I want to tell you about a wonderfully surprising new book spotlighting a dog at its center. Like so many books featuring dogs, there are often layers of messages beneath the obvious story, with the dog embodying qualities that we can admire or learn from. I think we all remember those beloved dog-centric books from our childhood and beyond, because dogs have a way - in real and written life – of worming their way into our hearts, opening us up, and giving us a new perspective - in ways nothing else can.  

      For example, there is a recent bestseller called MARLEY AND ME, which attempts to do just that. Maybe I’m the only person in America who was irritated to pieces by that book and the depiction of a thoroughly obnoxious dog – I couldn’t sit through that dog’s out-of-control antics long enough to get to the author’s message-in-the-doghouse about his journey to pregnancy and parenthood, which reviews had described. Personally, all I wanted to do was send that dog to boot camp.

      Oddly enough the book I want to tell you about is about an Iraqi dog named Lava, who bypasses basic training – as it were - and winds up in the middle of a battle in Baghdad, where he is rescued by Marines under fire. Lava rescues them in return, by giving the American soldiers a living being who needs their affection and help.

      This book is called FROM BAGHDAD, WITH LOVE and the subtitle is “A marine, the War, and a Dog Name Lava” and it’s about a dog every bit as destructive and impulsive as the dreadful Marley. The difference is that Lava is a little street urchin of a dog who adopts the author, Lt. Colonel Jay Kopelman and his troop of Marines, who put up with the shenanigans of this pooch because he gives them something positive to focus on in the midst of the madness of war. The beauty of the book is that it is all about War with a capital “W” while appearing to be about a bunch of determined Marines opening their hearts to a maddening but captivating pooch and then trying against all odds to find a way to get that puppy safely out of Baghdad.

      While we all may have a sense of the brutality of war and how it can transform decent human beings into amoral monsters, this book just does just the opposite: it shows us how our love of animals can connect us to the best in ourselves and keep us grounded in our humanity even while surrounded by atrocities and mayhem. In a much less dramatic way in civilian life, our attachment to dogs keeps us awake and connected emotionally.  

      FROM BAGHDAD, WITH LOVE may be the proof that the best antiwar book is one that allows you to root for a plucky, naughty puppy while bombs explode all around. This book is a reminder of how dogs can make better people of us. I have a link to it on the website for Dog Talk, at www.DogTalkTheRadioShow.com