Family Dog

In this charming collection of 19 stories, you can't help but fall in love with the unlucky fawn who is saved by a nursing home, the troublesome rabbit who warms her way into a new family and the good (German) shepherd who comforts the sick. These are stories of hope, humor, triumph, loyalty, compassion, life, and even death - but most of all, these are stories of love and the extraordinary animals who make our lives the richer for it.

What if a wheezing, sneezing, allegedly house-trained, ticking time bomb of an orphan pug is the key to helping a family feel at home again after an arsonist set their house - and life - on fire? If you asked me, I would have said it's a bad idea; we can do better. Unfortunately no one asked me, and The Pug List is my family's story.

Follow Delta and her puppies Oscar, Christmas, Bonnnie, Misha, and Alexandra from the pups' conception throughout their lives, in this memoir of a German Shepherd dog family. The stories highlight their triumphs and tragedies. These dogs comforted dying patients and their families, overcame immense adversity, and never lost their love for life and for people, from newborns to 90-year-olds.

Whipped, beaten, and abused for the first year of his life, Dylan was eventually left tied to the gates of a dog sanctuary with a note telling of his treatment. The fates were smiling on the little Bedlington terrier. The author and his family adopted him the very same day. Dylan began his life as part of the author’s family of rescue dogs and has been with them longer than any of their other dogs.

Cassie has bounced back from operations, managed to get lost and found in one afternoon, chased away Rottweilers and Dobermans that have had the nerve to try and steal her tennis ball, and found herself being injured by interfering in larger dogs’ squabbles. People just can’t help falling in love with this tiny bundle of joy.

Sasha is the story of a very remarkable dog: a Staffordshire Bull Terrier abandoned close to death at the age of six weeks old. Rescued from a street gutter, she had the good fortune to be adopted by author Brian L. Porter and his family. Despite suffering from a catalogue of injuries, including two broken legs and skin allergies, and eventually being diagnosed as a serious epileptic at just two years old, Sasha's story is one of triumph over adversity; of love, happiness, and inspiration.

Sheba is the sequel to Brian L. Porter's award-winning best seller, Sasha, and tells the story of rescue dog Sheba, Sasha's best friend, starved, beaten, and used as bait for the training of fighting dogs and then thrown on a rubbish tip and left to die, a barely living skeleton.

After being thrown out from a moving car on a motorway and rescued from the dog pound by Brian Porter and his wife, Dexter had a happy life in their family of rescue dogs. On the June 8th, 2019, Dexter - a Labrador-Staffy Crossbreed - passed away after a year-long fight against illness. Part funny, part serious, and part tragic, this is the story of Dexter’s life.

Penny's story is the fourth in Brian L. Porter's award-winning Family of Rescue Dogs series. It features a tiny terrier, abandoned in a particularly cruel manner and her subsequent adoption and life with the author and his family. From being attacked and needing emergency surgery to days out at the coast chasing seagulls and living in stately homes, Penny's life in Brian's pack of rescue dogs has never been anything but interesting and eventful.

The Betancourts next door have their own secrets and have been a part of the lives of their neighbors for thirty years, but have always remained only on the vacationing peripheral, until now. As they all head toward the end of the era with their two families intertwined, none of them know they are on a crash course, with one force barreling toward them all, one that could blow apart three generations and two families, and the secrets that threaten to break the fabric they’ve woven for thirty years in the sparkling “Hamptons of the South."

Growing up on his family’s cattle farm in western Iceland, young Orri has gained an appreciation for the beauty found in everyday things: the cavorting of a newborn calf, the return of birdsong after a long winter, the steadfast love of a good (or tolerably good) farm dog. But the outer world still beckons, so Orri leaves his no-nonsense Lithuanian Jewish mother and his taciturn father, Pabbi, to attend university in Reykjavík.

When Destiny boasts about videos of her dog, Princess Foo-Foo, going viral, Ferris foolishly claims that Aldo can easily become a BIGGER internet star. There's just one problem: Aldo has about as much talent as a teaspoon. Then Ferris and Tia accidentally film Aldo doing what looks like an amazing trick...will Aldo finally live up to the name of his comic book alter-ego and wow the world with his skills or is this about to be the biggest EPIC FAIL ever?

In the best-selling tradition of Rescuing Sprite comes the story of a puppy brought back from the brink of death, and the family he adopted. Heartwarming and redemptive, Oogy is the story of the people who were determined to rescue this dog against all odds, and of the family who took him home, named him "Oogy" (an affectionate derivative of ugly), and made him one of their own.

When Juliet Porter saw an advertisement for "Puppies for Sale", little did the author expect that instead of one puppy, they would end up adopting three adorable little pups from the same litter.

Night delivers a litter of eight puppies in a poor neighborhood in Springfield, Tennessee, the week before Melissa Armstrong first meets her. As a volunteer for a local nonprofit, Melissa has experience with strays and plans to rescue Night and her litter within days. But nothing goes as planned. For the next six months, Melissa and a ragtag cast of characters try to trap the mutt with nets, catchpoles, spring traps, cheeseburgers, hot dogs stuffed with Benadryl, and the dog’s crying puppies. They fail so many times that Melissa is on the brink of giving up.

Navy SEAL Camden Bains knew when he saved the little girl from a hostage situation and placed her in the arms of her beautiful mother that he’d surrendered his heart to them, too. As much as he fought his growing attraction to a woman he’d never see again after his mission, Elena’s kindness and strength, and her daughter’s sweetness, gave Camden back what a senseless tragedy robbed him of years ago. If only for a little while.

Anna and her friends can't believe that pop star Frankie Santoro is coming to their school to judge a singing competition. They're going to be famous! But Anna is struggling. Her dad's working abroad, and her mum's worrying about ill baby Jack, so Anna has to keep things together. The only person she can talk to is her dog, Timmy. Anna is sure she's going to let everyone down, so she starts to dream of running away, with Timmy at her side.

Eustace is undisputed patriarch of the Farquhar family. That is, he would be if everyone stopped mumbling, let him get on with his shaving and find his way downstairs. It's not Henry's fault that he snores and that his marriage has collapsed. Or that he failed to get into the cricket team. But he has made up for it and is now a faster motorist than ever he was bowler. He is a good father, too, and one day, when he wakes up from daydreaming, his son Kenneth will thank him.

You've maybe heard the story about how John Hawkins "ran away with his pet dog". But the truth is that John and Mouse left to save Tom, and that Mouse is much more than just an ordinary dog.

Meet the Dearings, a crazy, loving, boisterous family in small-town Mississippi. There's mom and dad, three daughters and their families, and the youngest - 25-year-old Ben. Oh, and the family dog, a Yorkie who thinks she's royalty.