This was a wonderful, passionate book about, well, James Herriot's favorite dog stories. They
were all true, some funny, some inspirational, and some sad. I have picked out some of my
One of my all-time favorites is "Roy: From rags to riches." It's about a young, almost
full-grown golden retriever, badly neglected and almost dead that was found in an old shack. An
old gypsy woman who had just lost her terrier to a car accident claimed him when they were
about to put him to sleep. For a month they were not seen anywhere, until the day she brought
him outside. He was pure gold, healthy and loved. Although Dr. Herriot didn't do anything, it
was obvious why this made it into the collection.
Another great one was "Jock: Top dog." Jock was a Border Collie living out on a farm. By
tradition, he would always chase people's cars down the long lane up to the farm. It was one of
his biggest joys in life. But the farmer bought one of the healthiest bitches in the area, and she
had puppies with Jock. With both of the parent's health and vigor, they began to outpace Jock,
even in his art of car chasing. But once they were sold and gone, Jock was still Top Dog.
A good story was "Tricki Woo: A triumph of surgery." His name really says it all - a
Pekingese, extremely fat and spoiled. Tricki's weight problem was really getting out of hand, so
much that it was dangerous. But his owner, Mrs. Humphrey, couldn't stand to see him "suffer,"
so she even gave him chocolate and such (she was extremely rich). One day, Dr. Herriot decided
that it was so bad that he had to get Tricki out of Mrs. Pumphrey's reach. So he cared for Tricki
for a fortnight, giving him equal treatment as the other dogs. At the end, he emerged a happy,
radiant animal. It was obvious why James Herriot devoted three out of ten stories to Tricki.
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