Tails of Sha'ar Hagai: A Wild Life With Wildlife [Paperback]

Myrna Shiboleth (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 30, 2008

In Tails of Sha'ar Hagai, Myrna Shiboleth takes us with her on an extraordinary journey; as she emigrates from the United States, pioneers in Israel, lives and travels in Africa and Europe, and establishes the breed known as Israel Canaan Dogs. In episodes that are alternately hilarious and poignant, we join her as she struggles to set up home in a bullet-ridden, abandoned concrete bunker, and build a life shared with family, friends, and a variety of furred and feathered companions. From desert-living wild dogs, to Baba the hand-raised hyena; Ricky the overly curious raccoon, Shusha the fox and Um Fathi, the local village witch, she shares her stories, and gives insight into both struggle and strength. Every one of these amazing characters teaches us something about what it means to be human. Myrna Shiboleth is an animal behaviorist, world champion dog breeder and dog show judge, and is acknowledged as the authority on Canaans, one of the few remaining breeds of feral dogs. She lives and breeds dogs at Sha'ar Hagai in Israel.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Myrna Shiboleth is an animal behaviorist, world champion dog breeder and dog show judge, and is acknowledged as the authority on Canaans, one of the few remaining breeds of feral dogs. She lives and breeds dogs at Sha'ar Hagai in Israel.

Product Details

• Paperback: 534 pages
• Publisher: Sephirot Press (November 30, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0980207118
• ISBN-13: 978-0980207118
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.2 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,875,185 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Animal Farm, January 15, 2009

By 

J. Halberstadt (Peabody, MA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Tails of Sha'ar Hagai: A Wild Life With Wildlife (Paperback)

Disclosure: At Sha'ar Hagai, many years ago, I bought a Canaan dog from Myrna Shiboleth for my son. The dog was an incredible addition to the family. A few years ago I received a Canaan dog descended from dogs raised by Myrna.

But only when I read Myrna's book did I begin to appreciate the dedication and work that went into building Sha'ar Hagai and the fact that Myrna and a few other people were responsible for bringing these wonderful dogs into our world. Myrna is recognized internationally as the premier breeder of Canaan dogs, and continues to seek new stock from the wild.

As a child, Myrna wanted to have lots of animals. Well, by going to Israel, she found the freedom and the circumstances that enabled her to realize her dream. I always thought that living with a Canaan dog was the height of adventure--anything wilder would not fit into a human dwelling. I was wrong. Myrna managed to foster, raise, train, and to love many kinds of living thing, with the hyena perhaps the most extreme.

Like Myrna, her book is unique. It is a wonderful collection of personal adventures, the dirty work of raising animals and building a farm, the glory of stage and screen, romance, and more loveable animals than you can count. Myrna's Israeli sense of irony is outrageously funny, if you realize what she is saying with a straight face. Endowed with an inborn ability to relate to animals, she doesn't really talk about her methods, I suspect because it is so obvious to her how to get animals to perform for her. In building Sha'ar Hagai, she shows determination, flexibility, and an instinct for survival. Perhaps only in Israel could she have found the context that would permit her to do some of the wild and crazy things that she relates in the book. After having a Canaan dog, the next best legal way to have fun is to read her story.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars DOG GONE GOOD, January 14, 2009

By 

M. Messinger "A fan" (Canada) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Tails of Sha'ar Hagai: A Wild Life With Wildlife (Paperback)

Myrna Shiboleth's Tails of Shaar Hagai is a must-read for any animal or Israel lover. This hilarious autobiographic tale of many tails, describes Myrna's wild life at Shaar Hagai from the time she arrived in Israel in the late sixties until today. If you have ever driven from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, you should know where Shaar Hagai is located. It is 20 minutes outside of Jerusalem in the hills, marked with a prominent green road sign. Shaar Hagai is Myrna's home and the home of a kennel full of Caanan dogs and Collies.

Over the years, it has also been home to a hyena name Baba, a racoon named Ricky, a fox named Shusha and a host of other critters. Myrna Shiboleth is an animal behaviourist by profession and the insights she offers about our four and two legged friends are absolutely riveting.

In one of my favourite chapters, we see Myrna who, at this time, is posted together with her diplomat husband in Malawi drive 1500 miles by herself though African countries hostile to Israel against the backdrop of the Yom Kippur War. Why you may ask? Was she on some kind a secret diplomatic mission? No, of course not, she was going to a dog show and nothing, come hell nor high water, could stop her.

In another gripping chapter, Myrna goes to Kazakhstan to lecture about the Caanan Dog at a conference on aboriginal dog breeds and ends up in real life absurdly comical situations that rival Borat's make-believe ones. My favourite is the tale of the broken down bus which always had three drivers: one to drive the bus, one to spark the wires as soon as the bus stalled, and one to run out every few hours with two jerry cans to get gas at a rate cheaper than what was being offered at the regular fuel stations.

Tails of Shaar Hagai offers a view of Israel that is often obscured behind today's headlines. This, though, is the real Israel, the Israel which is home to different types of people, the Israel in which people have a myriad of interests and hobbies, the Israel that is both human and humane.

I found Tails of Shaar Hagai to be a mesmerizing, insightful and, above all else, funny book. If you want to be entertained at the same time that you are enlightened then, rush to order it. I can guarantee that you will be absolutely delighted.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book, January 10, 2009

By 

Art Horovitch - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Tails of Sha'ar Hagai: A Wild Life With Wildlife (Paperback)

I thoroughly enjoyed Myrna's Shiboleth's book Tails of Shaar Hagai. As the first Canadian owner and breeder of Canaans in the 1970's, I was nevertheless amazed at the new insights Myrna provided me about this unique breed. Her adventures travelling around the world to show her Canaans and Collies, her trips into the Israeli desert visiting Bedouin tribes looking for Canaan puppies of pure, wild stock are a thoroughly enjoyable read. All the hard work of setting up the kennel, the triumphs and tragedies of the dog world make this a unique story. I couldn't put it down as each chapter drew me more into Myrna's fascinating world and really, her life story.