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Uncle Boris in the Yukon and Other Shaggy Dog Stories (2001)
Daniel Pinkwater
Simon & Schuster
203 pages
Daniel knows dogs, especially Malamutes. They had three Malamutes: Juno, Arnold, and Arctic Flake plus many other dogs (Bear, Jacques, Maxine, and Lulu), although not all at the same time. Too bad.
Daniel got his Malamutes from a breeder in upstate New York. The breeder was full of wisdom and told him to never take his dogs to a vet; the breeder would give the dogs shots and advise him about health matters. As Daniel's vet later noted, "All breeders think they would have made great vets if they'd only been able to finish high school."
Yes, my Dad shook the bed reading this book.
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Undaunted Courage (1996)
Stephen Ambrose
A Touchstone Book
521 pages
This is the story of Dog, the true hero of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Dog led Lewis and Clark and a bunch of other guys across the American West, over the Rockies, and down the Columbia River to the Pacific Ocean. Without Dog's keen sense of direction Lewis and Clark would have probably ended up at the Arctic Ocean instead (Lewis was so directionally-challenged that he often couldn't find his way back to camp after taking Dog for his evening walk).
It is strange, though, that the author severely downplays Dog's contribution to the expedition. In fact, if you don't read the book carefully you might miss it altogether. Dog isn't even listed in the index. That is a terrible oversight. Fortunately the statue of Dog with Lewis and Clark at Seaside, Oregon, (see "My Adventure at the Beach") is a monument to Dog's key role in Lewis and Clark's success. Come see it in 2005 during the bicentennial of Dog's discovery of Seaside. Tell them Nisqually sent you.
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Have Dog Will Travel - Northwest Edition (2003) (Oregon-Washington-Idaho)
Barbara Whitaker
Ginger & Spike Publications
399 pages
I like this book because it tells about all of the neat places a dog can take his/her owner.
The book lists dog-friendly lodgings in the Pacific Northwest and tells about the things the owner needs to know about traveling with a dog. We have used the book to find hotels, motels, and bed and breakfasts to stay at. Sometimes the information is a little out of date so we call ahead or use the Internet to make sure that everything will be okay before we leave home.
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The Dog Lover's Companion to Seattle (2001)
Steve Giordano
Avalon Travel Publishing
232 pages
Sometimes it is hard to know where dogs are allowed around the Seattle/Puget Sound area. This book helps us figure that out. The book includes a list of parks, beaches, recreation areas, restaurants, hotels, and shops that like dogs. Sometimes you think a park will allow dogs and then you get there and they don't. This book helps you find out before you go. The information on Mt Rainier National Park is not 100% correct (dogs are allowed on the Pacific Crest Trail in the park), but most of the information appears accurate. I just don't understand why dogs aren't allowed everywhere.
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Best Hikes with Dogs - Western Washington (2002)
Dan Nelson
The Mountaineers Books
300 pages
This is my kind of book. It includes information about all sorts of neat trails in the Cascades and Olympics. I have not been on any of these mountain trails yet, but my Dad and Mom have and I can't wait to go with them. It has good information about traveling in the wilderness and what to bring to make hiking fun for us dogs. It even includes Dog Mountain (great name).
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Dog Packing in National Parks (2003)
Jane Cox
Cross Country Publications
103 pages
This is an interesting book. Dogs are not allowed on trails in national parks (although I don't really understand why). Trigger, an Australian shephard mix, is a service dog and goes with his mom, Jane Cox, on hikes in national parks. This is allowed by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Not everyone understands this and Trigger and Jane are pioneers in informing park rangers of their rights to travel the trails of national parks. Trigger has opened the door for other dogs. Will this door stay open? Why are pack animals such as horses, mules, and llamas allowed on national park trails and not pack dogs? Should dogs be allowed in national parks? What do you think? Write me at AskNisqually@hotmail.com and let me know.
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50 Trail Runs in Washington (2002)
Cheri Pompeo Gillis
The Mountaineers Books
236 pages
There are no dogs in this book, but I like it because it tells about trails that I run on (Cougar Mountain and the Tolt River Pipeline trails) and because there are three pictures of my Dad in this book. I don't know why there are no pictures of me.
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Winterdance - The Fine Madness of Running the Iditarod (1994)
Gary Paulsen
Harcourt Brace & Company
256 pages
This is the true story of a team of dogs and their owner and their decision to run the Iditarod. Cookie, Devil, Ortho, Murphy, and others (all of them mixed breed pulling dogs) had some great adventures. This book tells all: from their dog sledding beginnings in the northern woods of Minnesota to crossing the Iditarod finish line in Nome.
Here is one of my favorite parts when they were training for the Iditarod: "All in all we hit six skunks that first night and at least five of them got me. I was drenched in stink, soaked in it, and by four in the morning I'd had enough. We hadn't run more than eight miles..." Wow, what a great time that must have been.
Then their Iditarod start: "We went through people's yards, ripped down fences, knocked over garbage cans. At one point I found myself going through a carport and across a backyard with fifteen dogs and a fully loaded Iditarod sled. A woman standing over the kitchen sink looked out with wide eyes as we passed through her yard and I snapped a wave at her while we tore down her picket fence..." This book makes my Dad shake the bed every time he reads it.
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A Walk in the Woods (1998)
Bill Bryson
Broadway Books
276 pages
There are no dogs in this book, but there is a cute picture of a bear on the cover. Bill hiked portions of the Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine. He had a great time full of misadventures and wrote a great book about it. He would have had more fun with a dog, but he didn't ask me to go. Maybe next time.
My Dad likes all of Bill Bryson's travel adventure books and recommends:
In a Sunburned Country
Made in America
The Lost Continent
Neither Here nor There
Notes from a Small Island
I'm a Stranger Here Myself
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Never Sniff a Gift Fish (1979)
Patrick McManus
Holt, Rinehart and Winston
217 pages
These are a collection of short stories about hunting, fishing, and growing up in the wilds of Idaho. None are true, but none are fiction (that means not true). The hero of some of the stories is Patrick's dog Strange, but Strange is strangely absent from this book.
This book is another bed shaker; all of Patrick's books are. I like the time Patrick and his friend, Retch Sweeney, decided to make a cannon constructed of sewer pipe, two-by-fours, baby carriage wheels, rubber inner-tube bands, a clothespin, baling wire, and various other odds and ends in the story "Poof - No Eyebrows!"
Other fun books by Patrick McManus include:
A Fine and Pleasant Misery
They Shoot Canoes, Don't They?
The Grasshopper Trap
Rubber Legs and White Tail-Hairs
The Night the Bear Ate Goombaw
Real Ponies Don't Go Oink
The Good Samaritan Strikes Again
How I Got This Way
Into the Twilight, Endlessly Grousing
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One Man's Wilderness - An Alaskan Odyssey (1999)
Sam Keith from the journals and photographs of Richard Proenneke
Alaska Northwest Books
223 pages
No dogs, but this is the true story of a man's venture into the Alaskan wilderness. In 1968 (long before I was born) at the age of 51 Richard built a log cabin by hand in the wilds of Alaska and lived there for the next 30 years. This book is his journal of the first year. There is also a great DVD ("Alone in the Wilderness"; Bob Swerer Productions: 800-737-0239) that goes with the book. Get both.
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More books to come...
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