10 September

Why I Write Books: “Getting A Dog.” Balance And Perspective

by Jon Katz

Up until a few weeks ago, I was pretty well set on giving up writing books. But I see that the experience of Red, Gus, Bud and now a new puppy has stirred up a book idea that I wish to write.

The publishing world is in great transition, as is my own life as a writer. As publishing has changed, so have I.

I started the blog in 2007 because I felt the experience of publishing books for me was changing so much I needed to find a different outlet and income for my writing.

Editing and writing is mostly an e-mail business now, and while I appreciate new technology and use it every day, I need the kind of back and forth I used to have with editors. I need it, and it doesn’t happen anymore.

I may speak to my editor once during the entire process of writing and publishing a book, or not at all.

That’s bad for me. I need editing. And I need a publisher committed to my work. I don’t know if there is such a thing any longer.  If I’m going to be alone, I might as well love what I am doing alone: my blog.

I chose the blog and photography as the focal point of my creative life, even though I still work on books and have one coming out – Gus and Bud – sometime next year, assuming my publisher ever gets around to reading it.

People tell me all the time what book I will be writing next – Red, the Mansion, the refugees, Bud, the Army Of Good, another children’s book. I think the book business is as confusing for my readers as it is for me.

I won’t be doing a book on any of those things. I have no interest in writing a book about the Mansion,  and no commercial publisher would want one.

I write about it almost every day and have little to add to that.

The blog is my book now, my living memoir,  that is where I publish my ideas, experiences and the ever-evolving story of my life.

I don’t need to write a book about the same things I write about on my blog unless there are special circumstances – that would be boring and non-creative. People tend to think about the things they care about are books, but that isn’t the way publishing works. They only care about things that sell a lot of books, they are all in the hands of corporations now, not book lovers.

My last few book experiences have been difficult, draining, frustrating, alienating. I’m rarely happy when writing a book, I’m always happy when writing on my blog.

Bookwork has been fading for me. The blog, on the other hand, is a joy, ascending, alive, relevant on many different levels.  It is my living memoir.

People often message me to say something I wrote ought to be in the New York Times. I smile inwardly. I have more readers than they do, and they have little interest in what I do write about.

I have never had the freedom in books that I have on the blog – here I can be myself, write what I want, explore more than just cute animals.

And I was right to take that jump in 2007 – this my medium: free, informal, interactive and timely. Plus there are my photographs, something I could rarely do in books.

But book publishing still works for me in some ways, and one of them is when it comes to dogs. That is my publishing identity, my turf. Smart book writers stay on their turf. I can wander on the blog, but nobody out there in the ether wants to read my spiritual or personal musings in a book.

Some subjects are important enough to me that I want to put my ideas and experiences together in one place, especially if there is a chance of helping both dogs and people.

I believe the dog world has been thrown out of balance in recent years by the epidemic emotionalizing of dogs and the exploitation of them by human beings looking to feel better about their lives and their ability and need to do good.

As anyone following my books or blog knows, I love to rescue animals, the farm is swarming with rescued animals – dogs, chickens, sheep, ponies,  donkeys, barn cats. To rescue an animal is a noble and valuable thing to do, satisfying beyond words as Bud’s life and the lives of so many animals can testify.

But for growing numbers of people, the rescue has become the point of dogs, not the dog itself. The dog world is out of balance.

Some elements of the rescue culture seem out of control to me, scouring the world for dogs to rescue, promoting ideologically inspired no-kill shelters which are nothing less than sanctioned abuse for dogs who may spend years in crates.

Some rescue groups have become tyrannical, making it harder and more expensive all the time for many people – the poor, the elderly, the employed – to get dogs and love them. It should be easy to adopt one of the millions of dogs languishing in shelters, nor more and more difficult.

Rescue is no longer just one very good way to get a dog, which it is, but the only way to get a dog, which it isn’t.

Nobody who wishes to make up their own mind about getting a dog should be harassed or persecuted or guilt-tripped by people who choose a different path in the name of loving dogs. That is a fascistic approach, not good for dogs or people.

The best dog for me is one I want and love and will care for.

Like breeders and shelters, the rescue culture needs to held accountable, not shielded by animal ideologues.

(In New York, Central Park Carriage Horse Drivers are routinely denied rescue dogs because animal rights groups consider it cruel for draft horses to work. People who work are commonly denied permission to rescue dogs because they don’t have expensive fences or aren’t home all day.)

I am always under siege when I buy a purebred dog from a breeder, it is a heretic to some people. Good breeders who work hard to keep the best health and temperament traits of dogs alive are slandered and persecuted and lumped together with the backyard breeders. Like Congress, we dog people have become polarized and judgmental with one another. That is not about dogs, it’s about us.

One of the leading causes of death for dogs is being returned to shelters by people who acquire them only for emotional or moral reasons but know nothing about them or their history.

Sometimes that works out, sometimes it doesn’t. I want to make the case that there are good breeders and bad breeders, good shelters and bad shelters, good rescue groups and bad ones.

People should get the dog they want, envision and dream. Nobody has the right to tell anybody how they should get a dog. I am happy to have rescued Bud (and Frieda and Red and Izzy), and am excited about getting a Lab puppy.

Each one fit into my life at the right time and was what I wanted and needed. Because I considered how to get a dog, I got the dog I wanted to have, a dog I could steward and care for and grant a good life. Every border I have had has had sheep out the back door just about every day of their lives.

My plan is to choose a puppy well suited in temperament and health for therapy work. As a general rule, you won’t find such a dog in a shelter. If that’s not what you want, it doesn’t matter. Perspective and rationality is what matters.

The love of a dog begins before we even get them. Its foundation is in thoughtfulness, research, and practicality. We owe it do our dogs to get them because we want them and know them and believe they will fit into our lives and have a purpose beyond making us feel superior to others.

I utterly reject Cesar Milan’s notion that if you read his books you can have a perfect dog. There is no such thing, and if there was, I wouldn’t want one. Dogs, like us, are each different, I’ve never met or wanted a perfect dog or a perfect child. Yuk.

Rule One: Never let anyone else tell you how you must get a dog. I hope to explore the good options, and there are many despite the minefield dog politics have become.

So writing a book about how to get a dog appeals to me now, and to my agent also. He wants to talk to me about this book idea when he gets back from vacation.

The odds are long now, but the idea is bubbling up. We’ll see.

 

11 Comments

  1. As Han Solo said, “never tell me the odds!” You’ve got this Jon! I’m so excited for your next book! That’s exactly the book I wanted to read and needed to read as I embarked upon my journey into dog ownership. We need more authentic voices like yours out there. I read all your books regarding your Border Collies before I decided a Border Collie was for me. I didn’t want perfection – I’m far from it, I wanted real, ugly, gritty and honest and I found that in your works and that was what has helped me along the way and get to where I am today with my dog. We’ve got a long road ahead, but I’m happy I’m on it and wouldn’t change it for the world.

  2. I love this idea – being a purebreed owner of a Newfoundland myself. I have had a rescue dog who was a mutt; I have had a rescue dog who was purebreed; and I have owned dogs who have come from reputable breeders. Each worked for me and my family at the time and none was “better” than the others (though some were easier to train). I am fascinated also by the “designer dogs” and the idea that those who own them think of them as a special breed rather than crossbreeding. This idea of “unique” and “special” and “my dog is better than your dog” seems to be a mirror of our times where everything lately is black or white and no shades of gray are allowed. I don’t feel the need to justify to anyone why I chose the breed I chose or even why I chose a purebreed over a shelter.

    I think the conversation is important and having a book from you would be a great way to move the conversation forward.
    I do slightly disagree with your statement regarding Cesar Milan – I have read many of his books and I don’t see the message as saying you can have the perfect dog. I think Cesar’s point is to 1. identify the type of dog that would fit best with your lifestyle/family (high energy, low energy etc.); 2. understand the responsibility of owning a dog; 3. provide exercise, stimulation, and affection; and 4. putting this all together leads to the perfect (right) dog for each family. I don’t see his goal as “perfection” in the pure sense…I read his goals as trying to help people understand more about dogs and their behaviors and stop trying to obtain dogs just because they are cute puppies or just because you read about them somewhere.

  3. Right on both points: First, the ability to change and adapt is crucial to survival (mental, emotional, spiritual, even physical) these days. I am less persuaded with the red state-blue state, conservative-liberal, rural-urban divides the pundits always revert to rather than engaging in serious (and nonjudgmental) discussion about how and why some people and communities are able to adapt to changing conditions, and others are not. James Fallows had been writing a fascinating series in The Atlantic about his travels all around the country, reporting on wonderful grass roots, community efforts in this regard, in so-called red states as well as others.

    So kudos to you for not only doing, but sharing through your blog, this hard work of accepting the need for change, and actually doing it! It’s inspirational.

    Second, if getting a dog (through whatever means) is a lifetime commitment, then no one but the one getting the dog gets to decide what is necessary to meet that commitment. For me, personally, it means careful selection of the breed for health and temperament, careful selection of a dedicated and qualified breeder to ensure those qualities, and meeting the mother and father and litter mates. That, for me, has been the surest route to getting a lifetime companion.

  4. It has been a long time since I added a book to my Katz collection…say what you will about blogs…there is something satisfying about taking a book from the shelf. I am looking forward to this one….the world needs it!!

  5. I don’t know. A Dao of Katz book sounds quite intriguing. Anyhow, loving the thoughts behind the new book. I think it is desperately needed. As always, thank you for sharing!

  6. By all means write this book. It is very much needed. I just hope those who could benefit from it do actually read it.

  7. I have read a couple of your books and followed you on the e-mails you have sent out. I would love to read another one of your creations within a book. And I love my 5 dogs no matter how I acquired them they all have their own personality but they all give my husband and I love and that is what we need is love back from these beautiful pets. You are on the right track.

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