DOGS OF DREAMTIME, by Karen Shanley
DOGS OF DREAMTIME: A Story About Second Chances and the Power of Love, by Karen Shanley,
is a book I’d highly recommend for Dog People.
Notice how I didn’t say Animal People.
For anyone who is connected to their dog in a way that seems supernatural, and feels a kinship with dogs that they feel with precious few other beings, this is a fabulous book. After you’ve read it, you’ll no longer suspect you’re as crazy as people think you are for feeling the way you do about dogs.
The author is a "purebreed person" who often gets dogs from breeders and doesn’t appear to see a problem with that. In fact, I put the book away after the first 60 or so pages, so offended by her obsession with finding a certain dog and going to breeders in search of it. She was looking for someone to fill a void in herself, rather than looking for someone with a need she could fill, and I wasn’t interested in anything else she had to say.
Ah, judging others is easy, isn’t it?
I realized after a month that I wasn’t being fair to Ms. Shanley, and I finished her book. Yeah, there’s stuff that pisses me off. But this woman is so dedicated to her dogs, and feels such a deep kinship with them, that I’d be a jerk to write her off.
Hey Mary, Thanks for recommending my book, even though you took issue with some perceptions with which it left you. Maybe I can clear a few of those up. Yes, Dogs of Dreamtime is a book about 3 dogs who came into my life to change me and my understanding of dogs–and coyotes–and the natural world. So, yes I agree, it's a book primarily for dog lovers.
Because this particular book is about dogs, it could leave one with the impression that I'm only a dog person. Not only am I not specifically or only a dog person, I am not a "pure breed" person. Most of my many dogs have been rescue or shelter dogs. The pure-breed dog that you felt I was obsessed with trying to find in the first 60 pages of the book, was a dog who had appeared to me in dreams as my reincarnated and beloved Kiera. My obsession was not in trying to find a pure-breed dog, it was in trying to find Kiera. That she happened to reincarnate as a pure breed dog is not significant to the story.
It's a bit of a leap to think that because I looked for and found a dog who showed itself to be a beloved being in my life, that somehow that translates to me not caring for or tending to or giving much to many others– dogs, humans, all kinds of animals, and mother earth to boot. This perception of being needy for someone or something else to fill me in a self-centered way would be grossly untrue about me.
It's easy and natural to believe you know all about someone who has written openly about a slice of his or her life, when you really only know that slice and not the full picture or person at all. As you say, Mary, it's so easy to leap to conclusions and judge, isn't it?
Thank you so much for deciding to move past your intitial impressions to give me and my book a second shot. That says a lot about you.
And thanks for connecting to my site so I could find your site. Great service you're trying to offer, with great commentary. I've enjoyed spending some time here and reading. I share many of your views.
best
Karen Shanley