Family Dog

Eustace is the undisputed patriarch of the Farquhar family - that is, he would be if everyone left him alone so he could get on with things, like shaving and finding 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 a bowler. He is a good father, too, and one day when he wakes up from daydreaming his son, Kenneth, will thank him.

When Todd’s father passes away, he feels no sadness. He feels free, for the first time in his life, to tell those he loves who he really is, a secret he has kept hidden since he was a teen out of necessity. That sense of freedom is quickly extinguished when he’s asked to eulogize the man who tortured him and his family for a lifetime. Forced to dig through his past looking for fond memories of a war hero, he quickly realizes there aren’t any to be had. As the day of the funeral looms, Todd seeks the assistance of his brothers, whose own experiences only create more problems.

When she moves her Alzheimer’s-afflicted dad into the home she shares with her husband and elderly dog, Rachel Morgan expects some complications, but she never imagines the biggest one will occur on the first day, threatening her best-intentioned caregiving plans. Her normally sweet-natured dad - a former mailman who experienced too many run-ins with biting dogs - is adamant about wanting nothing to do with her big black Labrador. But as Rachel tends to the escalating physical and emotional needs of each, she realizes these two souls whom she loves deeply are on the same journey.

It’s a life-altering New Year for 13-year-old Lydia when she uproots to a Connecticut farm to live with her aunt following her mother’s death. Aunt Brat and her jovial wife, Eileen, and their ancient live-in landlord, Elloroy, are welcoming - and a little quirky. Lydia’s struggle for a sense of belonging in her new family is highlighted when the women adopt a big yellow dog just days after the girl’s arrival.

After ten years on the force, LAPD cop Sonny Rush relocates with her elderly mother to peaceful Haven, California, to join her godfather’s burgeoning PI business. What crimes could possibly happen in a town nicknamed “Mayberry by the Sea”? Sonny’s first case: find Figgy, a missing goldendoodle last seen sporting a Versace collar. At least scouting out a dognapper gives Sonny a chance to get to know her new neighbors.

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.

Hendrika de Vries is a protected “daddy’s girl”, until her father is deported from Nazi-occupied Amsterdam to a POW camp in Germany and her mother joins the resistance and hides a Jewish girl in their home. As she and her mother experience escalating brutality at the hands of men with swastika armbands who aim to exterminate those they deem “inferior” and those who do not obey, Hendrika learns about moral choice, forced silence and female strength, and through it all discovers the woman she wants to become.

Aaron Tucker, aspiring New Jersey screenwriter and occasional freelance journalist, puts on his sleuthing hat after a young man with Asperger's syndrome is arrested for a senseless murder. Despite damning evidence, including the accused's confession and possession of the murder weapon, Tucker, who has an autistic son, finds the nature of the crime incompatible with his understanding of the suspect's symptoms. Persisting even after a local mobster warns him off, the amateur detective uses his son to pursue the truth.

Whip-smart Ariel doesn’t fit in. Only in the winds of the Blue Ridge Mountains and spring storms that mirror the unhappiness she feels at home. Her brother understands her, but he’s in Afghanistan. Her father hasn't been the same since George deployed. Her mother focuses on Ariel’s gorgeous sister. When Gloria is selected to be an Apple Blossom Parade princess, Ariel feels even more the outsider and takes to the hills. There, during a raging storm, Ariel finds a lost dog who leads her to the safety of a cabin and Sergeant Josie, a former Army K-9 handler.

When Azi’s grandfather leaves their small Mediterranean island, Azi waits every day for him to return. The arrival of a nesting turtle and a tall sandy dog convinces Azi that it must mean that Grandfather is on his way. As Azi digs deeper into the past, he begins to unravel hidden secrets and starts to find out just how alike he and his grandfather really are. And without him, Azi knows, he will never feel complete....

"We must be ruthless," Edward snarls, "because we lead ruthless lives: you, of anyone, should understand that. This is our existence, Jordan, this house, this land, that father, that mother - there's no pity, there's no mercy, there's probably no escape. It is hard, Jordan, and we have to be hard to survive it, and the best we can do is fight anything that threatens to make it worse."

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Although my dog Scamp is the lead actor in this book, it is not a book about dogs. Children are the real focus, and the content is addressed to their grown-up handlers — the parents and teachers who guide them out of their blissful state of infant irresponsibility, through the challenges of childhood, and into their own unique, self-determined biographies. Mothers, fathers, grandparents, aunts, uncles, teachers, caregivers, or anyone working with children, I thought, might want to partake of lessons Scamp taught me.