08 Nov Best Books for Dog Lovers

Need to update your reading list? There are so many great reads for dog lovers out there!

This collection celebrates the butt-wiggling joy and boundless affection pups bring into our lives. Here, you’ll find books about true-life adventures, inspiring stories, and activities that strengthen the human-canine bond. No matter which you choose, you’re apt to find the perfect book featuring your favorite topic – a four-legged goofy, floofy and undeniably charming friend.  

So pick out a favorite title (or two), curl up on the couch next to your cuddly companion and enjoy! 

A Dog’s Life
by Peter Mayle

Once upon a time in France, Peter Mayle adopted a dog of uncertain origins and dubious hunting skills. Now he gives this canny canine a voice in an irresistible “doggie memoir” that proves that the best vantage point for observing life may well be on all fours. A fun read! A Dog’s Life gives us all the delights of pedigree prose, biting wit, and a keen nose for the fragrance of life – all from the perspective of a dog named Boy.

When You Love a Dog: A gift book for dog owners and dog lovers everywhere  
by M H Clark 

When you love a dog, there is always someone at home waiting to greet you with wide eyes and an open heart. Life is filled with belly rubs, quiet walks, and shared moments that remind you how good it feels to be loved. This book is a celebration of all the little delights that make having a dog in your life such a treat.

Off the Leash: The Secret Life of Dogs 
by Rupert Fawcett

This book is a true celebration of our favorite belly-scratching, tail-chasing, bed-stealing canine friends. Rupert Fawcett’s charming and heartfelt Off the Leash cartoons have developed a huge following around the world. This book brings together the very best of those cartoons, featuring the secret thoughts and conversations of dogs of every size, shape and breed. The cartoons appeal to all sorts of people, from passionate dog lovers who have a bed filled with pups at night, to people who don’t have any pets at all, but can still identify with life with a dog. Let’s face it, who doesn’t like to be fed, have their tummy stroked and snooze on the sofa in the afternoon? 

Lessons From Lucy: The Simple Joys of an Old, Happy Dog 
by Dave Barry 

As master humorist Dave Barry turns seventy — not happily — he realizes that his dog, Lucy, is dealing with old age far better than he is. She has more friends, fewer worries, and way more fun. Throughout the book, Dave attempts to figure out how Lucy manages to stay so happy. Perhaps we all can make our own lives happier by doing the things she does (um, except maybe drinking from the toilet). Lessons From Lucy is a witty and affable guide to joyous living at any age.

A Dog’s Purpose: A Novel for Humans  
by W. Bruce Cameron 

Based on the beloved bestselling novel by W. Bruce Cameron, A Dog’s Purpose, shares the soulful and surprising story of one devoted dog who finds the meaning of his own existence through the lives of the humans he teaches to laugh and love.

Heartwarming, insightful, and often laugh-out-loud funny, A Dog’s Purpose is not only the emotional and hilarious story of a dog’s many lives, but also a dog’s-eye commentary on human relationships and the unbreakable bonds between man and man’s best friend. This moving and beautifully crafted story teaches us that love never dies, that our true friends are always with us, and that every creature on earth is born with a purpose.

Poppy in the Wild: A Lost Dog, Fifteen Hundred Acres of Wilderness, and the Dogged Determination that Brought Her Home  
by Teresa J. Rhyne 

This is Teresa Rhyne’s true story of Poppy, a small, frightened beagle who is freed from the China dog meat trade. The day of her potential adoption goes from happiness to hysteria when Poppy breaks free during a torrential thunderstorm and disappears into a rugged, mountainous, 1,500 acre wilderness park.

In the quest to find Poppy, Teresa works with rescue specialists, volunteers, psychics, a Native American who communes with owls, helpful neighbors, decidedly unhelpful strangers, a howling woman, the police, crushing dead ends, glimmers of hope, and her own emotional and physical limits as she sits in the wind and rain in the wilderness park for hours each dusk and dawn with bags of roasted chicken and her dirty socks, the human lure for a terrified beagle and packs of less terrified coyotes. 

Poppy in the Wild is a beautiful tribute to love and devotion defying all the odds… and a particularly important read for dog lovers who want to learn exactly what to do (and not do) to help bring a lost dog home.   

Howl: A Collection of the Best Contemporary Dog Wit  
by The Bark

The Bark has put together a collection of the best stories, essays, and artwork highlighting the hilarity of dog behavior and the comical interactions between pet parents and their four-legged furry best friends. From playful puppies who wreak havoc around the house, to dogs with a whole array of comic shticks and tricks, Howl celebrates the endearing qualities (and laughable moments!) pets offer their people.

A Dog’s Guide to Humans 
by Karen Davison  

A Dog’s Guide to Humans is a lighthearted look at humans from a dog’s point of view. Bob the West Highland Terrier shares his tips and tricks on getting the best out of human beings, attempts to unravel their strange behavior and imparts some of his doggie wisdom on training techniques. Makes one wonder – who is training who? If you’ve ever wondered how well your dog has trained you, be sure to take the quiz at the end of the book to find out!

Really Important Stuff My Dog Has Taught Me 
by Cynthia L. Copeland 

Cynthia L. Copeland has a gift for discovering those sorts of simple, timeless lessons. Now she distills all-new wisdom from her lifelong love of dogs. Really Important Stuff My Dog Has Taught Me is tender, funny, warm, and utterly inspiring. Pairing an irresistible photograph with just the right sentiment, every page delivers a life lesson that appeals as much to our hearts as our minds. It reminds us again and again of what’s important.

In Dogs We Trust: An Anthology of American Dog Literature
by Jacob F. Rivers III and Jeffrey Makala

Our household dogs are quite literally closer than ever to us: sleeping in our beds, getting dressed in Halloween costumes, and serving as emotional support companions.

In Dogs We Trust is the first comprehensive anthology of American dog literature. It features stories, anecdotes, and poetry that celebrate the many sterling virtues of the canine species. By mining the vast American literary archive of nineteenth and early twentieth-century periodicals, Jacob F. Rivers III and Jeffrey Makala reveal the mystique and magic of the human-canine relationship and what they believe is one of the best connections humans have to the mysteries of the natural world.

My Dog Tulip
by J. R. Ackerley

Heartwarming and profound, this account of J. R. Ackerley’s relationship with his beloved German Shepherd is a masterpiece of animal literature. 

Well into middle age and hardly thinking of himself as a dog lover, the author finds himself in possession of a German shepherd. To his surprise, she turns out to be the love of his life, the“ideal friend” he has been searching for in vain for years. My Dog Tulip tells of Tulip’s often erratic behavior and very canine tastes, and of Ackerley’s own fumbling but determined efforts to ensure for her an existence of perfect happiness.

Dog Music: Poetry About Dogs
by Joseph Duemer

The finest collection of poems about dogs ever assembled. More than 160 poems of Dog Music pay eloquent and heartfelt tribute to man’s best friend. With well over a hundred poets represented in this anthology, the poems are often very funny or very moving – or both. Regardless, all are carefully observed accounts of dogs and people. If you’ve ever loved a dog, you’ll like this book.

Dog Songs: Poems Paperback 
by Mary Oliver 

Mary Oliver celebrates the special bond between human and dog through her charming poetry in Dog Songs. The poet reflects on her relationships to the canines that have accompanied her daily walks, warmed her home, and inspired her work. Her observations of small everyday moments familiar to all dog lovers become higher meditations on the world and our place in it. Throughout the book, the many dogs of Oliver’s life merge as fellow travelers and as guides, uniquely able to open our eyes to the lessons of the moment and to the joys of connection and the world around us. 

I Could Chew on This: And Other Poems by Dogs 
by Francesco Marciuliano 

I Could Chew on This will have dog lovers laughing out loud. You’ll find the doggie laureates not only chew on quite a lot of things, but they also reveal their creativity, hidden motives, and eternal (and sometimes misguided) effervescence through such musings as “I Dropped a Ball,” “I Lose My Mind When You Leave the House,” and “Can You Smell That?” Poems are accompanied by portraits of the canine poets in all their magnificence, making I Could Chew on This a work of unbridled enthusiasm, insatiable appetite, and, of course, creative doggie genius.

A Dog’s Perfect Christmas  
by W. Bruce Cameron

The problems fracturing the Goss family as Christmas approaches are hardly unique, though perhaps they are handling them a little differently than most people might. But then a true emergency arises, one with the potential to not only ruin Christmas, but everything holding the family together.

Is the arrival of a lost puppy yet another in the string of calamities facing them, or could the little canine be just what they all need?

A Dog’s Perfect Christmas is a beautiful, poignant, delightful tale of what can happen when family members open their hearts to new possibilities. You’ll find love and tears and laughter—the ideal holiday read.

Pawverbs for a Dog Lover’s Heart: Inspiring Stories of Friendship, Fun, and Faithfulness
by Jennifer Marshall Bleakley 

Dogs are more than our best friends – they can be our wise teachers, sharing lessons that stay in our hearts forever. Every day, they show us the value of listening and loyalty; what it means to trust and obey; and the importance of just sitting with us and being a friend.

Pawverbs for a Dog Lover’s Heart is a collection of stories with beautiful photographs, each featuring a real-life animal and sharing a principle from the book of Proverbs. You’ll not only find inspiring and heartwarming tales, but spiritual truths to touch your heart and remind you of God’s unfailing love, wisdom, and grace.

Thoughts of Dog 
by Matt Nelson 

Join a loveable pup and their stuffed “fren” Sebastian as they navigate life’s adventures through the most wholesome lens imaginable. Based on the beloved Twitter sensation, Thoughts of Dog contains never-before-seen, sweet and funny reflections on life from the pup-spective of a dog, who, above all else, loves their human.

Fur & Grrr: The Funniest Things People Have Said About DOGS  
by Craig and Erich Pearson 

Brothers Craig and Erich Pearson have dedicated themselves to the heroic quest of discovering and sharing the funniest things people have said. Fur & Grr is filled with laugh-out-loud humor and features anecdotes and mutt-rific musings by famous funny folks such as: Dave Barry • Jerry Seinfeld • Paula Poundstone • Steven Wright • Jay Leno • David Letterman • George Carlin • Rita Rudner • Wanda Sykes • Erma Bombeck • Jeff Foxworthy — and many more. 

Pet That Dog!: A Handbook for Making Four-Legged Friends 
by Gideon Kidd and Rachel Braunigan 

Pet That Dog! A Handbook for Making Four-Legged Friends is an illustrated guide to meeting, petting, and caring for dogs by Gideon and his mom, Rachel Braunigan. Learn how dogs communicate through body language, helpful tips for safely interacting with dogs, and fun facts about dogs to share with friends. With an interactive format and joyful illustrations of lovable dogs, Pet That Dog! makes a perfect gift for dog lovers and dog-curious kids.

Zak George’s Dog Training Revolution: The Complete Guide to Raising the Perfect Pet with Love
by Zak George

Zak George is on our list of favorite dog trainers. A well-known Animal Planet personality with a fresh approach, Zak helps you tailor dog training to your pet’s unique traits and energy level–leading to quicker results and a much happier pup. 

Packed with everything you need to know to raise and care for your dog, solve behavioral issues, or teach your pup cool tricks, this book will help you communicate and bond with one another in a way that makes training easier, more rewarding, and–most of all–fun! You’ll even find topics with corresponding videos on Zak’s YouTube channel so you can see his advice in action.

Chew This Journal: An Activity Book for You and Your Dog 
by Sassafras Lowrey  

Is your dog bored? They don’t have to be! From bucket lists and outings to arts and crafts Chew This Journal inspires you to spend more time with your pup, while creatively recording your adventures. This unique journal doubles as your dog’s memory keeper and activity tracker, making it a one-of-a-kind keepsake that you and your dog complete together. With over 100 activities and training plans, Chew This Journal provides inspiration and guidance for dog lovers looking to enrich their lives and the lives of their pets.

Doodling for Dog People: 50 inspiring doodle prompts and creative exercises for dog lovers  
by Gemma Correll 

For seasoned artists and doodle enthusiasts alike, Doodling for Dog People is packed with more than 50 fun and inspirational prompts, doodling exercises, and canine-related fun facts. This clever book is designed to spark your imagination and encourage you to explore new ways to draw your favorite furry friends. The artist’s unique and whimsical approach is sure to inspire and guide artists of any skill level. Perfect for on-the-go creative types!

DogJoy: Happiest Dogs in the Universe 
by The Bark

For anyone who has loved and lived with pups, the best part of each day is seeing our pups romp and play, wag their tails and happily run to greet us when we walk in the door. But do dogs really smile? That’s what the editors of The Bark set out to prove, asking their readers to send in photos of smiling dogs. DogJoy assembles the best pictures of smiling pups from enthusiastic dog lovers everywhere – proof positive that dogs not only smile, but also laugh, grin, snicker and even share jokes. The book also includes personal stories and charming observations, dog lovers everywhere will adore this wonderful collection.