The Dog Eared Book Club reads Planet Of The Dogs

Dogster's Book Club reads Planet Of The Dogs

Dogster is an Internet home place for over 383,000 dog lovers (at the time of this post) to talk with each other through their dogs. Everyone posts photos and information, likes and dislikes, personality traits, diary entries and, often, videos about their dogs.

One member, Michelle Slatalla, a writer for the New York Times, suggested that one think of Dogster as a Facebook for dogs.

To have member's of Dogster's Dog Eared Book Club read Planet Of The Dogs was important to us. They are active dog-book readers, they would understand the backgound premises of the book, and they would be outspoken.

We are Dogster members, and on the left you can see me giving one of Muddy's Munchies to our family dog, Dafi.

There is also a Catster for cat lovers.

Every month, Dogster's Dog Eared Book Club reads a different book. In February, 2008, Planet Of The Dogs was selected as the book to read.

Here is a cross section of reader comments (I asked for permission to quote them). The names are actually the names of the dogs, for this is the way all Dogster members communicate:

"I read the book in one sitting! I loved it. I can't wait until the human grandson is old enough so I can read it to him. The ideas behind the story are so heartwarming...I liked how you portrayed the immediate trust the children had for the dogs and how the adults were hesitant and more suspicious...keep those stories coming. It would make a great movie."-Sophie

"I finished the book and enjoyed it all the way through. I'm not a real expert on kid's lit, but I especially liked the way the "bad" people learned from the dogs and became "good" people...the drawings are lovely and I only wish there were more of them." -- Cosmo

 "I know we all love the art and the message...I liked all the characters. I can't say I had a favorite. I can see kids identifying with one dog or another, though...I think all of them would be great role models for kids who read the way I did." -- Charlotte

"Ancient Beliefs say that the definition of dog is: Loyalty, Bravery, Prudent, Responsible, Humble, and Honesty. Which is what all of your characters portray in Planet of the Dogs." -- Muddy

"We also felt it was a good children's book that adults would enjoy.I bought it around Christmas time and really loved it; then, I gave it to a friend's 8 year old daughter who is dog-crazy. She read it almost in one day! It has great lessons to be learned by all ages" -- Wookie

...Thank you Dog Eared Book Club ........................

A Note on Dog Lovers...

My sense of the reason for the ongoing growth of Dogster rests in large part on the member's shared experience of bonding. The bonding that takes place with dogs can be deep, hard to explain to others, and quite profound.

"...the uncomfortable truth was that I was so emotionally invested in Dillon that I could not find words to accurately convey the quality or depth of my feelings."

--Cayr Ariel Wulff, Born Without A Tail