Canadian Dog Stories

The first book of its kind in Canada!

The Exile Book of Canadian Dog Stories brings together 28 exceptional short stories by many of Canada’s most prominent fiction writers. From work by our earliest storytellers, such as Ernest Thompson Seton, L.M. Mont-gomery and Stephen Leacock, to classic stories by Mavis Gallant, Alistair MacLeod and Sheila Watson, to new writing by a younger generation, including Lynn Coady and Matt Shaw, this unique anthology explores the nature of the human/dog bond. As editor Richard Teleky explains in his introduction, the stories collected here are not “sentimental tales about noble dogs doing heroic deeds, something children might be urged to read,” but rather stories that represent “the rich and complex and mysterious bond between dogs and humans. Most national literatures include some notable dog stories, and Canada is not the exception.” Adventure and drama, heartfelt encounters and nostalgia, sharp-edged satire and even fantasy, make up the stories in this memorable collection, chosen by a critically acclaimed fiction writer who has kept an eye out for essential reading that will appeal to dog lovers of every persuasion.

There are city pets, country dogs, childhood companions as well as a strange stone-dog statue, all ready to entertain and haunt readers, and remind them of their own beloved dogs, past and present. By way of Newfoundland to British Columbia (with a few stops in Europe, too), dogs of all breeds, shapes and sizes inhabit these pages, showing what Canadians have sometimes made of their dogs, and what they’ve made of us in return. The Exile Book of Canadian Dog Stories is the ideal companion for dog lovers and story lovers alike.

Memorable Story Excerpts

“As I should have said before, the fountain was a great cube of darkish stone, along the top of which a stone dog crouched….The head of the dog was thrust forward and rested upon the forepaws as if the brute were sleeping, but its half-open eyes seemed to watch the approaches to the doorway in the wall.” —Charles G.D. Roberts “The Stone Dog”

“And the man had a dog of which he was very fond. She was large and grey, a sort of staghound from another time. And if she jumped up to lick his face, which she loved to do, her paws would jolt against his shoulders with such force that she would come close to knocking him down and he would be forced to take two or three backward steps before he could regain his balance.” —Alistair Macleod “As Birds Bring Forth the Sun”

“Whatever happens, don’t get your life all mixed up with a dog’s.” —Mavis Gallant “Luc and His Father”

“The mongrel came to him as he bent to tie the rope around its throat, the dog’s warm eyes shining soft in the dusk, its ribs arching out from its mottled fur, its ears softly laid back as the knot was roughly tied.” —Kenneth J. Harvey “Merciful Hope”

“Now that she’s gone, her love is irreplaceable, for she was just that, love, gentleness, and nothing in this world seems like her.” —Marie-Claire Blais “Homage to Scheila”

Featured Authors:
Marie-Claire Blais * Barry Callaghan * Morley Callaghan * Lynn Coady
Mazo de la Roche * Claire Dé * Stan Dragland * Jacques Ferron * Mavis Gallant
Douglas Glover * Katherine Govier * Kenneth J. Harvey * E. Pauline Johnson
Janice Kulyk-Keefer * Stephen Leacock * Alistair Macleod * L.M. Montgomery
P.K. Page * Charles G.D. Roberts * Leon Rooke * Jane Rule
Duncan Campbell Scott * Ernest Thompson Seton * Matt Shaw * Mark Strand
Timothy Taylor * Sheila Watson * Ethel Wilson