ohmidog!

“Woof!” — a fetching collection of pithy, poignant and sometimes even puckish essays about dogs  — comes out in paperback this month.

Edited by Lee Montgomery — who also writes about a schnauzer who’s not, shall we say, master of his domain — the anthology presents the work of 20 acclaimed writers who have turned their attention to dogs, most frequently their own.

Original personal essays include Rick Bass’s tale about the week his hunting dog, Point, was given a fatal prognosis. Abigail Thomas writes about the  maneuvering it takes to share a bed with three dogs. And, in my personal favorite, Denis Johnson gives voice to The Colonel, his bullmastiff, who recounts a day in his and Johnson’s lives.

Reading it can be as emotionally tumultuous as living with a dog. Some stories deal with the  happy peaks; some with the sad valleys. Some are heartbreaking, some hilarious.

Published by Penguin Books, “Woof” includes an introduction by renowned dog writer Elizabeth Marshall Thomas.