Customer Reviews

Jim, the wonder dog

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In the early 1940's, I was living with my grandfather in Springfield, Missouri. My grand-dad was a Continental Can Company mechanic who carried a special gas rationing exemption in connection with his work in servicing the giant Panama canners which were leased to food packers. Harry Buck drove a company car -a "salesman's coupe" with large trunk and platform replacing the rear seat, plus heavy-duty springs for the extra weight of his tool kits, over the state of Missouri and northern Arkansas from Monday through Friday. He was often called out on weekends, during which times, I would occasionally accompany him.
When he was in the Marshall, Missouri area, Gramp stayed at the old Ruff Hotel, owned and run by the Van Arsdales. My grand-dad never met Jim (the dog died in 1937), but he did talk to Sam Van Arsdale about his remarkable dog and brought back Clarence Mitchell's book for me. My grand-dad also met townspeople who verified the accounts told about Jim. I was fascinated by the book and remember it vividly, more than a half-century after reading it. The one shortcoming I found with the book is the fact that it was written in the first-person, making it seem more like a Jack London tale than the thoroughly documented account of a supernatural fact that eludes our ability to explain, to this day. If only Jim had written it....

Heart warming nonfiction story of an an amazingly smart dog. I read this book every one in awhile just to be re amazed. He was born in 1925 in Louisiana and was gifted to Samuel VanArsdale, of Marshall, Missouri.
Quoting from the web site-
So what makes Jim such a "Wonder Dog"? Jim displayed signs of extremely high intelligence.

* Jim was able to pick out colors a person was wearing, although dogs are apparently color-blind.
* He could pick out a car by its owner, color, make, or license plate number.
* He could pick out a variety of trees or shrubs, name of a business, or the occupation or home of a stranger.
* As Jim could not speak, a variety of answers were written on slips of paper even in different languages and Jim would always pick out the correct one.

On top of this- the Story is written from the Dog's eye view- super cute.
I would safely recommend it for all ages to read