best overall
Story By Mike Overall, Photo By Susan O'Connor
As one who has long been smitten with a voracious appetite for reading, I am never more comfortable and at peace with myself than when I’m seated in my well-worn easy chair with yet another book in hand.
While great literature and what today’s publishers are calling creative non-fiction (first-rate news reporting being my hands-down favorite in this department) have and will continue to enrich our world in ways too numerous to list, I have nothing against reading for pure pleasure and entertainment what some books offer between their covers. Reading an entertaining book beats most of what passes for pleasure on that lowest common denominator for everything under the amusing sun, today’s corporate-controlled television.
If you’re in the mood for — as I was on a weekend last month — some man-versus-canine shenanigans, the book you’ve been waiting for is here. Living with Big Dogs is spiced with a measure of good humor and a sense of rambunctiousness and chaos in extremis that’s bound to occur when a man and his wife take it upon themselves to share their daily lives with three extremely large canines.
In the book, writer Louise Fritz (the pseudonym chosen by its author, well-known Jonesboro plastic surgeon Dr. Connie Hiers) recounts the razzmatazz, sometimes chaotic, oftentimes hilarious life she and her husband, businessman Bill Fritz, experience on a daily basis with a 175-pound Great Dane and two other lumbering, insatiably curious, and, yes, mischief-making dogs. The two “masters” of their gargantuan-sized brood have learned to love their canine companions without reservation, no matter how hectic things may get around their place.
The author, on the book’s dedicatory page, sums up what follows between the volume’s covers: “To my wonderful and hard-working husband, Bill, who loves big dogs as much as I do, and to my three furry best friends, Dudley, Yoshi, and Casey, for all their untiring love.”
Although some scientists (probably confirmed cat lovers, if not pet detractors in a general sense) scoff at the premise that dogs are capable of demonstrating what we humans call love, I not too humbly differ with them in the strongest terms. Although they possess instincts galore, dogs, ever since they were domesticated thousands of years ago, have demonstrated their astonishing capacity for love toward their human neighbors, even when that love is discounted or paid scant heed.
“When Louise Fritz and her husband...were still just newlyweds, they decided it was time for an addition to their family,” reads the book’s back cover.” Before long, the pitter-patter of big feet could be heard in the house. Their brand-new, nine-week-old Great Dane, Dudley, had arrived.
Dudley’s pitter-pattering around the house ceased when his growth cycle kicked in with a vengeance, which was when his paws began hitting the floor with the impact of four synchronized jackhammers. The ever-growing puppy then proceeded to do what puppies do best, such as eating the writer’s favorite feather pillow and creating a scene of pure chaos, with the complicity of several smaller pooches that just happened to be hanging out at a local pet store.
When his owners decided that Dudley needed some canine company, along came Yoshi, an Old English sheepdog who, Fritz says in her book, fancies himself part pig, given his love of rooting in the dirt and mud. Yoshi now sports a butch haircut, as the family found it difficult to live with his dirt- and mud-encrusted furry down after he dug several capacious holes in the yard. Then came Casey, an English Yellow Labrador Retriever whose innate shyness gradually disappeared as he began romping and stomping about the place with his newfound friends.
Living with Big Dogs, as might be expected, is rife with tales of the canine trio’s exploits, missteps and shenanigans in and around their masters’ abode.
Dudley once unwrapped (he of the discriminating palate) and ate twelve sticks of butter that had been left on the counter to soften. The butter was supposed to go into the making of some very special recipes. We’re not certain if Dudley retained his hankering for butter. What is certain, though, is that Dudley, along with his very large companions, lives to eat food in rather startling quantities.
The author also notes, with tongue firmly planted in cheek that the three very large dogs serve as excellent dishwashers.
Her book ends with a list of 33 “House Rules” for living with big dogs.
When she’s not writing as Louise Fritz, Dr. Connie Hiers, a graduate of the University of Texas Medical School at Houston who has been a practicing plastic surgeon in Jonesboro for twenty-three years, involves herself in numerous civic and professional endeavors. Bill Fritz is a realtor with Coldwell Banker Village Communities Inc. The two are members of Turtle Creek Civitan Club, an organization dedicated to helping handicapped children.
Living with Big Dogs was published by Vantage Press of New York. The book is currently on sale at Books-a-Million in Jonesboro, and Vantage Press, 800-882-3273.
august music lineup
KASU-FM’s CONCERT SERIES The station is temporarily suspending its free Blue Monday concerts in Jonesboro. After a hiatus, the ASU broadcasting service will reintroduce another series in the city. Blue Monday shows will continue in Newport on the second Monday of each month and in Paragould on the third.
On Aug. 18th, Big Red & the Soul Benders will be at Brittny’s Steakhouse in Paragould with music at 7. On the 25th, Bluegrass Monday in Paragould will feature the Keisler Brothers of Sheridan, with music at 7, at Atkins Celebration Hall, 101 South Pruett. Open jam session at 5.
BRICKHOUSE BAR & GRILL downtown Jonesboro: 1st, Brickhouse All-Stars; 2nd, Yes No Maybe (Memphis ‘80s/’90s rock); 8th, Chillyrose; 9th, Homegrown; 15th, TBA; 16th, Grant Garland Band; 22nd, Big Noise (alternative rock); 23rd, Short of Stable (classic rock); 29th, Retro Radio; 30th, Yes No Maybe.
501 Restaurant & Club 2628 Philips Drive, Grant Garland Band, Fridays and Saturdays, 9-12.
The Edge Coffee House 1900 Aggie Road: The Jazz Alliance is taking a break from its Tuesday night performances, but will resume performing later in summer on Thursday nights. Also, trumpeter Rob Alley and his group will return later in summer.
