Dog Stories

Two centuries of great stories about manrs"s best friend-from Mark Twain and Anton Chekhov to Patricia Highsmith and Jonathan Lethem. The pack of richly drawn and unforgettable canines gathered here includes Rudyard Kiplingrs"s heroically faithful "Garm," Bret Harters"s irrepressible scoundrel of a "Yellow Dog," and the aggressively affectionate three-legged pit bull Ava, who lives in an apartment building for dogs in Jonathan Lethemrs"s "Avars"s Apartment." Here are stories that touchingly illuminate the dogrs"s role in the emotional lives of humans: Amy Hempelrs"s masterful "The Dog of the Marriage" and Tobias Wolffrs"s "Her Dog," in which a widower shares his grief for his wife with her grieving pet. Here too are inventively humorous portraits, from O. Henryrs"s tale of a coddled petrs"s escape in "Memoirs of a Yellow Dog" to P. G. Wodehousers"s cheerfully naiuml;ve watchdog who simply wants everybody to get along. These writers and others-Rick Bass, Ray Bradbury, James Salter, Penelope Lively, and Lydia Millet among them-offer a kaleidoscopic take on humanityrs"s most devoted companion.

Diana Secker Tesdell is the editor of the Everyman’s Pocket Classics Stories of the Sea, Love Stories, and Christmas Stories.

O. Henry, “Memoirs of a Yellow Dog”
Jonathan Lethem, “Ava’s Apartment”
Rudyard Kipling, “Garm—A Hostage”
Ray Bradbury, “The Emissary”
P. G. Wodehouse, “The Mixer”
Patricia Highsmith, “There I Was, Stuck with Bubsy”
Mark Twain, “A Dog’s Tale”
James Thurber, “Josephine Has Her Day”
Anton Chekhov, “Kashtanka”
G. K. Chesterton, “The Oracle of a Dog”
Brad Watson, “Seeing Eye”
Tobias Wolff, “Her Dog”
Lydia Millet, “Sir Henry”
Madison Smartt Bell, “Barking Man”
Bret Harte, “A Yellow Dog”
Doris Lessing, “The Story of Two Dogs”
Rick Bass, “The Hermit’s Story”
Thomas McGuane, “Flight”
James Salter, “My Lord You”
Penelope Lively, “Black Dog”