My Life with George

I suppose My Life With George by Judith Summers jumped off the library shelf at me because I had a cat named George from 1984 to 1997. My Life With George is the story of Ms. Summers' relationship with her Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, or "What I Learned About Joy from One Neurotic (and Very Expensive) Dog."

In George the Cat's case, he was neurotic enough (almost starved himself to death while Bruce and I were on our honeymoon and we left him with one of my co-workers, who proved to be too neurotic herself to cope with a frightened and unsettled cat). But I didn't allow him to become nearly expensive as Ms. Summers' dog.

My Life With George isn't just a cute dog story. Ms. Summers goes into depth about the role George played in her family. She decided to buy George on a bit of a whim, after her husband and her father died within days of each other, and her son was begging for a dog. The dog did in fact bring laughter and joy back into the bereaved household, and was a big factor in helping the two of them heal.

But on the other hand, George himself was a handful, spoiled, willful and overly dependent. Ms. Summers admits she didn't have the spine to make George behave, and she gave in over and over again to his whining and sulks. But from her description of George's behavior, just about anyone would probably have a hard time getting this pooch to do as he was told. Her encounters with animal psychologists were pretty absurd, with them ascribing deep hidden meanings to George's behavior (piddling on the carpet was supposedly a bid for attention).

So, as she described, George had a profound impact on Ms. Summers, on her son Joshua (who, coincidentally, is Jason's age), and also on her various relationships with men after her husband's death. The first fellow was driven away mostly by Joshua's opposition, but George's behavioral eccentricities didn't help either. The second was a dog lover and very tolerant, adored by George and Joshua, but Ms. Summers herself could not muster any passion for him. And the third adored her and it was mutual..but only when they were in a romantic bubble of unreality away from her daily life with Joshua and George. To some extent he had a point about her overindulgence of the dog, but he was also intolerant and resentful of a relationship that existed before he came along. The breakup was inevitable.

(I remember seeing a great bumper sticker at a cat show years ago: Men come and go, but the cat stays).

And yet, even with all the ups and downs and the distressing effect on her love life, she continues to love her naughty little doggie, and at the end of the book, is off to indulge his whims yet again. It is, in all, a sweet story about the love between humans and their animal companions. Ms. Summers should definitely put a bumper sticker on her car: "I'm owned by a dog." Anyone who is an animal lover will appreciate this touching story.

Ms. Summers has written several other books including The Empress of Pleasure: The Life and Loves of Teresa Cornelys, Queen of Masquerades and Casanova's Lover.