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The Dogs Who Came to Stay
In a memoir reminiscient of The Cat Who Came for Christmas, two set-in-their-ways bachelors, professors at Princeton, are won over by two remarkable stray dogs, the start of a string of happy adventures. Reprint.
176 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 1995
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
September 6, 2016
The book I read over the summer was The Dogs Who Came to Stay. It was written by George Pitcher. It's a nonfiction based story. It's about these two professor from Princeton who found these two dogs whom they named Lupa and Remus. They seemed to have been a mix between Dobermans and Rottweilers because of their black-and-tan colors. They lived on a farm with several other animals like goats. I think it was a pretty good book. I liked it because I like dogs and one of the dogs in the book reminded me of an old dog I use to have. I also liked the fact that it included actual pictures of the dogs. Something I didn't like was when lupa died. And how there was slightly random poems throughout the book. But over all it was a really good book and if I were to recommend it to anyone it would be my mom, because she is really into animals.
April 30, 2015
Two bachelor scholars take in two dogs who change their lives forever. The mother is wild and runs the streets. She has managed to stay alive by avoiding humans as much as she can. Her life changes dramatically when she has her litter of puppies in the yard of the two men. One longs to have a dog like he had briefly as a child. His yearning transfers to his roommate who owns the house and the they adopt the mother and one of her pups. The devotion they share is healing for all of them - dogs and humans alike. I liked this story about the power of love between humans and their pets.
March 4, 2013
I loved how focused on the dogs this story was, and how simple it was. It's a story of animal ownership anyone who has ever had a special pet can relate to. There are some beautiful accompany sketches and photos as well. A nice story for dog lovers, if not a bit short. Sad though, tearjerker warning.
February 13, 2018
Oh, that was so lovely. Beautiful dogs on the cover, beautifully named Lupa and Remus, and a nearly 100% focus on said wonderful dogs - I knew only just enough about the men to get a sense of who the author was, and loved it that way.
November 18, 2016
3.5 stars
This book was a sad beginning but a good all the way through read. the only thing I did not enjoy is the fact that the book was so short I felt you didn't get the whole story.
This book was a sad beginning but a good all the way through read. the only thing I did not enjoy is the fact that the book was so short I felt you didn't get the whole story.
April 22, 2024
This is a chronicle of the pet dogs kept by American philosopher George Pitcher and his live-in companion, the composer Edward T. Cone, while both of them taught at Princeton University in the 1970s and 80s. When a stray pregnant dog slinks into their backyard to have her puppies, they don’t know what to do, but they are won over, finding good homes for six of the pups and keeping the mother, whom they call Lupa, and the runt of the litter, dubbed Remus. The charming anecdotes that follow warmly illustrate the two dogs’ idiosyncratic behaviour and build enough emotion to cause distress in the reader (spoiler alert) when they have to be put down at the end of their lives.
Considering that it covers the 17 years from 1974 to 1991, the book is remarkably short (only 148 pages) and oddly sparse, focusing way too much on the two trips they take to Europe on the QEII, the first with both dogs and the second after Lupa has died. Surely in that long time period there were other stories that deserve more than a couple of paragraphs, or broad generalizations about wagging tails and seating posture? Most of the cute little reminiscences about the dogs are very brief, without many memorable details. And the human beings are barely there. We learn almost nothing about their backgrounds, their personalities, or their social lives - except that they can afford extravagant sea travel – and this lack of information makes it hard for the average reader to relate to the academic Ivy League environment.
Even so, I enjoyed this book. It contains passages of real depth and the author’s occasional poetry is a simple, moving salute to the two dogs who touched his life profoundly.
Considering that it covers the 17 years from 1974 to 1991, the book is remarkably short (only 148 pages) and oddly sparse, focusing way too much on the two trips they take to Europe on the QEII, the first with both dogs and the second after Lupa has died. Surely in that long time period there were other stories that deserve more than a couple of paragraphs, or broad generalizations about wagging tails and seating posture? Most of the cute little reminiscences about the dogs are very brief, without many memorable details. And the human beings are barely there. We learn almost nothing about their backgrounds, their personalities, or their social lives - except that they can afford extravagant sea travel – and this lack of information makes it hard for the average reader to relate to the academic Ivy League environment.
Even so, I enjoyed this book. It contains passages of real depth and the author’s occasional poetry is a simple, moving salute to the two dogs who touched his life profoundly.
February 18, 2024
I pulled this wonderful book from the "free" box in my local library's book sale room. I'd never heard of George Pitcher, the author, who was a long-time professor of contemporary philosophy at Princeton University. He lived to be 92 and had a life that makes for very interesting reading if you search him on Google. Although he'd written other books, "The Dogs Who Came to Stay," in his own words was "a true account of how two dogs, Lupa and Remus, changed everything."
If you've ever owned a rescue dog, you've no doubt experienced the life-long love and devotion they give to those who choose them. This sweet little book "celebrates the gift dogs give unconditionally to humans." Filled with touching stories accompanied by photographs and drawings, Mr. Pitcher's heartwarming tribute to his two beloved dogs is a book I'll never forget and well worth reading.
If you've ever owned a rescue dog, you've no doubt experienced the life-long love and devotion they give to those who choose them. This sweet little book "celebrates the gift dogs give unconditionally to humans." Filled with touching stories accompanied by photographs and drawings, Mr. Pitcher's heartwarming tribute to his two beloved dogs is a book I'll never forget and well worth reading.
June 1, 2021
Having recently lost my third dog in three years, I'm going through a bit of a thing right now. I thought reading some nice things about dogs might help, and I had this little book kicking around so I gave it a go. This is a short little story about two bachelors that unexpectedly and somewhat unwillingly, become dog parents. Though dog care has undergone some shifts since this book was written, the impact dogs can have on your life is very much the same. It's an old story of people who don't particularly want a dog being changed completely when one (or two) show up in their life. It may be an old story, but it's not one that I get tired of hearing. A nice little story for any dog lover.
March 20, 2018
A well written and absolutely lovely book.
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July 8, 2019A lovely, heartwarming story.
December 16, 2019
Above and beyond my expectations. A book I will always treasure.
July 28, 2023
This book needs a box of kleenex as a companion.
April 26, 2020
Cute short book. Very heartwarming.
There’s a poem at the end that honestly had me tearing up in work because I think a lot of people can relate to the unconditional love you have for your dog.
There’s a poem at the end that honestly had me tearing up in work because I think a lot of people can relate to the unconditional love you have for your dog.
March 2, 2015
An utterly charming and moving memoir written by a Princeton professor about the dogs who changed his life.
A pregnant dog appears in the back yard of a house George Pritchard shares with his partner, Ed, and takes up residence beneath the tool shed. At first, the men are at odds as to what to do about this, as their lives seem to have no room for the care and feeding of dogs. However, the dog gives birth to seven puppies, and being good men, they begin to feed the mother , and to worry about her and her pups, and... as will come as a surprise to no one who's been tamed by a dog... to fall in love.
George has been seeing a therapist for years, in an effort to understand why he cannot comfortably receive and give affection. He does, however, reminisce about dogs of his youth, and feels a strong pull toward this stoic, frightened animal. With infinite patience, he and to a lessor extent Ed, being the slow work of winning the dog's trust and acceptance.
She is named Lupa. Ed is at first reluctant, not being a dog person, but soon warms to her, and to the pups. They decide to find homes for six of the pups, but will keep one, who is named Remus. And so begins the journey of healing, for everyone.
It's a quiet, delightful piece of writing. The bonds of love the four develop are moving, inspiring and so strong the men take the dogs with them everywhere, including to France via the Queen Mary II.
Since the great fault of dogs is that their lives are so short, the ending cannot be other than it is, and some of the most moving passages come at the end of Lupa's life, when George describes how Lupa "forced me to look death squarely in the face, to acknowledge its reality. She taught me how to be a person in her dying, how to comfort her. She made vivid for the me the plain truths that death is the natural rounding out of a life, that it can even be a desired conclusion. She taught me not to resent a beloved person for dying but rather to cherish her all the more. She taught me how to say farewell. And she taught me, at last, how to grieve." By then, he hasn't needed a therapist in a long time.
Such are the fur-clothed miracles of love we call 'dogs'. Highly recommended.
A pregnant dog appears in the back yard of a house George Pritchard shares with his partner, Ed, and takes up residence beneath the tool shed. At first, the men are at odds as to what to do about this, as their lives seem to have no room for the care and feeding of dogs. However, the dog gives birth to seven puppies, and being good men, they begin to feed the mother , and to worry about her and her pups, and... as will come as a surprise to no one who's been tamed by a dog... to fall in love.
George has been seeing a therapist for years, in an effort to understand why he cannot comfortably receive and give affection. He does, however, reminisce about dogs of his youth, and feels a strong pull toward this stoic, frightened animal. With infinite patience, he and to a lessor extent Ed, being the slow work of winning the dog's trust and acceptance.
She is named Lupa. Ed is at first reluctant, not being a dog person, but soon warms to her, and to the pups. They decide to find homes for six of the pups, but will keep one, who is named Remus. And so begins the journey of healing, for everyone.
It's a quiet, delightful piece of writing. The bonds of love the four develop are moving, inspiring and so strong the men take the dogs with them everywhere, including to France via the Queen Mary II.
Since the great fault of dogs is that their lives are so short, the ending cannot be other than it is, and some of the most moving passages come at the end of Lupa's life, when George describes how Lupa "forced me to look death squarely in the face, to acknowledge its reality. She taught me how to be a person in her dying, how to comfort her. She made vivid for the me the plain truths that death is the natural rounding out of a life, that it can even be a desired conclusion. She taught me not to resent a beloved person for dying but rather to cherish her all the more. She taught me how to say farewell. And she taught me, at last, how to grieve." By then, he hasn't needed a therapist in a long time.
Such are the fur-clothed miracles of love we call 'dogs'. Highly recommended.
August 2, 2007
An extremely well written true story. It has been a number of years since I read this book. Pitcher has a knack for writing. I'll have to find it in storage and reread it to give it justice.
June 21, 2008
The story of two middle aged Princeton professors and their adopted dogs. Their dedication to Lupa and Remus was boundless and reciprocated in great abundance.
October 7, 2009
I thought this book was an interesting story about the relationship between stray dogs and a humans. It tells you about how at first it is very hard to get a stray to trust you, but it is possible.
September 3, 2010
Enjoyed this book and especially appreciated the author's sense of humor.
July 29, 2012
Absolutely loved this book. My all time favorite book. Never get tired of reading it. Great story about the love one can have for a dog and also the devotion and love you can receive from a dog.
February 3, 2014
A couple of men adopt two stray dogs.
This is an oddly touching true story showing the attachment (love) between people and their dogs (pets).
This is an oddly touching true story showing the attachment (love) between people and their dogs (pets).
July 29, 2014
gorgeous! made me re evaluate love and relationships with non human animals
February 23, 2015
Charming!
September 8, 2015
Found this little book in one of our town's Little Free Libraries. It was a super-sweet, super-quick read about 2 men and their dogs. How can you not love that?!
July 16, 2016
This is a sweet narrative, but probably serves a greater purpose for the author personally than the audience will ever derive.
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews