Merle's Door: Lessons from a Freethinking Dog
by Ted Kerasote

I have had the good fortune of getting hand me down books on the outdoors from my father since childhood...  I mainly just read through some of the better ones. This book is one I would categorize as being one of the better ones. It is an interesting read in of itself, but Kerasote is a pretty decent writer as well. Kind of regret leaving it on the shelf for the last year.

The book is about Ted and his dog Merle who 'appeared' one night in Utah, the night before Ted was to start a rafting trip. You might say that Ted ended up adopting Merle, or perhaps it was the other way around. What this book is really about is freedom, having an open mind, and giving other people, or in this case your animal companion, room to grow and decide some things for themselves. In other words to become self actualized. In this relationship, Ted finds that he learns some new things from his dog as well.

Throughout the book, Kerasote examines the relationships between humans and animals, differences between wild animals and domesticated pets, and the ability of animals to have thoughts and desires of their own. Old and new school thought on animal behavior is cited as well.

While I think that it is clear, that one can sometimes read what an animal may be thinking or trying to tell you by their body language, during the course of the book Kerasote is having 'conversations' with or seems to attribute human characteristics to his dog. Perhaps he is better at noticing the smaller details then most other people are. Conversely, it seems very clear to me that wild or domesticated animals can pick up on subtle clues. Perhaps they may be better at reading us then we are at reading them.

One of the things that I could relate to about this book, is a certain dog (a lab) named Samson that we met each day while staying in a cheap cabin in Montana. We never met Samson's owner who lived across the road, but each day Samson would come by to say hello and even accompanied us fishing along the river, sitting still and well behaved. I was pretty jealous of this dog and the wild area he lived in, it seemed Samson was in his element. At the end of our week we went to sign a guest book, and noticed almost every entry had some mention of this 'wonderful dog' and how amazed everyone was at his good behavior. Not everyone lives in an area where something like this is possible. Obviously letting a dog run free would expose it to many risks, and the possibility of it becoming a nuisance to others.

This book may be somewhat controversial and perhaps not everyone will agree with its contentions, but if you like animals and the outdoors, have a pet, or even like to go hunting, I would put this one on the must read list.