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| Merle's Door: Lessons from a Freethinking Dog | 
 enlarge | Author: Ted Kerasote
Publisher: Harcourt
Category: Book
List Price: $25.00
Buy Used: $2.40
You Save: $22.60 (90%)
New (57) Used (53) Collectible (6) from $2.40
Avg. Customer Rating:  152 reviews
Sales Rank: 3577
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 416
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.5
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.3 x 1.6
ISBN: 0151012709
Dewey Decimal Number: 636.7092
EAN: 9780151012701
ASIN: 0151012709
Publication Date: July 2, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
Sir, you dance, you dance... August 10, 2007
9 out of 9 found this review helpful
Quite simply, the best book written about a dog, and what a dog was Merle. His joy of life and his love for Ted. His stubborn streak; not hunting birds, not playing fetch and his love for hunting elk with Ted. His rounds through the town of Kelly. His love for his best friend Brower and the boys' reunion when Brower returns from cancer surgery. Merle is some wonderful dog. What spirit! Racing with a coyote to emphatically claim his territory. The information about dogs developing from wolves and how dogs truly have close to human personalities will have a reader who is a dog person agreeing with Ted. As Ted revels in the joy of his dog and loves him to the bitter end a reader will see that Merle does dance. A must read for any dog lover.
Merle's Door August 9, 2007
7 out of 8 found this review helpful
Not nearly the belly laughs found in "Marley and Me", but a thoroughly researched tale of a man and his dog. The compassion Ted has toward Merle, as he treats him as an equal, is remarkable and inspiring. This book is a must for dog owners.
Listen to our companions August 9, 2007
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
This was an amazing book that swept me off my feet and into the fairy tale land of dog and human who understand each other subliminally. It's a perfect little town to let the dog make decisions about what he wants to do every day and where the author can allow him to do that. I'm trying to listen more to my dog and see if I can't "hear" her better. Can't provide her with unabated freedom but I can be more intuitive about her needs and desires. One of the best books I have read this year or ever!
I know a dog and his name is Merle! August 8, 2007
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
Short and sweet...GET THIS BOOK AND READ IT! If you love your dog you will love this book. You will better understand your dog and your relationship with him/her. But more than that, this book is also about relationships, not only with your pet and best friend, but also with your human companions. "At a certain point you need to acknowledge that your partner knows more about what makes him/her happy than you do. Stepping back, you let that partner be." This applies to dogs and human partners! Thanks for the lesson Merle. You dance Sir! Ha-ha-ha
Take this wonderful book and man's best friend to sit and read under a tree August 8, 2007
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
The relationships we build with each other are sustained over time through both verbal and non-verbal communication. We build rich layers of relationship through our interactions with each other. It is part of the human condition to be, well, human.
The act of relationships doesn't stop with the human element. We build relationships with our natural and animal counterparts in some of the same ways we do with each other. Animals, however, hold a different fascination for us. By the very nature of our communication with them, we have to connect more intensely with their abilities to communicate.
Merle's Door gives great insight as to what it takes to make a best friend, a confidante, and an equal partner in life. Kerasote exposes the rich emotion of the ties that bind us to our beloved canines, with an intellectual twist. He explorers the nontraditional notion of "letting a dog be a dog"; that is to say, by rigidly applying dominance and authority over our four-legged pals, they cannot achieve their full potential as canines. The dog merely becomes an extension of our thoughts, desires and actions-and limits the personality development of the animal.
Kerasote presents Merle's memoir in a way that not only evokes emotion, but also educates us as to the history and development of the dog throughout time. He has spent decades adventuring through the wilderness, respectful of what nature offers and how we need to respect the offering as responsible humans. Many of the years Kerasote spent in the wild were with Merle; in fact, that is how fate brought these two soul mates together.
Merle's Door gives us what many books written about dogs have not: a three-dimensional perspective on the dog as an animal, a companion, and a peer above peers. It also gives us a glimpse into the mind and behavior of the canine, as seemingly told by Merle himself, Kerasote his ghostwriter. Merle can rest assured that no greater honor could be given to a canine than the story captured by Kerasote.
Note: Kerasote's Out There: In the Wild in a Wired Age, won the National Outdoor Book Award.
Armchair Interviews says: Dog lovers, take your best friend for a walk, scratch his ears, and then read this wonderful story.
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