If you’ve ever lived with what author Jon Katz calls a “lifetime dog,” you’ll understand his relationship with Orson. Says Katz, “They’re dogs we love in especially powerful, sometimes inexplicable ways.” Katz has written a number of books about dogs including A Dog Year, Katz on Dogs, and Dog Days.
A Good Dog is the story of a border collie named Orson. At 2 years of age, Orson is a hyperactive dropout from the obedience dog show circuit who has been damaged by the experience and is looking for a good home. Obedience is obviously not Orson’s strong point. Says Katz: “Obedience was, to him, a fluid notion, one of those ideas important to me but not always relevant to him.”
His devotion to his new owner and his extraordinarily loving ways are “punctuated by recurring outbursts of demonic behaviour.” Orson is “wicked smart” and epitomizes all that is good about dogs along with a great deal of what is extremely bad. The bad part includes chasing (or herding) school buses and garbage trucks, crashing through a leaded glass window to protect his territory, and opening the refrigerator to snack on leftovers. In this book, Katz recounts his many attempts to train Orson and calm him down.
Soon after he adopts Orson, Katz moves from the suburbs of New Jersey to a 170-acre farm in upstate New York which he dubs Bedlam Farm. Orson shares the farm with two Labs, another border collie, assorted sheep, donkeys, and chickens, and a lame but lovable rooster named Winston. Katz continues Orson’s training sessions and unsuccessfully tries to get him accustomed to working with sheep. Says Katz: “Sometimes you just have to accept and love the dog you have, even if he’s not necessarily the dog you want him to be.” This of course is true of many things in life.
Katz perseveres in trying to diagnose the source of Orson’s unpredictable outbursts. When his occasional nipping turns to serious biting, we follow Katz and his sometimes “demented” dog from traditional veterinarians to a vet who specializes in holistic care, including acupuncture and Chinese herbal remedies. Despite his scepticism, he even takes Orson to a psychic who communicates with animals.
In addition to his relationship with Orson, Katz shares his feelings and thoughts about life in the country, our relationship with animals and nature, and our responsibilities as dog owners. Katz gives the reader glimpses of his not-so-happy childhood and acknowledges the “strange and lonely little boy” who still resides within him. This makes his bond with this troubled dog all the more poignant and fuels his efforts to rehabilitate him.
It is an arduous journey and one I followed with great interest and empathy. I have had my share of bad dogs! As Katz says: “To own such a dog requires vigilance and spawns anxiety.” I don’t believe in giving away a story’s ending so I will leave that for the reader to find out. A reviewer with USA Today wrote “A Good Dog is a heart-breaking love story.” Anyone who has struggled to live with a dog they love dearly will be intrigued and saddened by it.