A Dog Year : Twelve Months, Four Dogs, and Me
by Jon Katz
Change sometimes comes on four legs. Jon Katz has two low-maintenance Labs named Julius and Stanley whose chosen work is to lick neighbors and to accompany him through midlife. His year begins with a new arrival at the airport, a two year old border collie named Devon. Devon escapes from his cage and goes tearing around the terminal and is captured and taken home to meet his other two dogs, Julius and Stanley, who are not quite sure of what to make of this new collie. The collie turns out to be very demanding and Katz's training of him is very slow and agonizing. Devon eventually settles in. Later on in the year, after Katz appears on the Oprah Winfrey show, he decides to take her advice and adopt yet another border collie named Homer, who is a sweet puppy that is everyone loves except for Devon. But the two seem to get on easier when he takes them to a farm where they herd sheep. Katz reflects on how important it is to be devoted and have a total understanding of any animal that one brings into their home and how to live peacefully with border collies. It's still obvious that the most important ingredient in a human/dog relationship is love.
