We Give Our Hearts to Dogs to Tear: Intimations of their Immortality
This is the story of a family and their animal companions for thirty years. It is at one level about the Jack Russell terriers Ifrit, Bungee, and their own friends as well as the people who nominally owned them and other dogs as well. Alston Chase tells of his search for the immortality of dogs, what makes them special, and why we willingly give them our hearts knowing that someday they'll die and leave us bereft. The answer he finds, does not come through attempting to produce exact replicas...
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This is the story of a family and their animal companions for thirty years. It is at one level about the Jack Russell terriers Ifrit, Bungee, and their own friends as well as the people who nominally owned them and other dogs as well. Alston Chase tells of his search for the immortality of dogs, what makes them special, and why we willingly give them our hearts knowing that someday they'll die and leave us bereft. The answer he finds, does not come through attempting to produce exact replicas of them through inbreeding, as professional breeders often do and which he sees as a form of genetic death, but in their embodiment of spirit over mortality. It is through the window of their brief lives that we glimpse eternity. To speak of the spirit of the eternal for Chase is not to ignore the matter of the Earth itself, of land and the bonds forged between man and dog over thousands of years. Chase sees the threat to dogs and people in terms of the decline and in some cases the utter defeat of rural life as such. The rise of social forces supporting unbridled urbanization, and of dog breeders who see dogs as creatures to be judged by conformation rather than ability are dealt with frankly. At a time when dog "breeding" increasingly follows the whims of fashion, with attendant threats to the future of dogs, the work of Alston Chase is of major concern. This book is an eloquent tribute to the dogs we love, and a reflection on mortality, the limitations of life, and the final triumph of the spirit. Rich in poetic citations, it can be read as an environmental cri de coeur, as a naturalistic appreciation of a world slowly dissolving, or as a deeply religious reminder that even ifindividual peoples and dogs perish, the idea of immortality does not. And that lesson, which dogs teach us daily makes this book special to read and moving to feel. Alex Beam - The International Herald Tribune [Alston Chase] may have written one of the great dog books of our time. "Hearts" is simultaneously a memoir of his decades spent in Paradise Valley, where, before the movie stars arrived, making a phone call could be a three-day affair, and a well-informed rumination on wilderness land use. Mathematician, philosopher, outdoorsman, and amateur economist, Chase addresses many difficult subjects here, in a direct, yes, Thoreauvian prose style. In a chapter titled 'The Soul of a Dog,' he asks, 'Was not the immortality of dogs at least a possibility?' If you care about the answer to that question, read this book.
Prologue: A Ghost Story 11 The Misunderstanding 72 The Summer of 1972 133 The Earth Life 274 Phineas 335 The Dogs of Devon 396 Growing up Small 517 The Soul of a Dog 598 Hamilton Farm 659 Special Dogs 7710 Living at the Edge 8311 Show Dogs 8912 Leaving Millegan 9913 Paradise 10514 America Discovers Jack Russells 11515 Searching for "Genetic Immortality" 12316 Ifrit's Spirit 12917 Ifrit Passes 13518 Daisy and Bungee 13919 Ranching the View 14720 The Stealth and ''A'' Teams 15321 Bungee's Summer 16122 Bungee's Winter 17323 Cricket 17924 A Sporting Dog 19325 Ghosts 19926 Eternity 20527 Millegan Return 211Epilogue: The Future of Dogs 219Image Information and Credits 237
\ From the Publisher“Whatever your interest in Jack Russels—hunting, trailing, companion—you are sure to enjoy this book. It is absolutely wonderful!. . . . Alston’s great style of writing will make you feel that you knew each and every one of those little dogs. . . his first Phinneas, and his favorite Ifrit, along with many others. You will grieve for them along with him. . . . [T]his is a book I will treasure and read many times over. I encourage all of you to add this one to your library—you will love it!” —Terri Batzer, True Grit “[R]eading Alston Chase’s new book, We Give Our Hearts to Dogs to Tear, was a cathartic experience.” —Ronald F. Maxwell, Chronicles “Perfect title for a book; and, indeed, that book turned up, lent to us by a friend. . . . [T]he story, warmly and philosophically told, of a family and their dogs over a period of 30 years, and it asks—and answers—the question, “Why do dogs have such power over us?”. . . . We will return this moving and thought-provoking book to our friend, and we recommend it to you.” —Ann LaFarge, Puppy Love “We Give Our Hearts to Dogs to Tear: Intimations of Their Immorality is a thirty-year love story between humans and their animal companions, Jack Russell terriers, and tells of the authors’ search for the immortality of dogs and what makes them special. First-person accounts of his dogs blends with philosophical reflection in a memoir which is warm and fuzzy.” —CaliforniaBookwatch "[An] altogether engrossing book . . . a wonderful book . . . exceedingly well written and, for me, more powerful than any of the other excellent books of yours that I have read." —Robert H. Greenwood, The Greenwood Company "We Give our Hearts to Dogs to Tear is more than a memoir about small dogs in Big Sky country, however; it is a book about an adventurous life, an intrepid wife, and the passing of the baton from a generation to another. What lasts? Chase's surprising answer is a simple one: Nothing loved is ever lost." —Patrick Burns, author of American Working Terriers "[Alston Chase] may have written one of the great dog books of our time. "Hearts" is simultaneously a memoir of his decades spent in Paradise Valley, where, before the movie stars arrived, making a phone call could be a three-day affair, and a well-informed rumination on wilderness land use. Mathematician, philosopher, outdoorsman, and amateur economist, Chase addresses many difficult subjects here, in a direct, yes, Thoreauvian prose style. In a chapter titled 'The Soul of a Dog,' he asks, 'Was not the immortality of dogs at least a possibility?' If you care about the answer to that question, read this book." —Alex Beam, The International Herald Tribune "This may well be the most beautiful and richest book abut dogs ever penned." —Richard S. Wheeler, Winner, Owen Wister Lifetime Achievement Award for Literature "If you haven't read it, get yourself a copy of Alston Chase, We Give Our Hearts to Dogs to Tear: Intimations of their Immortality (Transaction Publishers, 2008). You will laugh, you will cry, and you'll remember again why you gave your heart to JRs. This book's a keeper!" —Joseph Harvill, Great Scots Magazine "We Give our Hearts to Dogs to Tear is a fantastic piece of work. I could not put it down. I pray and hope that many will read this wonderful book to understand better the true character of our terriers, and what is happening to our environment." —Ailsa Crawford, Founder and President Emeritus, the Jack Russell Terrier Club of America "We Give our Hearts to Dogs to Tear is a poignant, wise account of dogs, men, the land they inhabit which inhabits them." —Donald McCaig, author of Nop's Trials, Jacob's Ladder & Rhett Butler's People "We Give our Hearts to Dogs to Tear, the story of Alston and Diana Chase's thirty year adventure with successive generations of Jack Russell terriers in Montana, is a thinking person's dog book. Funny, sad, charming and profound, it will resonate with anyone who has ever loved and lost a dog." — Tim Cahill, author of Jaguars Ripped My Flesh, Lost in my Own Backyard and Hold the Enlightenment "The author is Alston Chase, one of the more interesting and reflective writers about nature and the wilderness . . . I really like his book . . . Among the delights of the book are the snippets of poetry and prose Alston has used as chapter epigraphs." —John Derbyshire, National Review Online "Like the Jack Russell terriers who animate its pages, this book will steal your heart, tear it up—and somehow manage to mend it, too." —Sy Montgomery, author of The Good Good Pig\ \ \ \ \ Seattle Post-IntelligencerYou have to love a book by a Harvard-, Oxford-, and Princeton- educated professor of philosophy that starts as he and his wife abandon the politically charged campus life of the Vietnam years for "a broke and irresponsible lifestyle" on a 3,000-acre ranch they cannot afford.... This is a truly fascinating journey of spirituality through the teachings of Socrates and Kant in the hands of this philosopher.... This book offers much to ponder. Still, while Chase writes about things that cannot be proven, he achieves insights about grief, about loss and about death that transcend and, finally, uplift us.\ —Elana Weissberg\ \ \ National Review OnlineThe author is Alston Chase, one of the more interesting and reflective writers about nature and the wilderness...I really like his book...Among the delights of the book are the snippets of poetry and prose Alston has used as chapter epigraphs.\ —John Derbyshire\ \ \ \ \ The International Herald Tribune[Alston Chase] may have written one of the great dog books of our time. "Hearts" is simultaneously a memoir of his decades spent in Paradise Valley, where, before the movie stars arrived, making a phone call could be a three-day affair, and a well-informed rumination on wilderness land use. Mathematician, philosopher, outdoorsman, and amateur economist, Chase addresses many difficult subjects here, in a direct, yes, Thoreauvian prose style. In a chapter titled 'The Soul of a Dog,' he asks, 'Was not the immortality of dogs at least a possibility?' If you care about the answer to that question, read this book.\ —Alex Beam\ \ \ \ \ Bark MagazineEvery day with the dogs, writes Chase, 'is filled with love, play, empathy, anxiety, courage and near sudden death.' Too often, death catches up with them..... The deaths of these feisty dogs, as much as their lives, form the heart of the book. There are lots of great characters, moving descriptions of the land, discourses on the history of the Jack Russell and the dangers of breeding for appearance instead of performance. But these are incidental in the journey that is the book's narrative core: Chase is looking for immortality for his dogs. Aren't we all? ... He visits breeders, seeking to reincarnate the spirit of Bungee. Of course, it doesn't work. But the vivid ghosts of Chase's dogs demonstrate that what does happen is another kind of immortality.... Yes, they tear our heart-but their indomitable, timeless spirits heal it again and again.\ \
