Best Dog Stories

These are dogs as they once were: workers, hunters, guardians, and steadfast companions to people who needed them. Samuel A. Derieux assembled this collection from an earlier era of writing about animals, when authors didn't soften their tales for modern sensibilities. Here you'll find hounds that never give up the chase, loyal mutts who wait by doors that never open again, and moments of dark humor that land because they're grounded in real human-animal relationships. Some stories are devastating. Some are genuinely funny in that understated way old fiction can be. A few are uncomfortable, because they reflect the prejudices of their time. But the best ones capture something true about the bond between people and dogs that hasn't changed in a hundred years: that particular look in an animal's eye when it decides you're worth dying for. This isn't a nostalgic coffee table book. It's a window into how an earlier generation understood their four-legged companions.