The Second-Chance Dog

October 1, 2013
Best-selling author Katz (Going Home: Finding Peace When Pets Die, 2012, etc.) brings readers the intimate story of falling in love with a woman and her extremely protective pet dog. "There was me, sixty-one, broke and bewildered," writes Katz, the prolific author of books about pets and, in particular, dogs. "And there was Maria, a sad, brooding fiber artist in her forties...seeking to find her lost creative soul...and finally there was Frieda, aka "the Helldog," a Rottweiler-shepherd mix who had been cruelly abandoned." What starts out as a story of despair--for Katz and Maria, as their respective long-term marriages fell apart, and for Frieda, who was raised as a guard dog and then abandoned only to spend years living in the wild--turns to joy as faith, trust, friendship and love replace fear, extreme panic attacks and an overprotectiveness bordering on dangerous. Nearly 20 years older than Maria, Katz felt a sense of urgency to create a life with her and Frieda, but he tamed his desperate need to love and be loved and learned that infinite patience would finally win the hearts of woman and canine. With Maria, he expressed tenderness and an awareness of her stalwart desire for independence--yet he was persistent in his marriage proposals. With Frieda, hundreds of pounds of beef jerky, steady training and an understanding of the dog's past experiences helped create a bond that allowed Katz to move closer to both dog and the woman he felt was his soul mate. "The poet Rumi says to gamble everything for love if you're a true human being," he writes. "We did. We are." Bittersweet in its telling, Katz reminds readers of the importance of human and animal connections.

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June 15, 2013

When New York Times best-selling author Katz moved to Bedlam Farm in upstate New York, he met an artist named Maria. The only roadblock to a relationship? Maria's dog, Frieda, a rottweiler-shepherd mix that had run wild for several years and was Maria's ferocious guardian. With love, perseverance, and $500 worth of beef jerky, Katz managed to win over Frieda and get his beloved.

Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 1, 2013

In this heartwarming story of love and redemption intertwined with a primer of author Katz's (The New Work of Dogs: Tending to Life, Love, and Family) philosophy of dog training, dogs and humans alike get second chances at life, love, and growth. A mistreated, abandoned, and seemingly untrainable former junkyard dog, Frieda is transformed into a docile family member through the persistence of a man who's in love with the woman who adopted the dog. This is also the story of how two broken individuals--Maria Wulf, a struggling, insecure artist whose marriage was falling apart and whose career was stalled, and Katz, aging, divorced, and battling his own demons of panic, depression, and self-doubt--found true love, healing, happiness, and a new outlook on life. VERDICT This moving work is recommended for readers who want a true-life love story, for dog lovers seeking a book with a happy ending (the dog doesn't die!), for seniors who think that receiving a Medicare card means that love is out of the question, and for dog trainers who want to learn more about Katz's philosophy of dog training.--Florence Scarinci, Nassau Community Coll. Lib., Garden City, NY

Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.