Customer Reviews

The Dogs of Bedlam Farm: An Adventure with Sixteen Sheep, Three Dogs, Two Donkeys, and Me

5 star:		(37)
4 star:		(6)
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1 star:		(9)

 

 

Jon Katz is a late middle aged man with a restless disposition, a tendency to be irritable, a dysfunctional childhood, and--oh yes--an obsession with dogs. In this book he has just moved to a 40 acre farm in upstate New York, leaving his wife behind in the city. And, in the process, acquires a small herd of sheep and two donkeys. You see, he is now obsessed with Border Collies, and they are obsessed with herding sheep.

Training the dogs to work as a team and herd sheep is not easy, in fact it is almost beyond Katz's abilities except on those rare occasions when he can keep quiet and trust the dogs' judgment. He comes to the insight that in order to train these dogs he will have to be a better human. And that is his project through the rest of the book, a devilishly hard winter, and all the misadventures that could possibly happen to a rookie farmer who hasn't a clue.

Fortunately, his neighbors and townspeople take him under their collective wings and help him muddle through. If they regard him as a silly "flatlander" who has no business attempting this adventure, they are kind enough not to say so.

Author Jon Katz has written a number of books. He is fluent and elegant writer, who offers a wealth of interesting observations about rural life, sheep, donkeys, dogs, "dog people" (who only relate to other people through their dogs), and human nature. The book is easy reading and entertaining, if a little superficial. The only real drawback, for me, was author Katz's excessive preoccupation with himself and his inner conflicts. I would have liked to learn more about the animals. Still, the book works, and I recommend it. Reviewed by Louis N. Gruber.

At first glance, Jon Katz seems to be a man out of his mind. First he buys a border collie that herds garbage trucks and buses in the city- then he spends the next year training this dog, and finally realizing he needs to move out of the city. So, he packs up his bags, says good-bye to his wife and daughter and off he goes with three dogs and along the way collects two donkeys and sixteen sheep. A sane man- maybe not, but a very smart one. Jon Katz has found the way- or a religion so to speak.

Jon Katz is a writer and a lover of dogs. This story centers around one year of his life. A year spent on a farm in upstate New York, a very difficult year, but one he would do again in a New York minute. He has a small cabin, but realizes he needs more room and with his wife's permission he buys an old farm. He is lucky to have wonderful neighbors who come to his rescue when he needs them the most. Andy is a Vermont carpenter and adds safety and room to Jon's life. He helps to resurrect the barn and other small buildings. John has decided he must have some sheep for his dogs to herd. Along with the sixteen sheep comes a donkey-and then later on another small donkey at the recommendation of The Donkey lady. His sheep and one ram, of course, make babies and in the middle of the worst winter in New York State; 17 baby sheep are born. Jon narrates his harrowing times and what he has learned from the winter. He knows and now understands fully that you must have neighbors who understand what you are up against. He never would have made it without them. Most of his neighbors and townspeople love his dogs and love watching the dogs herd sheep. Most of these people are farmers without much money, and they look at Jon as a curious neighbor, but they too grow to respect him. The admiration is mutual and the stories of the townspeople help us to understand what it takes to live in upper New York State in stark winter. Another reason that Jon may not be entirely sane!

Jon Katz dispenses sage wisdom from his work with dogs. The dogs have changed his life and how he thinks about himself. He builds a new relationship with his long lost sister. He is finally able to understand what his miserable childhood has done to him, and how the dogs can help him mend. He firmly believes that all dogs must be trained to be dogs. Dogs are not people and we need to able to show them how to live in our people world. Good truth and wisdom from this book. Jon Katz has a way about him that envelops us, and we learn to care about him and his dogs. Tears and laughter abound throughout this book. Highly recommended. prisrob

The first thing you need to know about Jon Katz' new book about his life and dogs is this: all the dogs live to the end of the book. They don't necessarily live with Katz until the end of the book, but I personally appreciated not having to mourn the death of another Katz dog. Which is not to say there isn't opportunity for a few more Katz-inspired tears in "The Dogs of Bedlam Farm." With sometimes unnerving candor and courage, the writer draws readers into the spiritual, emotional and physical trials and tribulations of setting up a new, rustic, parallel life -- this one radically different from the one he's been living in suburban New Jersey. Having exchanged his mountain cabin for a 40-acre upstate New York farm, Katz goes about populating the place with the sort of livestock he's never owned or cared for before.

This is, to say the least, either a very brave man or a very insane one.

I like to think he's a model of courage and self confidence -- even if he never seems to see himself that way. Katz' newest book describes a bumbling first year on the farm and the complex journey that is his life. The primary cast members in this drama/comedy are Katz' three faithful, frenetic Border Collies -- the poster pups for Canine Attention Deficit Disorder -- a collection of laconic upstate farmers, a flock of sometimes unlikable sheep, Katz' patient, tolerant wife and two very sweet, stubborn donkeys.

While comparisons to the popular book series by British vet James Harriot are easy to make, Katz book is a sort of neo-memoir that's more compulsively contemplative than books such as "All Creatures Great and Small." For those who grew up as part of the baby boomer generation, the philosophical and often theological questions explored by Katz will be familiar. While Herriot mostly revels in the miracles of nature, Katz ponders the modern chasm between humans and their own nature -- and the the way in which other creatures, especially dogs, can sometimes bridge the gap.

For those of us who read (and admired) his previous book "A Dog Year", it is a treat to get yet another glimpse at the hard work Katz has attempted in his efforts to make a sense of his past and a path for his future. While others (including his wife) may sometimes believe that Katz bought a farm and a flock of sheep for his Border Collies, it seems to me that, in the end, he may have bought it for all of us who enjoy his writing. And like the reader who implored him not to have any dogs die in this newest one, we should be extraordinarily grateful that he did.

If you are a true dog lover, stay away from this book. Putting the writing aside - which is perfectly fine, if a bit mediocre and repetitive - I could barely contain my shock as I read a passage in which he describes the reasons why it is better to "buy" a dog from a breeder than to rescue one from a shelter. This guy is supposed to be a dog expert?? I looked up some of his other writing and apparently this is a great big lie that he perpetuates throughout his work. Lest you think I am a zealot, listen to this: Katz is asked by a neighbor (who believes him to be an expert on dogs) whether he should get a husky/shepherd mix puppy at the local shelter to be his "ride along dog", a dog who will essentially hang out with him all day in the car and be a companion animal. Without going to see the puppy, Katz says to stay away from the dog. Never mind that shelters routinely misclassify puppies, or that mixed breeds do not necessarily reflect the traditional traits of their breeds. He then "calls around" to his vet friends, who all agree that the guy should get a lab. Katz then seeks out a lab from a breeder, and "generously" lies to the neighbor about the dog's price and pays the difference in order to get him to buy the expensive dog. No mention is made of whether the maligned, unseen husky/shepherd pup is euthanized, of course. He even compares the impulse to buy a purebred dog to the inclination for people to have their own children instead of adopting the children of others!! I'm not kidding, it's that ridiculous.

As the proud owner of many shepherd mix mutts that have had amazingly calm and even temperaments (and the friend of many people who have bought insane, inbred labs) I can't believe how completely shallow and uninformed Katz is about dogs. I'm horrified that so many people read his books and could use his "expertise" to confirm their uninformed prejudices about shelter dogs (25% of whom are purebred, by the way)

If you are looking for a puppy with a particular temperament, there are approved behavioral tests you can easily give a puppy in a shelter environment. If you are looking for a particular type of working dog, then by all means go to a breeder - but for a companion animal, please please rescue a shelter dog! 3-4 million cats and dogs are euthanized EVERY YEAR. That's half the dogs and cats sent to a shelter in this country.

Jon Katz creates a remarkable story in this series of books, all apparently derived from his great love of dogs, first his beloved Yellow Labs, and then a gaggle of sheep herding Border Collies. In "The Dogs of Bedlam Farm", however, he finds a way to turn this exciting and compelling story into pure drudgery, an almost painful book to read.

Katz continues to explore the limits of his relationships with his three dogs, selling his upstate New York cottage, buying an old, abandoned farm property, and abandoning his wife. He adds a ram, 15 ewes, and 2 donkeys to the three collies, and attempts to survive a brutal northern winter while training the dogs to herd and keeping all of the livestock alive and fed, with mixed results.

His writing style is disjointed, with constant, but incomplete, references to past parts of the story, so that if you have not read previous books on his dogs (i.e., Orson), you will have a hard time following along. As the narrative enters the dark, frigid winter months, the story bogs down into a nauseating psychoanalysis of ... everything ... his relationship with his father, with his sister and her personal demons, with his dogs, his feelings of insecurity with the farm, the animals, his new neighbors out in the country.

In the beginning, I felt bad that his wife was being left out of all this excitement; by chapter 12, it became apparent that she is the only sane one in the story.

As a dog lover, I couldn't have been more inclined to embrace this book, but it was a huge disappointment.

If you are reading this for the dogs, be prepared to be horrified. Katz's track record with dogs in past and future books, including this one, is not good. His care is little short of abysmal. Here, Katz buys a farm in the country, the better to cash in on dog writing, border collies and herding being trendy and hot, something people will be sure to spend money on, particularly if the book has a nice cover.

But this is a fundamentally dishonest work. He writes books about himself, disguised as dog books. Here he admits he doesn't much like dogs, except his own (and we see how he cares for those). He doesn't worry about their care (they run down the highway beside his farm, fodder for cars and trucks). His training: screaming and throwing things, etc, is pretty close to abuse. But he believes the dogs are there to make him a better human. This farm is the great experiment to rehab him. The dogs pay the price. If the dog is an easy one, like Rose, or his past labs (which were trained by someone else) he gets along with them, until they get sick. Then they get the quick needle. If they are troubled dogs, he gives them away or euthanizes them. Even Orson his "soulmate and forever dog" gets the needle, after being driven nearly insane by renovators at the farm. But that's the next book. He lives apart from his wife because his needs come above his families'. He complains his sister isn't interested in his life, but he admits he doesn't care to be interested in hers, which largely revolves around her dogs. He says how jealous he is that she will drive to pick up a needy dog, but won't drive to see him. This is a grown man, mind you. He buys a farm and fills it with animals, fodder, of course for his writing, but whines constantly about having to care for them, the cold, his barn chores, dogs being dogs (eating donkey poop) etc, and just about everything else. He believes in doublespeak, thinking that if he talks about how he loves his dogs,that's what people will believe, in spite of the litany of neglect, abuse, and disinterest in dealing with anything but easy dogs. When a dog becomes too much trouble, he justifies his neglect or abuse by saying he wants to keep dogs in the proper perspective in his life. Or they're gotten rid of. The dogs arre there to make a quick buck from, and when they develop a problem, they disappear one way or another and he gets a new one with lightning speed. He needs to keep those dogs coming for the next book on the assembly line.

After several hundred pages of whining, this book ends with seven of eight sentences beginning with "I ". With Katz, it is all me, me, me. If you want to read a book by a self-indulgent, self-centered and selfish man this is your book. He'll be happy to take your money. Don't fall too in love with the poor dogs, though, because they never last. You won't find any old dogs on Katz's farm. Don't expect to find a kinship with Katz, either, given he admits he doesn't like other dogs, dog people, dog activities or sports. But he gets testy if you don't like his books.

By the way, they're making a movie about Orson -- too bad that the dog didn't live to see it. Look for him not in the movie, but under a headstone, a victim of Katz' farm renovations. The "dog room" got renovated, courtesy of your royalty dollars. But when Katz left Orson loose to continually deal with a flood of renovators brushing past him, he didn't understand why the dog's aggression increased in a herding dog bred to protect his property and left to fend them off by himself. So farm got renovated; the dog got a new "dog room" six feet under. Hey at least the farm looked nice when they went to make the movie about the dog, and that's what was important to Katz.

Do yourself a favor, and also end the revolving dog door on Katz's farm by passing this tripe by.

The only thing worse than a dog owner like Jon Katz is someone who would profit from the suffering he imparts on the animals he supposedly loves so much. Katz is not a dog expert, he is an emotionally troubled, male drama queen who takes out his problems on his animals. I read this book expecting to learn about how to train and live with dogs. In this book, I learned Katz Method #1: Give the dog away if you don't quite "connect" with it. In his next book, you learn Katz Method #2: Kill the dog if you are too stupid to train it properly. The reader will also learn Katz Method #3: Keep telling yourself that you are doing all this because you love the dog soooooo much. Don't forget Katz Method #4: Set your dogs up for failure to provide fodder for your next exploitive, melodramatic book.

I was given this book as a Christmas gift by a dear friend and enjoyed every minute of it. It's a heartwarming story of a man and his animals, and some of the lessons he learns from them. As I read the story it was obvious how much the author depends on his animals to meet emotional needs as much as they depend on him for food and shelter. If all animals were cared for and treated with as much respect as this man has for his animals, the world would be a much better place. For the most part, this is a light-hearted book and I highly recommend!

Looking for a place that would allow his three border collies to do what they do best --- herd sheep --- and allow him to continue their training, Jon Katz heads to West Hebron, a small town an hour northeast of Albany. Here, his new home is an aging farmhouse complete with several decrepit barns, forty-two acres of pasture and woods, a cantankerous ram, fifteen ewes, two donkeys named Carol and Fanny, and a town full of people curious about the "flatlander" in their midst. Presented with the challenge of once again turning it into a working farm, Katz knows he will either rise to the occasion or find himself headed down the New York State Thruway back to New Jersey.

But Katz did not take up residence at Bedlam Farm (that's its official name) solely for Orson, Homer and Rose. He also did it for himself, inspired in part by something his friend and a professional dog trainer, Carolyn, told him after a frustrating training session with Orson. "Here's the truth and you just have to face it: If you want to have a better dog, you will just have to be a better goddamned human." Taking her words to heart, Katz got to work on it. "What better place to test my notions about dogs and humans," he wondered, "than here, with border collies and a bunch of sheep? Could they become happier dogs and more useful partners? Could I learn to be a better human? The four of us and our little band of animals, tucked away on a hillside through a glorious fall, the bitter upstate winter, and a cold, muddy spring filled with lambing, could probably find out."

In THE DOGS OF BEDLAM FARM, Katz chronicles his first nine months of the adventure and the triumphs and failures he encountered along the way. There is the adjustment to small-town life, which he adapts to with surprising ease. There are daily training sessions with Orson, Homer and Rose. There are sheep and donkeys to be cared for, repairs to make on the farm, and locals to get acquainted with. Strikingly observant and honest, Katz weaves it all into a narrative that is by turns hilarious, heartwarming and poignant.

Whether greeting an autumn sunrise, being battered by a belligerent ram, roaming the hills with his beloved dogs, herding sheep, assisting ewes during lambing season, playing matchmaker between a neighbor and a puppy, tending a sick donkey, mentoring a troubled 12-year-old boy, or reuniting with his estranged sister, Katz learns that being part of a community and running a farm is backbreaking --- and sometimes heartbreaking --- work. It takes perseverance, luck, determination and the help of a few good friends ("those with fur and those without") to make it through the harsh winter.

When spring finally comes, with pale rays of sunshine thawing the winter chill, it's clear that Katz and his canine companions have breathed new life into more than just this rambling and untended homestead. Welcome to Bedlam Farm.

--- Reviewed by Shannon McKenna

This man buys animals and then punishes them because he doesn't understand their nature. Dogs are pack animals and there can only be one alpha dog, one beta dog, etc. He gives away his dog Homer because his other dog Orson takes over the role of alpha dog and Homer falls in line. He buys sheep and donkeys without first understanding their needs either in care or diet. He is looking for emotional bonding with these animals, but he is not willing to bond to them, nor any human member of his family. He blames his emotional problems on his father, but he is a 56 year old man. You are an adult now Mr. Katz, get over it. This "book" is more of a journal of his self-indungent complaints. I quit half way through the book with a very poor opinion of this man. Sell the farm, Mr. Katz and invest in some good psychotherapy, or read Marley & Me to see what real dog-human bonding looks like.