Winston: … the Dog Who Changed My Life

Hilmar Klute tells the touching story of how he unexpectedly became a dog owner the day his wife came home with Winston, an English Bull Terrier puppy she finds abandoned in a city cemetery. The new arrival in Hilmar’s life is soon peeing on his parquet floor and chewing his glasses, cushions, telephone cable – and pretty much everything in sight! Winston wrecks the apartment and keeps Hilmar awake at night, but the dog also opens up a new world to Hilmar; of which he was previously blissfully unaware. Without a clue about how to deal with a puppy, Hilmar tries to make some sense of the unfamiliar territory of the dog park, where people seem to think of themselves more as members of a pack than of society. He soon finds himself studying the dog owners themselves, and casting a critical eye over the services of the professional ‘dog whisperer.’ Hilmar’s attempts to return his world to normal disclose some surprising truths about the relationship between man and dog, and this charming and irreverent book has much to tell us about the weaknesses of both species, and ultimately their strengths, too.