Alison Pace has walked the canine storyline through several novels, but this doesn't detract from her first book of essays, which once again rely on dog tales. Readers met Carlie, a West Highland white terrier, in City Dog; now, Pace's autobiographical stories reveal how the real Carlie came into her life in You Tell Your Dog First.
From the prologue, in which Pace lovingly describes her family pets from the day she was born through the present, it's obvious she's a dog person in need of a dog. In New York City, though, the first step to dog ownership is a dog-friendly apartment, and even a non-city-dweller can relate to Pace's house hunting stories. At last, she meets and claims Carlie, and begins to live the maxim her father offers: "It's wonderful, isn't it, the way that dogs connect you to the world."
Carlie and Allison make friends in their daily Central Park outings; one Westie turns out to be Carlie's half-brother, one dog walker becomes the author's therapist. Romance might blossom with a fellow dog-lover--or not. Pace unself-consciously describes her date with the obsessive master of two Chinese Cresteds ("Do I talk to Carlie like that?" she wonders), while Carlie, who bares her teeth at another date, shows good instincts ("You were right all along!" Pace tells her).
Heartwarming and funny, these 18 essays reflect Pace's optimism, and zip by as fast as an off-leash Westie. --Cheryl Krocker McKeon, bookseller