2008
1 out of 5 found this review helpful
This was a wonderful read, even if it didn't have the disney happy ending that some feel it should have had. I have had many dogs in my lifetime and could easily relate to many of the situations encountered in this book. I applaud the author's courage and highly recommend this book to anyone who has had years of experience with border collies and/or other breeds of dogs. The author's compassion is compelling. I enjoyed this book so much, I laughed out loud one minute and cried my eyes out the next. Many of the anticts described in this book reminded me of my border collie Lucky, whom I lost the same year this book was published.
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