Dogtripping
25 Rescues, 11 Volunteers, and 3 RVs on Our Canine Cross-Country Adventure
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- $17.99
Publisher Description
David Rosenfelt's Dogtripping is moving and funny account of a cross-country move from California to Maine, and the beginnings of a dog rescue foundation.
When mystery writer David Rosenfelt and his family moved from Southern California to Maine, he thought he had prepared for everything. They had mapped the route, brought three GPSs for backup, as well as refrigerators full of food, and stoves and microwaves on which to cook them.
But traveling with twenty-five dogs turned out to be a bigger ordeal than he anticipated, despite the RVs, the extra kibble, volunteers (including a few readers), and camping equipment.
Rosenfelt recounts the adventure of moving his animal companions across the United States with humor and warmth, and tells the tale of how he and his wife became passionate foster parents for rescue dogs, culminating in the creation of the Tara Foundation and successfully placing several thousand dogs with loving families.
An NPR Best Book of 2013
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Puppy love is taken to a new extreme in this rambling memoir chronicling Rosenfelt's journey transporting 25 dogs from Southern California to Maine. In addition to writing the Andy Carpenter mystery series, Rosenfelt and his wife, Debbie, share a passion for rescuing dogs from animal shelters. This hobby gradually escalated into "dog lunacy" as the number of rescues they took into their home grew to double digits. When they decided to relocate to a larger, more dog-friendly environment in rural Maine, the couple transported their dogs in three motor homes. However, Rosenfelt does not approach planning the journey with a positive frame of mind and complains throughout the trip. The author also misses the opportunity to expand on his former career as a movie marketing executive he disparagingly mentions his Hollywood days, but the stories are some of the most compelling in the book, including his work on the Short Circuit sequel and helping Charlton Heston adopt a chow mix. To break up the otherwise uneventful account of the cross-country trek, Rosenfelt includes detailed profiles of his dogs, many of which are unintentionally morbid. Giving dogs a better quality of life is a noble cause, but more often than not Rosenfelt's crusade comes across as self-righteous.
