Copyright © 2012 by The New Yorker Magazine All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Random House, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York. RANDOM HOUSE and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc. All pieces in this collection, except as noted, were originally published in The New Yorker. The publication dates are given at the end of each piece. Excerpt from “Metamorphoses” by John Cheever, copyright © 1983 by John Cheever (The Wylie Agency LLC). Grateful acknowledgment is made to the following for permission to print previously published material: Doubleday, a division of Random House, Inc., and Faber & Faber: “Ava’s Apartment” from Chronic City by Jonathan Lethem, copyright © 2010 by Jonathan Lethem. All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission of Doubleday, a division of Random House, Inc., and Faber & Faber. The Estate of E. B. White: “Dog Around the Block” by E. B. White, reprinted courtesy of the Estate of E. B. White. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, LLC, and Sterling Lord Literistic, Inc.: “Tapka” from Natasha: And Other Stories David Bezmozgis, copyright © 2004 by Nada Films, Inc. Reprinted by permission of Farrar, Straus and Giroux, LLC, and Sterling Lord Literistic, Inc. Simon & Schuster, Inc.: “The Dog Star” from Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend by Susan Orlean. Copyright © 2011 by Susan Orlean. Published in the UK by Atlantic Books Ltd. All rights reserved. Reprinted with the permission of Simon & Schuster, Inc. Credits for illustrations appear on this page Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data The big New Yorker book of dogs / foreword by Malcolm Gladwell. p. cm. eISBN: 978-0-67964476-7 1. Dogs—Anecdotes. I. New Yorker (New York, N.Y.: 1925)  II. Title: New Yorker book of dogs. III. Title: Book of dogs. SF426.2.B56 2012 636.7—dc23 2012033699 www.atrandom.com v3.1 “Did you woof?” CONTENTS Cover Title Page Copyright FOREWORD MALCOLM GLADWELL GOOD DOGS SNAPSHOT OF A DOG JAMES THURBER DOG AROUND THE BLOCK E. B. WHITE DOG STORY ADAM GOPNIK FOR A GOOD DOG OGDEN NASH DOG HEAVEN STEPHANIE VAUGHN BEREAVEMENT KEVIN YOUNG BEWARE OF THE DOGS BURKHARD BILGER THE WATCHER RUTH STONE DOG RUN MOON CALLAN WINK GREAT DOG POEM NO. 2 MARK STRAND DOG DAYS MARJORIE GARBER WISDOM TINGED WITH JOY DOROTHEA TANNING DOG LANGUAGE IAN FRAZIER BAD DOGS FROM “THE PET DEPARTMENT” JAMES THURBER DOG TROUBLE CATHLEEN SCHINE PEACOCK ALEXANDRA FULLER WHAT THE DOG SAW MALCOLM GLADWELL BULLDOG ARTHUR MILLER DON’T DO THAT STEPHEN DUNN SCOOPED LAUREN COLLINS TROUBLEMAKERS MALCOLM GLADWELL WALKING THE DOG: A DIATRIBE MONA VAN DUYN FROM METAMORPHOSES JOHN CHEEVER WORSE THAN HIS BITE ERIC KONIGSBERG TENNIS BALL DONALD HALL MAN BLAMES DOG BEN McGRATH CHABLIS DONALD BARTHELME DOG VIRGINIA WOODS BELLAMY DOWN THE LEASH ANGELICA GIBBS TOP DOGS A PREFACE TO DOGS JAMES THURBER THE DOG STAR SUSAN ORLEAN THE OWNER OF BEN FINNEY ALEXANDER WOOLLCOTT HIS LIFE AS A DOG REBECCA MEAD YOUR FACE ON THE DOG’S NECK ANNE SEXTON RICH BITCH JEFFREY TOOBIN SMALL-TOWN LIFE GEORGE W. S. TROW TALLYHO! E. J. KAHN, JR. SHOW DOG SUSAN ORLEAN THE UNRULY THOUGHTS OF THE DOG TRAINER’S LOVER ELIZABETH MACKLIN REAL DOGS RICHARD COHEN LA FORZA DEL ALPO ROGER ANGELL MONOLOGUE OF A DOG ENSNARED IN HISTORY WISLAWA SZYMBORSKA SCRATCH AND SNIFF IAN FRAZIER DOGOLOGY T. CORAGHESSAN BOYLE DOGTOWN BEN McGRATH FANCIERS GEORGE W. S. TROW DOG RACE ROALD DAHL UNDER DOGS THE DEPARTURE OF EMMA INCH JAMES THURBER LOST DOG SUSAN ORLEAN TAPKA DAVID BEZMOZGIS THE PROMOTION JAMES TATE PET SCAN JEROME GROOPMAN THE DOG RODDY DOYLE LINE AND TREE A. J. LIEBLING THE DOOR ON WEST TENTH STREET MAEVE BRENNAN RED DOG DAVE SMITH OBEDIENCE JOAN ACOCELLA DOG ON A CHAIN CHARLES SIMIC REACH FOR THE SKY JIM SHEPARD SHAGGY-DOG STORY KATE JULIAN DEATHS OF DISTANT FRIENDS JOHN UPDIKE “DAS MITBRINGEN VON HUNDEN IST POLIZEILICH VERBOTEN” DAVID DAICHES V.I.P. TREATMENT BEN McGRATH THE AMERICAN DOG IN CRISIS CALVIN TOMKINS AVA’S APARTMENT JONATHAN LETHEM A NOTE ON THURBER’S DOGS ADAM GOPNIK ACKNOWLEDGMENTS CONTRIBUTORS ILLUSTRATION CREDITS “O. K., I’m sitting. What is it?”