Book ~ "Izzy & Lenore: Two Dogs, an Unexpected Journey, and Me" (2008) Jon Katz

From Goodreads ~ In "Izzy & Lenore", Jon Katz delves deeper into his connection with the beautiful, once-abandoned dog, learning yet again about the unexpected places animals can take us. Affectionate and intuitive, Izzy is unlike any dog Katz has encountered and the two undertake a journey Katz could not have imagined without the arrival of a new companion: a spirited, bright-eyed black Labrador puppy named Lenore.

As trained hospice volunteers visiting homes and nursing facilities in upstate New York, Katz and Izzy bring comfort and canine companionship to people who most need it. An eighty-year-old Alzheimer’s patient smiles for the first time in months when she feels Izzy’s soft fur. A retired logger joyfully remembers his own beloved dog when he sees Izzy. As Izzy bonds with patients and Katz focuses on their families, the author begins to come to terms with his own life, discovering dark realities he has never confronted. Meanwhile, Lenore - quickly dubbed the Hound of Love - arrives at Bedlam. Her genial personality and boundless capacity for affection steer Katz out of the shadows, rekindle his love of working with dogs and restore his connection to the farm and the animals and people around him.

Humorous and deeply moving, "Izzy & Lenore" is a story of a man confronting his past, embracing the blessings of his current life and rediscovering the meaning of friendship, family, and faith. Katz shares an uplifting tale of love, compassion, and the rich and complex relationships between dogs and their humans.

Jon Katz is an author living on Bedlam Farm, which has a variety of animals.  He is contacted about a border collie named Izzy, who has been living his life fenced in with little contact with humans.  Katz adopts him and socializes him.  Katz discovers that Izzy may be a good hospice dog so they enrol in the program.  Izzy does indeed have a knack for comforting people who are dying but also those who are supporting people who are dying.  Katz also gets Lenore, a black Lab puppy who is a sweetie.  During this, Katz acknowledges that he has depression and works through it.

I love reading stories about animals.  This is the fifth book I've read by this author and I liked it.  I like the writing style and thought it flowed well.  I found it odd that it was called "Izzy & Lenore" since Izzy gets more focus than Lenore.

Book ~ "Saving Simon: How a Rescue Donkey Taught Me the Meaning of Compassion" (2014) Jon Katz

From Goodreads ~ In this heartfelt, thoughtful and inspiring memoir, New York Times bestselling author Jon Katz tells the story of his beloved rescue donkey, Simon, and the wondrous ways that animals make us wiser and kinder people.

In the spring of 2011, Jon Katz received a phone call that would challenge every idea he ever had about mercy and compassion. An animal control officer had found a neglected donkey on a farm in upstate New York and she hoped that Jon and his wife, Maria, would be willing to adopt him. Jon wasn’t planning to add another animal to his home on Bedlam Farm, certainly not a very sick donkey. But the moment he saw the wrenching sight of Simon, he felt a powerful connection. Simon touched something very deep inside of him. Jon and Maria decided to take him in.

Simon’s recovery was far from easy. Weak and malnourished, he needed near constant care but Jon was determined to help him heal. As Simon’s health improved, Jon would feed him by hand, read to him, take him on walks, even confide in him like an old and trusted friend. Then, miraculously, as if in reciprocation, Simon began to reveal to Jon the true meaning of compassion, the ways in which it can transform our lives and inspire us to take great risks.

This radically different perspective on kindness and empathy led Jon to a troubled border collie from Ireland in need of a home, a blind pony who had lived outside in a pasture for fifteen years, and a new farm for him and Maria. In the great tradition of heroes—from Don Quixote to Shrek—who faced the world in the company of their donkeys, Jon came to understand compassion and mercy in a new light, learning to open up “not just to Simon, not just to animals, but to the human experience. To love, to risk, to friendship.”

Jon Katz is an author living on a farm with his wife, Paula.  He gets a call that a donkey is being rescued from deplorable conditions and they aren't sure he's going to make it.  Since Jon already has two donkeys, they were wondering if he would take him.  Jon can't resist and names the donkey Simon and they develop an incredible bond.  This is their story. He also tells of adopting an adult rescue dog named Red and a elderly blind pony named Rocky and how they fit into each other's lives.

I love reading stories about animals.  This is the fourth book I've read by this author and I liked it.  I like the writing style and thought it flowed well.  It was interesting to read how he bonded with these and animals get his perspective on having animals in our lives and how they can help us (and vice versa).

Book ~ "The Dogs of Bedlam Farm" (2005) Jon Katz

From Goodreads ~ When Jon Katz adopted a border collie named Orson, his whole world changed. Gone were the two yellow Labs he wrote about in A Dog Year, as was the mountaintop cabin they loved. Katz moved into an old farmhouse on forty-two acres of pasture and woods with a menagerie: a ram named Nesbitt, fifteen ewes, a lonely donkey named Carol, a baby donkey named Fanny, and three border collies.

Training Orson was a demanding project. But a perceptive dog trainer and friend told Katz: “If you want to have a better dog, you will just have to be a better goddamned human.” It was a lesson Katz took to heart. He now sees his dogs as a reflection of his willingness to improve, as well as a critical reminder of his shortcomings. Katz shows us that dogs are often what we make them: They may have their own traits and personalities, but in the end, they are mirrors of our own lives–living, breathing testaments to our strengths and frustrations, our families and our pasts.

The Dogs of Bedlam Farm recounts a harrowing winter Katz spent on a remote, windswept hillside in upstate New York with a few life-saving friends, ugly ghosts from the past, and more livestock than any novice should attempt to manage. Heartwarming, and full of drama, insight, and hard-won wisdom, it is the story of his several dogs forced Katz to confront his sense of humanity, and how he learned the places a dog could lead him and the ways a doge could change him.

I've read other of Katz' books about his dogs and have enjoyed them. He writes in an honest and straightforward manner.

I found this one a bit hard to get into at first because Katz seems colder and impersonal. In some parts, it's deep ... he talks about his estrangement from his family and reunion with his sister. Not what I was expecting from a lighthearted "dog" book.

I'm glad I stuck with it, though, because it was interesting and fun to read about his adventures with his sheep.

I've read the books out of order so know that Orson is put down in the next book (I won't be reading that one!). So it was odd to read about Katz and Orson's devotion to each other knowing Orson won't be around much longer.

Book ~ "A Dog Year: Twelve Months, Four Dogs, and Me" (2003) Jon Katz

From Goodreads ~ Sometimes, change comes on four legs.

 In his popular and widely praised Running to the Mountain, Jon Katz wrote of the strength and support he found in the massive forms of his two yellow Labrador retrievers, Julius and Stanley. When the Labs were six and seven, a breeder who’d read his book contacted Katz to say she had a dog that was meant for him - a two-year-old border collie named Devon, well bred but high-strung and homeless. Katz already had a full canine complement - but, as he writes, “Change loves me. . . . It comes in all forms. . . . Sometimes, change comes on four legs.” 

Shortly thereafter he brought Devon home. A Dog Year shows how a man discovered much about himself through one dog (and then another), whose temperament seemed as different from his own as day from night. It is a story of trust and understanding, of life and death, of continuity and change. It is by turns insightful, hilarious, and deeply moving.

I enjoyed reading Katz's Dog Days: Dispatches from Bedlam Farm last month so thought I'd check out some more of his books.

This book takes place before he moves from New Jersey to Bedlam Farm and is his first experience with border collies.

I enjoy Katz's writing style and love reading stories about animals. And I enjoyed this book.

I just read some reviews of this book and some readers found him a bit harsh and cold in his decisions to have Stanley and Julius put down. Difficult decisions to make but he didn't want his dogs to suffer.

Book ~ "Dog Days: Dispatches from Bedlam Farm" (2008) Jon Katz

From Goodreads ~ In Dog Days, Jon Katz, the squire of Bedlam Farm, allows us to live our dreams of leaving the city for the country, and shares the unpredictable adventure of farm life. The border collies, the sheep, the chickens, the cat, the ram, and one surprisingly sociable steer named Elvis all contribute to the hum (and occasional roar) of Bedlam. On timeless summer days and in punishing winter storms, Katz continues his meditation on what animals can selflessly teach us-and what we in turn owe to them. With good neighbors, a beautiful landscape, and tales of true love thrown in, Dog Days gives us not only marvelous animal stories but a rich portrait of the harmonious world that is Bedlam Farm.

What an excellent book!

Katz has a good heart with the animals but also with the people who work on the farm and in the community.

I'd definitely recommend this book. It's the first one I've read by Katz (who ironically writes dog books!) but it won't be my last.