Second Thoughts On: How to Be as Terrific as Your Dog Thinks You Are! (Paperback)

by Mort Crim (Author) "Within eight months I had become both a widower and an empty-nester..." (more)
Key Phrases: airtight box, United States, Miss America, Thomas Edison

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
In this touching selection of essays, journalist and speaker Mort Crim shares the lessons he learned from his dogs and the comfort they brought into his life. Primarily, he shares stories of Golum, a gentle Doberman, and Bogey, a cocky little Dachshund, and the positive lasting effects they had on his life. From welcoming him home from work each day to helping him through the death of his first wife, these two dogs shared canine love and wisdom in ways that will touch-and sometimes break-your hearts.

The author shares more that just his personal experience, however. He also examines the innate wisdom of dogs when it comes to love, caring for others, and just being yourself. Crim explores the many life lessons we can learn from our dogs if we just take the time to observe them and open our lives to them. These lessons include the value of loyalty, the importance of play, the ability to be happy with what you have, the capacity to take criticism without holding a grudge and so many others. There are even thoughts on getting along with those selfish, egotistical, aloof people in our lives-in other words, cats (and there are even a few things we can learn from felines).

For readers who have had wonderful dogs in their lives, this book will revive joyful memories. For those considering inviting one into their home for the first time, this book will show them how much a dog can add to their lives and how deeply one can touch your soul. This is an unforgettable book for any animal lover.

About the Author
Mort Crim is a journalist, author, lecturer and motivational speaker. He was a network journalist for over thirty-five years, working as a correspondent with ABC, New York and as a senior editor and anchor for WDIV-TV, Detroit. Now, he is the host of the award-winning radio program Second Thoughts, currently heard on more than eight hundred stations nationwide. Mort is the author of several books, including Second Thoughts: Upbeat Thoughts for Beat-Up Americans and Good News for a Change!: Touching Your Heart, Increasing Your Hope.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 200 pages
• Publisher: HCI (April 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1558747842
• ISBN-13: 978-1558747845
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.3 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,048,225 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I couldn't put the book down once I started reading it!, June 11, 2000

By	Patricia E Kinner (United States) - See all my reviews

I purchased the book as a gift for my daughter who has 2 dogs. When I received the book I thought I'd look it over to see what it was about. Once I started reading, I stopped doing all the things I thought I'd do over the weekend.I found myself laughing, and sharing many of the thoughts written by Mort Crim with my husband who isn't a big lover of dogs. He lived on a farm most of his life and thinks dogs are to be outside, not in the house. But after I read him parts of the book, he was even agreeing that it is so well written and thought provoking. I found myself remembering the dog, "Suzie" I had growing up and how she loved sleeping under the blankets by my feet every night! When I started dating my future husband, she would growl everytime he hugged or kissed me. I think she knew that was the person who was going to take me away from her. After we were married, she stayed with my parents as we couldn't have any pets in the apartment we moved to. Soon after that she was poisoned by a man who put out meat he'd put poison in. Several dogs in our neighborhood died. I always felt sad I never took her with me so she wouldn't have gotten that poison. As I read Mort's book I could relate to so many things he was writing about that we face in our everyday lives. If only everyone were as loyal and trusting as dogs are, we'd all be so much happier and better friends. I'm going through changes at my company and I found so much help as I read how we need to have faith in ourselves and not worry about tommorrow or have regrets about yesterday. Mort really has such a gift in comparing our human problems and challenges to how dogs face things everyday and accept and love everyone. When my 5 children were young, we didn't have a dog as I felt I was too busy to handle one. Suddenly one of our sons died at age 9 and we were devastated. One of our friends had some puppies to give away and I thought maybe that would help all of us focus on something positive. It was amazing how much "Buffy" helped us accept what we had to and learn to love and trust again. I would find our oldest son laying with the puppy and telling her all about his brother, Danny, and things that they had done together. I would listen and hear the things that he said and realize how sad he was, but also happy to tell the puppy about him and see Buffy wag her tale like she understood. I never thought the book would affect me so much, it really makes you relate to your past and remember many wonderful memories. What a special talent Mort has to be able to put his thoughts into words that everyone will relate to whether you have a pet or not. It is the Golden Rule book of how we should all face everyday and live it to the fullest.

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Dog-on good book, June 18, 2000

By	Frank Joseph Richter (Detroit, MI) - See all my reviews

Storytellers have long known that the best way to spin a good yarn is to have a hook. In the middle ages, troubadours used songs to entice illiterate peasants around a campfire to teach them life's lessons.

In today's competitive popular culture, Mort Crim has found a novel way to teach us some of the most important lessons about life. He uses man's best friend, the family dog, as his literary foil.

Mort Crim follows in the tradition of satirists like George Orwell and Jonathan Swift,

_Animal Farm_ taught lessons about totalitarianism using barnyard animals. _Gulliver's Travels_ projected human frailities on a race of giants and on the tiny Lilliputians.

Crim portrays his two pet dogs as four-legged furry humanoids without the baggage of human egos. Because dogs can't talk, they can't do such nasty things as lie, brag or complain --- the perfect life mate for man.

The author points out that dogs display some of man's best traits like loyalty, playfulness, forgiveness, without our dark side. But who really holds the leash in the human-canine partnership?

As one wit once remarked: "If aliens watched us from above and saw humans feeding, bathing and walking their dogs with pooper-scoopers in hand, the aliens could easily be forgiven for thinking that dogs ruled the planet and humans were their pets."

It's said that man is made in the image and likeness of God. But Mort Crim's use of dogs as human substitutes works so well because, in reality, dogs are made in the image and likeness of man.

That is, we humans project onto dogs the positive traits that we value in people. The truth is that their human masters are the equivalent of deities to dogs.

Mort Crim cleverly uses the basic goodness that we choose to see in our pet dogs to illustrate lessons about racism, forgiveness, and adaptability in life.

For example, Crim points out that dogs do not judge other dogs by their color or size. He notes that would be about as useful as librarians classifying books by their color. Dogs, unlike humans, don't worry whether their dog-dishes are half-empty or half-full. They just chow down. Nor do dogs often bite the hand that feeds them.

This book is chock full of highly entertaining anecdotes and touching stories. Some are tales of dogs and humans. Others are biographical sketches plucked from the lives of famous people that illustrate inventive lessons about love and life.

If you read Mort Crim's earlier book, _Second Thoughts_, you know it's packed with bite-sized literary appetizers. But this new book can be digested as a full-course meal with all the side dishes, plus dessert. It's his best effort yet.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Book is terrifric, June 16, 2002

By A Customer

This book is as terrific as the title. When I first picked up a copy, I thought, "Okay, clever title but is there any substance?" There was. This is a touching but profound look at life with many personal anecdotes. And it's not just a book for pet lovers. It's for anyone interested in a richer, deeper more rewarding existence. I heartily recommend it for anyone, young or old, with or without a love of dogs. Oh, by the way, cat lovers will also find a chapter just for them.