Love at First Bark: How Saving a Dog Can Sometimes Help You Save Yourself

by Julie Klam

Overview

Look out for Julie's new book, The Stars in Our Eyes, publishing in July 2017.

In her bestselling memoir You Had Me at Woof, Julie Klam shared the secrets of happiness she learned as an occasionally frazzled but always devoted owner of Boston terriers. Now, with the same enchanting humor and poignancy that won the hearts of readers across the country, she returns with real-life stories about how in rescuing troubled dogs we can end up saving ourselves.

With wit and warmth, Julie Klam chronicles her adventures in finding a home for the world’s sweetest pit bull, fostering a photogenic special-needs terrier, and diving under a train to save an injured stray in New Orleans. Along the way, she finds that helping dogs in their fight to survive puts our own problems in perspective, and shows that caring for others, be they canine or human, can sometimes be the best way to care for ourselves. A hilarious and moving testament to the powerful bond between people and dogs, this is a book for anyone whose life has been changed—for the better—by an animal.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781594486159
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	10/02/2012
Pages:	192
Product dimensions:	4.90(w) x 6.90(h) x 0.70(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Julie Klam grew up in Bedford, New York. After attending NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and interning at Late Night with David Letterman, she went on to write for such publications as O, The Oprah Magazine, Rolling Stone, Harper’s Bazaar, Glamour, and The New York Times Magazine, and for the VH1 television show Pop-Up Video, where she earned an Emmy nomination. She lives with her family and several dogs in Manhattan.

Table of Contents

1 Morris the Pit Bull, Couples Therapist 1

2 My Darling Clementine 59

3 There Is a Dog House in New Orleans 113

Acknowledgments 171

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"Julie Klam is like Proust, if he wrote about dogs instead of madeleines, wrote English instead of French, had better hair-and wrote exceptionally hilarious books that you can't help reading all at once."
-Patricia Marx

Editorial Reviews

Julie Klam is like Proust, if he wrote about dogs instead of madeleines, wrote in English instead of French, had better hair—and wrote exceptionally hilarious books that you can’t help reading all at once.”
—Patricia Marx

“[Julie Klam] can break your heart . . . then lift your spirits higher than a kite.”
—The Huffington Post

From the Publisher

…a witty memoir about how Klam's plunge into the world of dog rescue helped transform her life.
—The Washington Post

Yvonne Zipp

Klam earned an Emmy nomination for her work on VH1's Pop-Up Video, but you'll know her from last year's best-selling canine love-fest memoir, You Had Me at Woof. Here she reveals what dogs she has rescued have given her and recounts stories of other people saved by the dogs they've saved. Can't miss with the enormous dog-loving crowd; national tour.

Library Journal

Klam (You Had Me at Woof, 2010, etc.) offers a collection of compassionate tales of dog rescue. Canine lovers will sit up and take notice, as this slim volume delivers much heart and Klam's signature self-deprecating humor. When financial struggles culminated in a move to a dangerous city neighborhood, the author and her husband had their hands full with a young daughter and three rambunctious dogs. Further money woes added strain to their relationship. Then they stumbled upon Morris, a lovable mixed pit bull who had been tied to a street sign on a hot day and abandoned without food or water. One does not have to be a dog owner to cringe at the image of cigarette burn marks on Morris' paw or to understand how helping this sweet dog brought Klam and her husband closer together. The author also introduces readers to other beloved but challenging cases like Clementine who suffered with fecal incontinence. Those who work in animal rescue will relate to the camaraderie of teamwork involved, via Facebook and Twitter feeds, in striving to find good homes for older or infirm dogs. After a trip to New Orleans for a fundraiser, Klam realized that rescuers are only human, but "there is a superpower that comes from knowing you're making a difference in the world around you." A realistic, joyful account.

Kirkus Reviews