With more than 150,000 copies sold, Mother Knows Best is one of the top training books of all time. Based on the natural way a mother dog trains her puppies, Benjamin's training method is humane, effective and all natural. Now we've put a bright new cover on a timeless classic.

A Washington Post Book World Best Book of the Year

Winner of the Israel Fishman-Stonewall Book Award for Nonfiction

Tender and amusing. . . . Doty brilliantly captures the qualities that make dogs endearing. -- The New Yorker

When Mark Doty decides to adopt a dog as a companion for his dying partner, he brings home Beau, a large, malnourished golden retriever in need of loving care. Joining Arden, the black retriever, to complete their family, Beau bounds back into life. Before long, the two dogs become Doty's intimate companions, and eventually the very life force that keeps him from abandoning all hope during the darkest days.

Dog Years is a poignant, intimate memoir interwoven with profound reflections on our feelings for animals and the lessons they teach us about living, love, and loss.

Is it possible for humans to discover the key to happiness through a bigger-than-life, bad-boy dog? Just ask the Grogans.

John and Jenny were just beginning their life together. They were young and in love, with not a care in the world. Then they brought home Marley, a wiggly yellow furball of a puppy. Life would never be the same.

Marley grew into a barreling, ninety-seven-pound streamroller of a Labrador retriever. He crashed through screen doors, gouged through drywall, and stole women's undergarments. Obedience school did no good -- Marley was expelled.

But just as Marley joyfully refused any limits on his behavior, his love and loyalty were boundless, too. Marley remained a model of devotion, even when his family was at its wit's end. Unconditional love, they would learn, comes in many forms.

Marley & Me is John Grogan's funny, unforgettable tribute to this wonderful, wildly neurotic Lab and the meaning he brought to their lives.

At the age of 36, Caroline Knapp, author of the acclaimed bestseller "Drinking: A Love Story," found herself confronted with a monumental task: redefining her world. She had faced the loss of both her parents, given up a twenty-year relationship with alcohol, and, as she writes, "I was wandering around in a haze of uncertainty, blinking up at the biggest questions: Who am I without parents and without alcohol? How to form attachments, and where to find comfort, in the face of such daunting vulnerability?" An answer materialized in the most unlikely form: that of a dog. Eighteen months to the day after she quit drinking, Knapp stumbled upon an eight-week-old puppy at a local animal shelter, took her home, and named her Lucille. Now two years old, Lucille has become a central force in Knapp's life: "In her," she writes, "I have found solace, joy, a bridge to the world."
Caroline Knapp has been celebrated as much for her fresh insight into emotional and psychological issues as she has been for her gifts as a writer. In "Pack of Two," she brings the same perception and talent to bear on the rich, complicated terrain of human-animal relationships. In addition to mining her own experience with Lucille, Knapp speaks to a wide variety of dog people--from animal behaviorists and psychologists to other owners whose dogs have deeply affected their lives--about this emotionally complex, sometimes daunting, often profoundly healing alliance. Throughout, she explores the shift in canine roles from working partners to intimate companions and looks, too, at how this new kinship, this wordless bond, becomes a template for what we most desire ourselves.

For some people, the world spins on a slightly different axis, and life
is often dictated by a cold nose nudging for a predawn outing, a
stray dog hair in your coffee, and that daily race to get home after a long
day's work and be greeted by slobbery kisses.

Planet Dog is a jam-packed book of more than three-hundred lists
about raising, loving, and living in the world with man's best friend.
Combining the practical, the informative, and the entertaining, this
unique encyclopedic treatment addresses not only the care of dogs
but also their culture, their competitions, their breeding and behavioral
characteristics—even dog people themselves—all in a feisty and easily
accessible guide.

Life with a puppy is not all fun and cuddling, as Jane and Michael Stern make clear in this delightful book. After all, today's cute ball of fur is tomorrow's fifteen-year veteran of family life. But there's no reason a book that clearly spells out the pleasures as well as the vicissitudes of choosing and raising a puppy can't be as entertaining as it is informative. And that's where "Two Puppies" wins hands down against all other books on selecting and raising your dog.

As Roger A. Caras, president of the ASPCA, writes in his foreword to "Two Puppies," "Puppies are a promise so magical" we sometimes want to believe in them so much we overlook the realities of living with a fellow creature. Not so Jane and Michael Stern: "We searched in vain for a book that was honest enough to tell us that sometimes dogs, like kids, don't grow up exactly as you want them to, despite your best intentions. We couldn't find such a book, so we wrote this one."

"Two Puppies" follows two dramatically different dogs through puppyhoods that are alternately tumultuous, funny, emotionally wrenching, and ultimately happy. It is a journey that goes wonderfully right, as in the inspiring biography of Parnell, the Labrador Retriever born and meticulously raised to work hand-in-paw as a faithful companion and guide dog to a blind woman. On the other hand, through the antics of Clementine, the Sterns's own misbegotten puppy, we see in excruciating detail what can go hilariously but instructively wrong.

There are hundreds of things puppy owners should know before taking on the joys and responsibilities of dog ownership, and this book offers a full supply of solid information, from how to purchase yourperfect puppy to care instructions and training advice. Experienced dog owners themselves, the Sterns share their valuable insight into breeding and training as well as the magic bond that can develop between dog and human. They also remind us that puppies are never predictable and that a puppy's new owner should be prepared for anything. While remaining true to their credo -- first, entertain -- the Sterns have produced a classic book on canine care, a veritable "What to Expect When You're Expecting" for current and future puppy owners.

• Selecting a dog (what breed? male? female? puppy or older dog?) to fit your lifestyle
  
• Where to get--and where not to get--a dog
  
• Reading a pedigree
  
• Training your dog or puppy--when, where, and how
  
• The proper use of praise and discipline
  
• Feeding, grooming, and ensuring your dog's physical fitness
  
• Recognizing and correcting canine behavioral problems
  
• The particular challenges of raising a dog where you live - in the city, country, or suburb
  
• The proper techniques for complete care of your pet at every stage of his or her life

With the candor and wit that he's known for, Daniel Pinkwater shares heartfelt and often peculiar reflections on the dogs (and other assorted creatures) that have shaped his life and family traditions. Pinkwater begins with the tale of his colorful Uncle Boris, who sets off on a trek from Warsaw to the Yukon in search of gold. Along the way he strikes up a curious friendship with Jake, the lead dog in his team of malamutes, who, as it happens, converses in perfect Yiddish. This is the first in a series of delightful anecdotes that introduce a curious cast of canines, including a couple of wolf breeds, a Labrador retriever, a few more malamutes, a chow chow, a mutt, and even a Pekinese, among others.
A "mordantly funny and smartly entertaining mix of memoir and fancy" (Booklist), "Uncle Boris in the Yukon" shows us a world where, though Pinkwater is top dog, it's the four-legged companions who steal the show.