Dog lovers will love this book

There is a lot of bow wow in the book Boatyard Dogs. These entertaining and engaging stories were originally published in Maine Boats, Homes & Harbors magazine.

This book, published by Down East Books, with an introduction by John Hanson, who founded Maine Boats, Homes & Harbors in 1987, will entertain both dog lovers and all others.

As Hanson notes in the introduction, “All dogs can be wonderful, but not all dogs can be Boatyard Dogs.” Hanson gets us started with a story about Fagin, his own boatyard dog which came to him as a puppy when he worked at the Henry Hinckley Company in Southwest Harbor. Hanson’s story of Fagin’s first trip on a yacht is very funny. The dog tried to jump from the deck into a yacht and missed, landing in the water and yowling loudly for help.

The photos which accompany each dog’s story are really good. One of my favorites is Sky, riding with her owner in a kayak through the snow. Sky starts off each day in the coffee shop, rolling over and kicking her feet in the air in response to the off-color jokes. She even likes decaf and her favorite brand is Green Mountain.

Over 30 years, more than 100 dogs plus a few cats and even a chicken were featured in Maine Boats, Homes & Harbors magazine, and Hanson selected the best stories for this book.

Wait til you see the four Beardies, lined up at the back of a boat on Swan’s Island. And then there is Sternman Sadie, assisting her captain with his lobstering. Towards the end of the book you will enjoy the story and photo of the Hahn’s Mccaw, which spends much of her time on the knob Scott Bay Cutter. That and some cat stories and photos are in a section called “They wish they were dogs.”

And don’t we all.  What a life!

George Smith

About George Smith

George stepped down at the end of 2010 after 18 years as the executive director of the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine to write full time. He writes a weekly editorial page column in the Kennebec Journal and Waterville Morning Sentinel, a weekly travel column in those same newspapers (with his wife Linda), monthly columns in The Maine Sportsman magazine, two outdoor news blogs (one on his website, georgesmithmaine.com, and one on the website of the Bangor Daily News), and special columns for many publications and newsletters. Islandport Press published a book of George's favorite columns, "A Life Lived Outdoors" in 2014. In 2014, George also won a Maine Press Association award for writing the state's bet sports blog. In 2016, Down East Books published George's book, Maine Sporting Camps, and Islandport Press published George and his wife Linda's travel book, Take It From ME, about their favorite Maine inns and restaurants.