A Dog's Life

Acidophilus for a healthier pet? Gift baskets for kitty? Elective surgery for Fido? Americans may be concerned about the rising costs of gas, health care and housing, but when it comes to the family pet, money is no object. According to the Pet Products Manufacturers Association, pet spending is at an all-time high, with Americans projected to spend $38 billion this year for pet care, double the amount spent a decade ago. And less than half of this ($15.2 billion) is on food; the balance is medical, day care, pet spas and hotels, grooming, pet therapy and related activities. A survey conducted by the association revealed more than half of America's pet dogs and more than a third of its kitties find a present under the Christmas tree. Clearly, it's a good time to be a pet.

It's also a good time to be publishing pet books—any kind of pet book. Memoirs, reference, how-tos, gifty photo books—all are in demand. John Grogan's Marley & Me (Morrow), about the family's bad-boy blond lab, has been on PW's bestseller list for 28 weeks, after 29 printings and 1.7 million copies; Cesar Millan's dog training guide, Cesar's Way (Harmony), is nipping at Marley's heels: six weeks on PW's list with more than 500,000 copies in print after five trips to press.

"Bookstores are thinking, hey, a dog book can sell a million copies, who knew? and that benefits the whole category," says Ballantine publisher Elizabeth McGuire, who is bringing out Sy Montgomery's The Good Good Pig: The Extraordinary Life of Christopher Hogwood (May), the story of the friendship the author forged with a little piglet who grew into a 750-pound adult. The book is a Borders Original Voices pick and sports a blurb from Grogan on its jacket.

Marley & Us

The unique challenge of pet books right now, says McGuire, stems from the positive impact of having such a huge hit in Marley: every new book will be compared to its stunning—and totally unexpected—success. "The caution is not to run out and think that every animal book is going to sell a million copies," she says. In a case of serendipitous timing, McGuire notes that Ballantine's pig title has been under contract for some time, "and we're lucky it's coming into the market now."

Given the popularity of Millan's TV show, The Dog Whisperer, Harmony publisher Shaye Areheart is not at all surprised that Cesar's Way has found a sizable and growing audience: "He says you can give your dog a birthday party if you want, but dogs have needs—exercise, discipline and affection, in that order. There is a fervent interest these days in our dogs' well-being and health, and in our having better and fuller relationships with them."

Kimberly Schlegel Whitman, a Dallas party planner who has organized a bark mitzvah for a Yorkie, a puppy shower for a pregnant Great Dane and a wedding between a Chihuahua and a kind of Tibetan terrier, says her pet party business has quadrupled in four years. Her book, Dog Parties: Entertaining Your Party Animals (Gibbs Smith, Aug.), shows dogs of all shapes and sizes dressed to the nines as they cavort with their fellow canines in elegant surroundings, eating special treats from special bowls. "I have gotten comments from my clients who say their dogs go to three parties a year," Whitman says. "Five years ago, I hadn't even heard of a dog party."

It's not just at home that Fido rules the roost. According to a recent article by Steve Dale on GoodNewsforPets. com, June 23 will be the second annual Take Your Dog to Work Day. According to Dale, more than 2,000 businesses have signed up to participate for the event, which is sponsored by pets.com.

Fostering "enhanced relationships" between pet and owner is the theme of a number of new books, from Jon Katz's A Good Dog: The Story of Orson, Who Changed My Life (Villard, Oct.), about the border collie who became Katz's best friend and soul mate, to Patti Davis's Two Cats and the Woman They Own, or Lessons I Learned from My Cats (Chronicle, May), in which the author recounts how her life was bettered by her cat companions. In a similar vein is It's Okay to Miss the Bed on the First Jump and Other Life Lessons I Learned from Dogs (Hudson Street Press, Nov.) by NBC's annual National Dog Show host, John O'Hurley.

There's also FromBaghdad, with Love:A Marine, the War, and a Dog Named Lava (Globe Pequot, Nov.) by Lt. Col. Jay Kopelman with Melinda Roth, about a group of marines in Iraq who violated strict military rules to save an abandoned puppy during the battle of Fallujah, eventually bringing him home to America, and A Three Dog Life (Harcourt, Sept.) by Abigail Thomas, a memoir of the author's relationship with three dogs after her husband was left debilitated by a car accident. Another Harcourt title, Thomas Healy's I Have Heard You Calling in the Night (Oct.) concerns a Doberman named Martin who became an unshakable ally in Healy's struggle to give up alcohol and lead a productive life.

Christopher T. Reggio, publisher of T.F.H., a leading pet publishing company, says the idea of "pet parents" developed over the past decade and gained momentum when the Association of Pet Dog Trainers, Costco and PetSmart adopted positive reinforcement training—no scolding, no choke chains, praise only. "Everyone used to have a doghouse and dogs were outside. Now they're inside all the time. People are having more fun with their dogs and cats. The books reflect that—dressing up, fun things, traveling with your dogs, incorporating dogs into your lifestyle," says Reggio. One of T.F.H.'s recent top sellers is Deborah Wood's The Little Dogs' Beauty Book, which also addresses the trend toward toy dogs and miniatures.

"We got heavily into this kind of line last year," says Cindy Kitchel, publisher of Howell Book House, an imprint of John Wiley. Hot on last year's list, she says, was The Ultimate Dog Treat Cookbook: Homemade Goodies for Man's Best Friend. "This was the first time we went out consciously to meet people's need to enhance their relationship with their pets."

Other publishers are forging ahead with titles that play with this notion. Wish your pet was a snappier dresser? Check out Men Who Knit & the Dogs Who Love Them: 30 Great-Looking Designs for Man & His Best Friend (Lark, Nov.) by Annie Modesitt and Drew Emborsky. Tired of the same old routines with the same old dates? Mary Ray's Dancing with Dogs (Thunder Bay Press, Oct.) puts a new slant on the rumba and tango, as dog and owner go through dance steps together.

The new breed of pet books makes it clear that Weight Watchers and Jenny Craig haven't conquered the weight-loss market. "We have seen the humanization of pets and the childrenification of pets," says Ten Speed Press publisher Lorena Jones. "We're on track with this trend with Andi Brown's The Whole Pet Diet [Sept.]." (In house, she adds, the book is referred to as The South Bark Diet.) Other doggy diet titles include Fitness Unleashed: A Dog and Owner's Guide to Losing Weight and Gaining Health Together (Three Rivers Press) by Marty Becker and Robert Kushner, and Martha Garvey's My Fat Dog:Ten Simple Steps to Help Your Pet Lose Weight for a Long and Happy Life, due in December from Hatherleigh Press (accompanied by a companion title for fat cats).

If any proof were needed about the importance of pets to people, Hurricane Katrina laid the subject to rest once and for all, as some of the storm's victims were said to have refused to abandon their pets, as required by rescuers. (A bill passed so far only by the House, the Pets Evacuation and Transportation Standards Act, or PETS Act, would formulate procedures to prevent this from happening again in an emergency.) To keep abreast of developments in this area, New World Library is publishing Rescued: Saving Animals from Disaster by Linda and Allen Anderson (Sept.), which offers practical suggestions as well as the latest information on official policy.

In a fitting tribute to man's best—and potentially most valuable—friend, BowTie Press/Kennel Club Books is publishing Dog Heroes of September 11th by Nona Kilgore Bauer, which honors the valiant canines who searched for survivors at New York's ground zero and Washington, D.C.'s Pentagon site. As KCB editor-in-chief Andrew De Prisco puts it, "The book deserves the full support of every dog lover in America and every citizen who cares about the safekeeping of our nation." That's a lot of people and a powerful combination for any book.

For a listing of forthcoming pets/animals titles, see www.publishersweekly.com