Books

Sit! Stay! Love! Learn! Roll Over!

B.J. Hollars's new book explores the slobbery world of being a pet-owner

Eric Christenson |

WHAT THE HECK, SANDY? I THOUGHT WE WERE BOTH GONNA DO THE BOWTIE THING! A young B.J. Hollars with his childhood dog, Sandy. In the book, Hollars details a cross-country trip to give Sandy a final resting place.
WHAT THE HECK, SANDY? I THOUGHT WE WERE BOTH GONNA DO THE BOWTIE THING! A young B.J. Hollars with his childhood dog, Sandy. In the book, Hollars details a cross-country trip to give Sandy a final resting place.

Owning a dog means taking on a lot of different things. You get the good (wet kisses), the really good (unconditional love), the bad (persistent messes), and the really bad (dealing with death). And you might not realize all the things you learn from the experience of being a pet-owner.

In his latest book, From The Mouths Of Dogs, B.J. Hollars explores the ups, downs, and all-arounds of what having a dog is like, why people have pets to begin with, and most importantly, the essential life lessons we learn from our beloved animals.

“Sometimes I think we reduce our animals to a responsibility – we gotta go for the walk, gotta put food in the bowl – but when we stop and take a moment to think about it, we are a major part of this animal’s life,” Hollars said. “It’s a relationship we can often take for granted. Beyond basic care, how can we make our animal’s lives better? They always give that back tenfold if we stop and pay attention.”

Hollars, a UWEC English professor,  has been a pet owner nearly his whole life. From his cranky childhood Doberman, Sandy, to his family’s “Chihuahua / spaniel / [insert your best guess here],” Cici, Hollars is an everyday dude that has learned a lot from his pets, past and present. In the book he outlines lessons like “Live your life with hope” and “Help others any way you can” as easy takeaways with huge emotional weight.

“For me it’s how you take these lessons you learn from our pets and apply them to human life, that’s where the magic happens,” he said.

The relationship of humans to pets is interesting and tricky. Through a series of personal stories and lessons in From The Mouths Of Dogs, Hollars sets out to determine if there’s much more at play here.

And of course, it’s not always all warm ‘n fuzzy. Hollars delves into difficult issues in the pet world like animal abuse and pet shelter euthanasia, and of course, the grief associated with the death of a pet. When a pet dies, it can shake a family just as losing a human member would.

And for Hollars, sometimes that meant revisiting his own pet trauma, like with Paws, another childhood dog of his.

“I was on my way to a baseball game, and I brought Paws out to go to the bathroom before I left in full baseball regalia. And he just took off toward the road,” he said. “Here I am sprinting in my cleats, full speed, and I heard the horrible screech, right in front of eyes. I kept a journal at the time, and it was fascinating the way I describe the grief in those moments right after.”

But losing a pet is a lesson in itself, of course. Especially now that Hollars has two young kids of his own.

“It prepares us for the harder conversations and it kind of sets the narrative for our own lives and deaths,” he said. “It provides that first entry point into that conversation. There isn’t a way to prepare for it, except to take stock everyday.”

The book also includes chapters outlining the stories of Dr. Katherine Schneider, UW-Eau Claire senior psychologist emerita, and her seeing-eye dog, Luna. It talks about the history of local senior dog shelter Bobs House For Dogs, and the book finds heartwarming and heartbreaking stories from all types of different dog owners.

One of the brilliant final chapters finds Hollars packing up the family, and taking the ashes of Sandy, his childhood dog, on a stress-inducing trip across the country to finally (after 20+ years on a shelf in his parents’ house) give her a final resting spot.

From The Mouths Of Dogs speaks to the special bond between human and pet, and deftly illustrates the underlying emotional current that truly makes dog man’s best friend.

As for advice for new pet owners, Hollars keeps it simple: “Just know you’re in for a journey.”