A soggy greeting today! We finally got some rain and clouds that hung over the bay all day long. Much more typical of the northwest.

Today I will return to dog books. There are dozens of titles I enjoyed growing up, but I am starting here with a more recent (as in the last fifteen years) find. First Lady of the Seeing Eye by Morris Frank and Blake Clark. Buddy was the first Seeing Eye dog in the United States. She was partnered with Morris Frank to show just what a Guide Dog could do for the blind. The result was impressive. Tales of their adventures together are wonderful .... from Buddy keeping Morris from walking into an elevator after the doors opened, but there was no elevator, just the empty shaft, to the time she picked up his wallet and carried it back to their room when he didn't even know he'd dropped it.

So That Others May Live: Caroline Hebard and Her Search and Rescue Dogs by Hank Whitemore and Caroline Hebard follows Caroline and her amazing dogs as they perform searches all over the world. One of the earliest books I remember seeing on canine search and rescue teams, others would follow as humans discovered just how amazing dogs were. This is further explored in Dogs With Jobs: Working Dogs From Around the World by Merrily Weisbord and Kim Kachnoff. Featured here are the stories (and pictures) of water rescue dogs, mine sniffing dogs, cadaver dogs ... herding dogs, sled dogs, service dogs ... dogs who sniff out tree snakes, or termites, and much more. The scope of what dogs can do is ... awe inspiring.

Continuing on the theme is Dog Heroes: Saving Lives and Protecting America by Jen Bidner. It starts with a chapter on the history of search dogs and ends with one on how to get started in the profession. This book includes the dogs who served in wars from the Civil War forward, those who worked at Ground Zero after 9/11, and at the scene of natural disasters. Dogs who can find bodies, or items, even in the water, or buried, or in the fuel tank of an airplane. No wonder it's easy for them to discover just where a treat is hidden!

In 1995 I found Death in Bloodhound Red, by Virginia Lanier. It was the first in the series about Jo Beth Siddon, who lives in the deep south and trains Bloodhounds for search and rescue. Often, the areas where she searches are full of nasty bugs and beasts not to mention the heat and humidity. The description of her companionship with her dogs is one of the best things about the books. Sadly, the author died in 2003 so there are just five books total.

For those of you still working ... are you working on a tough project? Something with few guidelines, a killer deadline? I have a friend in a high stress job who told me she felt like she was a magician expected to pull a rabbit out of a hat and all she found was a gerbil. Seems an apt description to me!

Stay dry,

Reading Hermit With Dog