This book was given to me as a gift from Sherif Ali and Leslie Franklin576 pages
This is a story about a dog and her boy, a boy and his dog. Edgar Sawtelle, the little boy, was born mute. Boy is real, flawed and human. Dog is real, flawed and canine. But they are one. Connected since his young uncertain beginning of life. She and he able to connect through a home grown form of sign language, comprehensible only to them.
After suffering loss, then forced apart, we see the pain of separation through Almondine's eyes:
"When she wasn't sleeping already she lay in the shade and waited for sleep to return. In slumber everything was as it had once been, when they were whole and he ran beside her, pink and small-limbed and clumsy. Those were nights when the timbers of the house had breathed for them and no sand had yet worked into her joints. No search for him was necessary. In her dreams, he was there, always, waving bachelor's buttons for her to smell, unearthing oddities she was required to dig from his clenched hands for fear he'd found some dangerous thing. Not so in the waking world which held nothing but an endless search." pg 460
Edgar’s dad and his dad’s dad breed Sawtelle Dogs. Through letters that go back decades, the author explores controversies within dog breeding, canine choice and ultimately what it means to be human in relationship with canine. Is breeding a dog that can make their own choice the ultimate breeding success? Or the trainers worst nightmare? Can we boil it down so simply?
A great, wonderful adventure story. A most amazing look at well trained dogs and wild wolves and humans trying to find their way through this strange life.
**As a relevant aside: Have you heard of the Japanese dog Hachiko? A story worth hearing. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hachik%C5%8D
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