Who else but Anna Quindlen could make the short life of an ordinary Labrador retriever so profound? Good Dog. Stay. is a short, elegiac book of black-and-white photographs sprinkled with text, based on a popular Newsweek column by the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author (A Short Guide to a Happy Life, Object Lessons).

Barely touching upon the predictable shoe-chewing antics of Lab puppy Beau, a 40th birthday present, she dwells most movingly on the more difficult aspects of aging alongside her dog, noting creaky legs, clouding eyes and the fleeting bittersweet arc of a life that follows children growing up and leaving home. When it comes time to say goodbye, Quindlen lays Beau on their patterned carpet favored as it hides the dirt that a sick, old dog creates surrounded by her now grown children and watches as the dog is put down while her husband's tears fall like raindrops on her head. "Occasionally someone will tell me that they won't have pets because they're messy, and I suppose there's some truth to that," Quindlen writes. "I have to choke down the temptation to respond that life is messy, and that its vagaries go down hardest with those who fool themselves into thinking that they can keep it neat."

STREET SMARTS
The messy, brutal and random lives of strays is the compelling subject of fine art photographer Traer Scott's latest book, Street Dogs. Scott, whose previous collection was the bestseller Shelter Dogs, shot her captivating sepia-tones on the streets of Puerto Rico and Mexico, revealing enigmatic expressions on the faces of animals that reproduce, roam and forage on the streets due to overwhelmed animal control agencies. Scott captures more than 90 close-ups including an exhausted young dog digging a hole in the sand to keep cool on Puerto Rico's Dead Dog Beach and a litter of puppies huddled at dusk in a lot in San Felipe, Mexico (whose rescue caused Scott to get bitten). Despite abuse, neglect and illness, the dogs still wag their tails. While it should be depressing, Scott's work reaffirms the decency of all living beings, the daily miracles worked by shop owners and rescuers who feed, water and rehabilitate the dogs for adoption in the United States, and the indefatigable canine spirit. A portion of the proceeds from the book will be donated to the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA).

HELLO KITTY
Cats live on a higher plane, of course, and now they have their own Planet Cat. More than 400 lists of head-scratching and fascinating feline facts, advice and trivia are packed into this entertaining cat-alog, illustrated with line drawings and black-and-white photos. The culture of cats through history, including feline saints, famous cat lovers (and haters) and cats in ancient art is followed by short useful sections and sidebars about cat anatomy, behavior and training, from how to read a cat's eyes, ears and tail, to the reason Chloe bites, has litter box problems, or hates swallowing a pill (Chloe being the most popular female cat name, according to the book). Tons of amusing trivia, including famous cartoon, television and film felines, British pub signs featuring cats, and the nine kitties that have won acting awards, round out this fun blast through Planet Cat.

When you can make yourself vulnerable by lying on your back in the sun then curl and bite the hand that pets your soft tummy you know you're a cat brought to life in a cartoon drawn by Suzy Becker. This updated version of her best-selling All I Need to Know I Learned from My Cat (and Then Some) features old favorites plus nearly 50 new cartoons drawn by Binky, Becker's mischievous kitty sage. The delicate, one-panel drawings contrast with dry and sometimes wicked captions, from a cross-section of the place where no one can find you (under the bed) and a time-lapse of litter box antics, to illustrations of how to drink from the toilet ( Challenge yourself ), recycle trash, commune with the birds by splaying yourself across a window pane, build your own bed out of warm, clean laundry and recognize the toy in everything. With advice on helping with the dishes (insert sandpaper tongue here) and accepting the fact that not all company will like you, Becker's cartoons are subtle enough to win the hearts of sophisticated literary magazine readers, and funny enough to win the hearts of animal lovers everywhere.

HORSE SENSE
Owning land and a few horses is a common city-dweller fantasy, but learning to care for livestock can come with a steep learning curve for those not raised in the country. Cherry Hill's Horsekeeping Almanac: The Essential Month-by-Month Guide for Every Horse Owner puts a metaphoric arm around novices on the way to the barn. Hill, who runs Long Tail Ranch in northern Colorado, covers every aspect of horse ownership, broken down into tasks for each month and season, including buying, conditioning and feeding a horse, lifting a hoof and calling the vet, dealing with muddy pastures and electric fencing, stable flies, flooding, trailer loading and foaling, and setting up the tack room and farm office. Add illustrations and fascinating sidebars on horse history and trivia and you have an indispensable resource for any new or aspiring horse owner.

NEW TRICKS FOR OLD DOGS
These days, domesticated dogs are more likely to dine on organic kibble and be toted about in frilly pink satchels than to roll in dead skunk or chase down prey. Present and former staffers at satirical online newspaper The Onion, writing as Rex and Sparky, come to the rescue of these pampered pooches in The Dangerous Book for Dogs: A Parody, illustrated by Emily Flake. Advice for uncovering latent canine rebellion includes chapters on Things You Can Chase; Begging: A Primer; and Poop: An Indelicate Discussion. Rex and Sparky also take canine wimps through building a doghouse (clue: a hammer won't be involved), escaping fenced areas, picking a pill out of peanut butter, handling a thunderstorm, escaping humiliating costumes, managing territory and taking epic walks. Bound in a retro library binding and dripping with faux-nostalgic tone, these observations are driven home with a wicked funny bone, buried correctly, of course (see page 72, How to Bury a Bone ). Owners who long to let their pets roam free or feel a twinge of guilt over a box of $10 designer biscuits will wallow in this ode to old-school dog.

As John Ruskin so insightfully wrote, “There is in every animal’s eye a dim image and a gleam of humanity.” Perhaps our fascination with animals lies in our awareness of a basic kinship and our realization of each animal’s unique ability to teach us something about ourselves.

For those who want to learn something more about their pets and possibly themselves this summer, we have sifted through the season's pet books and selected a few of the best. This collection offers a wide range of animal-related material; you'll find everything from practical pet care strategies to amusing cat autobiographies, but however light-hearted the approach, all these books share an underlying respect and love for the animals who look to us humans for their well-being.

An excellent reference book for serious feline fans or the newly initiated about to take on the responsibility of a kitten is The Humane Society of the United States Complete Guide to Cat Care by Wendy Christensen and the staff of the Humane Society. The comprehensive text covers all aspects of cat care, from the smallest details, like getting your cat's collar size correct, to larger issues such as proper nutrition, grooming and choosing the right veterinarian. Not surprisingly, this text advocates getting your pet from your local animal shelter not only will an animal's life be saved, but the authors hope that people who see first-hand the abundance of unwanted, innocent life sitting on death row will be more motivated to spay or neuter their animals helping to break the sad cycle of throw-away pets.

A chapter is devoted to stray (lost) and feral (never owned) cats, but for a more complete study, Living in Shadows: How to Help the Stray Cat in Your Life (Without Adding to the Problem) by Ann K. Fisher offers an analysis of this complicated problem and a step-by-step guide for tackling it. Fisher provides an invaluable service not only to the millions of homeless cats living in shadows, on the outside looking in, but also to the people willing to reach out to them.

If you're a puppy person or you want a gift for a new puppy parent, The Good Life: Your Dog's First Year by Mordecai Siegal and Matthew Uncle Matty Margolis is a wonderful month-by-month guide that follows a dog's development from birth to adulthood, ending with a chapter containing 10 lessons in training fundamentals. Siegal and Margolis are experts in the field with numerous other canine collaborations to their credit, and they write with an engaging, down-to-earth style. Like the books above, The Good Life contains photographs and will help the new puppy parent become a veritable Dr. Dolittle, with advice on everything from feeding to first aid.

For a true veterinarian's perspective on animal care, Real People Don't Own Monkeys: And Other Stories of Pets, Their People and the Vets Who See It All by J. Veronika Kiklevich D.V.M. with Steven N. Austad is an eye-opening collection of warmly humorous, though often poignant, stories of the animals (iguanas, turtles, pigs and pythons along with the traditional cats and dogs) Kiklevich has doctored. More than mere entertainment, these engaging tales also serve to illuminate the personalities of the human owners these pets are either blessed with or subjected to and the result is captivating, provocative and sometimes disturbing reading.

Linda Stankard was adopted years ago by a dog named Sweetie and lately by a cat who has just given her four grand-kitties. They all live with two fish who keep a tight rein on them.