This is a beautiful book! Kotler is a writer who retires from modern life in order to rescue dogs with his wife. The book begins with the sort of sentimental reflections one would expect given the book title, but he quickly goes beyond into an unexpected spiritual journey. Kotler is well read and writes well. He has done a ton of research on life, the universe and dogs. As he descends into the world of rescuing dogs, he ties his experiences to philosophy, psychology and spirituality. Kotler quotes from Descartes, Stephen J. Gould, Richard Dawkins and a variety of sacred texts and relates their ideas to his experience with a pack of chiwawas! No small feat (or feet, hahah)!I've read several studies of dog behavior and psychology. This book goes beyond the scientific studies marrying spirituality and experience to research. The book is funny and poignant while telling the story of a real couple on a mission to do something good for dogs while exploring the meaning and significance of their calling. Well worth a read. An engaging book, especially for dog lovers, which wasn't at all what I'd expected. I'd recently read the one about the couple who moved from SoCal to Maine with 25 rescued dogs and it was all about dogs in the here and now.In this one, the author (evidently a respected freelance journalist since clients were sending him as far as Patagonia to report of stories) becomes involved with a woman dog rescuer. Mostly chihuahuas. He talks about dog rescuers as a breed unto themselves and talks about their move to New Mexico and the various canine characters in the story. But then he goes off on academic tangents related mostly to the relationship of wolves, dogs and humans with extensive quoting of various experts on everything from varied theories of how wolves evolved to dogs to inter-species altruism, homosexuality in animals other than humans, shamanism and shapeshifting, inter-species communication and such. A slightly peculiar juxtaposition of learned study and playing with dogs in the desert (Do dogs laugh?), but interesting overall.
What do You think about A Small Furry Hope (2010)?
Although I enjoyed this book, it was different from what I expected. There was A LOT of psychology.
—JadeRains
Dog rescue is hard work. Lots of psychological insight into animal and human behavior.
—Amhar
Boring! I couldn't finish reading it. This is the first dog book I didn't like!
—shevo
