Dancing Dogs Stories by Jon Katz

16 Stories (mostly) about dogs.

Not all dogs are dancing in the book "Dancing Dogs: Stories" by John Katz, but at least one of them does.

If the title doesn't give it all away, this is a collection of dog stories.  Mostly.  One of them (titled Barn Cat) has a dog in it but its mostly about a cat and a rooster.  One of them is about a donkey, but I won't tell you which one, it'll be a surprise at the end.

This book has dancing dogs, working dogs, old dogs, young dogs and mind reading dogs.  There are shelties and pugs, terriers and German Shepherds.  It even gives you a humorous peek at dog heaven, which unfortunately means there are a couple of dead dogs in this book too.

There are sad dog stories that will make you cry, like Gracies Last Walk (which also happens to be the first story in the book.)

There are stories of rescue, like "Laura Passerby" who helps save the life of a chained dog, and Puppy Commando, where a normally well behaved young girl decides that she must have a certain puppy RIGHT NOW.

There are touching stories, like "Old Dogs" where and old farmer and his old dog encounter an old coyote and decide it might be time to give up the farming life.

In once case, "Ernie and the Bottled-Water Contest", there is a dog with spooky mind reading abilities.

Not all stories will give dog lovers the warm fuzzies though.  Some of them ("Ernie and the Bottled-Water Contest" again) will make any dog lover at least a little angry, and the story "Luther and Minnie in Heaven" certainly put one amazon reviewer in annoyance that life on earth is the doggy equivalent of Hell.

Over all I say this doggy short story collection is worth at least 4 stars out of 5.