10 October

Afternoon in Saratoga

by Jon Katz
Full house in Saratoga Springs

It was gorgeous in Saratoga Springs this afternoon,and it was jammed. There were thousands of people out picking apples, going through Halloween Mazes, riding in motorbike parades and jamming the streets.  I didn’t expect many people indoors on such a gorgeous day. But it was a full house at Border’s too, where another standing room only crowd showed up to talk with me about “Rose In A Storm.” The crowds and the questions are very different this year.More questions about writing and the creative process, fewer about dog training. The question on this book tour are very different.

I think people are more willing than ever to consider their dog’s behaviors, and to seriously explore the minds of dogs as they are, not as we wish them to be. A very impressive, articulate and curious crowd. We went for two hours. One emotional exchange occurred when a questioner asked about people who say losing a dog is like losing a child. One very reflect person raised his hands and said quietly that he had lost a child, and it was nothing like losing a dog. Amen to that. Although I did point out that people feel so intensely about losing animals in contemporary America that the grieving is sometimes similiar, an issue I addressed in my grieving book, “Going Home: Help When Animals Die,” coming out next year from Random House. Tuesday, off to Washington and interviews and on Wednesday, more interviews and an appearance at Border’s in Bailey’s Crossing, Va., with Rita Mae Brown Wednesday night. Then Clifton Park and the Halfmoon Library and from there, off to Ohio and on Sunday, the Bookloft in Columbus. 2 p.m.

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