Come Back, Como: Winning the Heart of a Reluctant Dog

by Steven Winn

Overview

When Steven Winn and his wife, Sally, finally gave into their only child Phoebe's pleas for a dog, they adopted a scraggly terrier mutt from a local animal shelter. The new family pet, Como, turned out to hat men-especially the author-and proved to be a cunning escape artist. Traumatized, single-minded, and exceptionally clever, Como was bent on breaking Winn's sanity and self-respect, his bank account, and his heart.

An international sensation, Come Back, Como is the story of one man's hilarious and poignant quest to win the trust of a dog who wanted nothing to do with hint. With humor and pathos, Winn describes the maddening but ultimately rewarding effects Como had on his family; the misadventures, ordeals, and terrifying events he and his dog endured together; and the greatest lesson Como taught him: that loving a dog can make us more human.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780061802584
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	11/02/2010
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	8.82(w) x 11.64(h) x 0.66(d)

About the Author

Steven Winn is an award-winning journalist and fiction writer who spent many years as a staff writer at the San Francisco Chronicle. A Philadelphia native and founding staff member of the Seattle Weekly, he held a Wallace Stegner Fellowship in fiction at Stanford University. His work has appeared in Good Housekeeping, National Lampoon, the New York Times, Parenting, Prairie Schooner, Sports Illustrated, and the Utne Reader. He lives with his family in San Francisco.

Table of Contents

Prologue: On the Loose 1

1 How It Didn't Begin 5

2 Life Cycles 21

3 The Other Dogs in the Room 35

4 Buon Compleanno-Happy Birthday 49

5 A Spirit Possession 57

6 Home Makeover 73

7 Escape Clause 89

8 The Parable of the PowerBar 105

9 Starting to Surrender 119

10 Basic Training 135

11 A Social Life 149

12 The Fugitive 165

13 Crossing Town 181

14 The Magic Kingdom 197

15 Cage-Free 215

16 Z 231

17 The Lake, the Beach, and the Bluff 247

Coda: The Dog at the Door 263

Acknowledgments 271

What People are Saying About This

Adam Gopnik

“Even people who don’t much care for dogs, and I am one, will be moved and entertained by Steven Winn’s story of pursuit and rejection and renewed pursuit between man and pooch. Its real subject, transcending species, is the struggle for understanding between minds and hearts.”

Amy Tan

“A delightful story about the joys and deeper meanings dogs bring into our lives.”

David Thomson

As a man owned by a dog, I read this book with delight, merriment, and deep sympathy. And when I reached the most touching parts, there was my dog’s head, in my lap — he knew I had a heart all along.

Editorial Reviews

A delightful story about the joys and deeper meanings dogs bring into our lives.

Amy Tan

Even people who don’t much care for dogs, and I am one, will be moved and entertained by Steven Winn’s story of pursuit and rejection and renewed pursuit between man and pooch. Its real subject, transcending species, is the struggle for understanding between minds and hearts.

Adam Gopnik

As a man owned by a dog, I read this book with delight, merriment, and deep sympathy. And when I reached the most touching parts, there was my dog’s head, in my lap — he knew I had a heart all along.

David Thomson