Merle's Door: Lessons from a Freethinking Dog

Merle's Door: Lessons from a Freethinking Dog
by Ted Kerasote

Merle's Door: Lessons from a Freethinking Dog
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Book Summary Information

Author: Ted Kerasote
Edition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2007-07-02
ISBN: 0151012709
Number of pages: 416
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Product features:
  • dog stories
  • bestsellng

Book Reviews of Merle's Door: Lessons from a Freethinking Dog

Book Review: A Wonderful Tribute to a Wonderful Friend
Summary: 5 Stars

What first attracted me to this book was the cover. It could have been a picture of my dog, Rhone, whom I also found as a stray in February 1992, and I'm guessing he was about 10 months at the time.

After reading some of the reviews, I went to Ted's website and looked at the photos of Merle's life in pictures. Merle and Ted's enthusiam for life, and the mutual love and respect Ted and Merle shared beams out of every picture. I then listened to the radio podcast and knew that I had to get this book. I have read my share of books about people and their canine companions (Dogs Who Found Me, Marley and Me, Dogs of Dreamtime, etc.) and this chronicle was by far the most informative and intimate.

I really appreciated how Ted treated his readers, much in the way that he treated Merle, with respect. He provides us with a plethora of information to help us understand our dogs and their evolution, they way that they think, etc. I was also taken by the fact that there were no pictures in the book, they're all on the website. I really liked that, not sure why, but I did. It's too bad that there is not video along with the pictures! It'd be great to see Merle in action.

Ted takes on the herculian task of being story teller, griever (he writes the books over a 2.5 year period after Merle's death), and teacher...succeeding remarkably in each area. Ted guides us through the life he and Merle shared and allows us to share the many epiphanies that Ted has, some funny, some serious, and some very sobering and sad, as when he realized after seeing Merle's 'guimping' (his word, not mine) after one hike, that their days of hiking, skiing, and hunting, are over....and that Merle's time is close to being up. I can't think of anything harder to come to terms with. He adds humor when he reminds us that it is the psychology of man, not dog, that brings about this sadness...Merle doesn't think about his numbering days, his guimpy leg, etc. It's a great reminder that it is how we interpret these things, along with the concepts of death and separation, that impede our growth if we wallow in them.

I also enjoyed reading not only about Merle and Ted, but about Merle's dog friends, Ted's gray cat, his support mechanism of friends, etc.

I loved reading this book, but really didn't want to read the ending, because I was sure it would be difficult emotionally. And although it was, Ted once again guides us through this, like a friend taking our hand, trying to help us see the beauty, and not the tragedy at hand. Of course, part of grieving is crying and acknowledging our loss. It's striking to read so many reviews, where we, the readers, share that sense of loss of Merle, that Ted felt. There, for me, was a secondary loss, in a way. In reading such intimate details of Ted's life, I felt that he truly let us in and was unguarded, as much as he could be. When the book ended, it was like I had been caught in some time machine...I found myself sad and grieving for a loss that had happened years before. I found myself then thinking, now 3+ years after Merle's death, how Ted is doing. Did Ted come across another canine friend? Did Ted finally meet a human with whom he can share his life? And, how's his cabin/house that he and Merle built?

Ted brings us a great gift in this book. Many of the comments remark on how lucky Merle was to have a village and free roaming life. Living in a city (SF), I can't offer nearly as much freedom, but I can offer many of the other things that Ted suggest: love, partnership, off-leash dog walking areas like Fort Funston where Rhone can socialize with other dogs, and make his own friends, resolve his own conflicts, etc....to be a (free thinking) dog.

Thanks for a great share Ted!

Summary of Merle's Door: Lessons from a Freethinking Dog

While on a camping trip, Ted Kerasote met a dog—a Labrador mix—who was living on his own in the wild. They became attached to each other, and Kerasote decided to name the dog Merle and bring him home. There, he realized that Merle?s native intelligence would be diminished by living exclusively in the human world. He put a dog door in his house so Merle could live both outside and in.

A deeply touching portrait of a remarkable dog and his relationship with the author, Merle?s Door explores the issues that all animals and their human companions face as their lives intertwine, bringing to bear the latest research into animal consciousness and behavior as well as insights into the origins and evolution of the human-dog partnership. Merle showed Kerasote how dogs might live if they were allowed to make more of their own decisions, and Kerasote suggests how these lessons can be applied universally.

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