Rating: 
Summary: Colter: The Best Dog Book I've Ever Read
Review: This is a book about bird hunting and the author's partnership with a very special pointing dog. Being a non-hunter detracted not one bit from my appeciation of this exploration of the depths of the human-canine relationship. In fact, I have never encountered it done with such empathic insight. Rick Bass writes about emotions; his deep feelings for all living things, from turtles to ecosystems. But the focus is upon his intense love of dogs and of the intimate partnering with a dog that draws him to bird hunting. He confesses ambivalence about shooting birds, and does so mainly to reward Colter. He does quite a credible job of conveying to the reader the dog's side of the experience as well. If you love dogs of any breed, this is a "must read".
Rating:
Summary: More Than Just a Dog
Review: We all know how close a man and dog can be. Literature is full of moving tales of the bond forged between canine and human, but the story of Colter goes one step further.In Colter, Bass has discovered a part of himself. The dog is the living, breathing incarnation of his own expansive spirit that lives to follow the scents of life, to fling itself into the field day after day, pitting itself against the limits of physical strength and desire. In Colter, Bass has found his touchstone, a being so full of raw physical exuberance that he recalls Bass to his roots and reminds him of his own passion. For Colter, Bass will do almost anything. Recognizing the dog's extraordinary talent, he sends him off to be trained by the best trainer he can find. Enthralled by the dog's all consuming desire to hunt, he drives hundreds of miles to find prime hunting sites, follows him into fields in all kinds of weather and enrolls in shooting school so as not to disappoint his dog by missing birds. Quite simply, when Bass is out hunting with his Colter, he is more fully and intensely alive than at any other time. Is it any wonder then that when Colter disappears Bass feels that a part of himself has been lost? Is it any wonder that he mourns his death with a fierceness that surpasses even Bass's remarkable ability to articulate? This is a powerful, touching and ultimately incomplete book. It is clear that while Colter is no longer in form, he still is very much alive in Bass, and that Bass has yet to come to terms with his loss. Where and how, you are left wondering, will Bass find another being who can match him stride for stride?
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