Dogs: Funny Side Up! | 
 enlarge | Author: Nola Lee Kelsey
Creators: Jeanne Modesitt, Valerie Stone
Publisher: Dogs Eye View Press
Category: Book
List Price: $14.00
Buy New: $9.50
You Save: $4.50 (32%)
New (14) Used (6) from $7.77
Rating:  4 reviews
Sales Rank: 636243
Media: Paperback
Pages: 268
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.7
ISBN: 0980232325
EAN: 9780980232325
ASIN: 0980232325
Publication Date: October 15, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
From the delightfully skewed mind behind Bitch Unleashed! Treat yourself to this year's wildest read for domestic animal lovers. Dogs: Funny Side Up! is an hysterical perspective born out of a life that has literally gone to the dogs. Nola Lee Kelsey leaves the polite, often politically correct, world of dog writing to the masters of sentiment. Kelsey takes her own approach. Be it working at the world-renowned Best Friends Animal Sanctuary (Nat Geo Channel's `Dogtown') or rescuing animals among the temples of Northern Thailand, Kelsey's knack for recounting uproarious yet bizarrely educational tales offers readers an outrageously fresh perspective on the world of animal rescue and a life spent among man's best friends. Caution: This is not your grandmother's collection of warm, fuzzy, shelter dog tales for the soul. In this collection of Kelsey's best canine chronicles, she uses her satirical wit to deliver a wildly irreverent bite to your funny-bone and won't let go!
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| Customer Reviews:
Read it, laugh, learn October 29, 2008
Alan Anderson (Colorado USA)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Although I am not particularly interesting in reading about dogs -- I read this book because I loved "Bitch Unleashed Revised!: The Harsh Realities of Goin' Country", also by Nola Kelsey. I am very glad I read "Dogs: Funny Side Up!". This book not only is filled with razor sharp wit and subtle wry intelligence; but, dog-gone-it, I actually learned a few things in spite of the fact that I normally read for fun rather than wisdom. The diverse spectrum of topics, settings, and situations keeps the essays interesting. I would give this truly original book five stars for people interested in the wide world of dogs, or four stars for the nonpet owners. Read it, laugh, gain new perspectives!
Flipper and Henry should be in the movies! October 26, 2008
Kim Johnson (San Diego, CA)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I read this book in one session - I went from rolling on the floor laughing to tears of pain and rage - and every range of emotion in between. From Thailand to Utah, tales of dogs and rescues are told with Kelsey's unmitigated cutting humor mixed with her profound love of dogs. Sugar coated, many facts are woven into the blend, so I accidentally learned while totally enjoying this book. I really support the author's suggestions on how to remove dog fighters from the human gene pool. I could add others to the list of those who should not reproduce, but I'll spare you and just tell you to read any Nola Kelsey book you can grab. You will laugh your way to knowledge! Don't miss her "Keeping the Masses Down". It humorously predicted todays harsh economic times and tells you how to survive them. Kelsey is a delight and must surely be the up and coming comic writer of this century! I predict she will be the next Dave Barry. My favorite parts of "Funny Side Up" were her tales of Flipper and Henry. Someone should make a movie about those two dogs!
Dogs? Yes. But much more October 16, 2008
Christian McCallister (The waters of the Great Lakes)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
Nola Lee Kelsey is somewhat of a nomad, and she is definitely an advocate for animal welfare and supporter and expert on animal rescue shelters. Through the combination of these factors, she has traveled much, with consistent involvement with rescue shelters in many countries, with much of her experience coming in Thailand and the United States. In Dogs Funny Side Up, we get a collection of colorful stories about Ms. Kelsey's experiences.
The book is set up in chapters, with each chapter covering a different topic. I believe these chapters were written at different times, but that is just a guess. The topics vary widely, as does the tone of the writing. The chapters on Christmas in Dogtown are joyous celebrations. The advice chapters, on subjects like how to end up with the best choice of a dog from a rescue shelter, are very matter-of-fact and commonsensical.
When it comes to the chapters about animal abusers, dog-fighting, or people who think they know all about dog behavior because they watched a television program, though, watch out! The gloves come off, the rapier is unsheathed, and it is no-holds-barred. To say that the humor is biting or cutting, would be a dramatic understatement. To say that it is caustic or scathing, would miss the humor of it, but would not be too strong.
Some of the chapters cover events in the author's experiences with her own dogs. Her misadventures around finding a good house- and dog-sitter, for when she travels, are funny. Her experiences, regarding dogs biting people, are not funny, but are very informative.
The chapters about the temple dogs in Thailand gave me information I had not known, as well as a view into a culture that is unfamiliar to me. I found them fascinating.
Reading this book elicits as wide a range of emotions as the varied topics covered and the shifting tones of the writing. The Christmas in Dogtown tails, uh, tales, were heartwarming and made me smile. I ignored the occasional political comments, as I saw them as off-topic, but those were few and far between. I cheered some of the hard-hitting jabs at dog-fighting enthusiasts. I laughed aloud at Ms. Kelsey's comparisons between raising a child and adopting a dog. I wonder what her son thought of the book, although I doubt that he did not know her views before.
About the Author (from the back cover): Zoologist Nola Lee Kelsey has penned an eclectic brew of books from the scathingly wicked, rural satire Bitch Unleashed Revised!: The Harsh Realities of Goin' Country to the charming, children's read-aloud Let's Go Visit Best Friends Animal Sanctuary. Over the past two decades Kelsey has worked as a Dog Caregiver for Best Friends Animal Society (Nat Geo's Dogtown), a Reptile Keeper, a Marine Park Trainer, and a Wildlife Rehabilitator. She's also a self-confessed serial volunteer for global animal rescue organizations. As she's meandered the globe, her humor articles have appeared in publications from Reptiles (1-year) to The Bangkok Post.
This publisher offered me, and I accepted, an advanced reading copy (uncorrected proof), probably because I had read and reviewed Ms. Kelsey's Let's Go Visit Best Friends Animal Sanctuary.
-- Chris McCallister, author of Coming Full Circle
Delightful! Worldly insightful! October 12, 2008
Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Delightful! Worldly insightful!
Quoting from the back cover:
"Welcome to a 'dog-gone' hysterical perspective born out of a life that has literally gone to the dogs. From Nat Geo's Dogtown to the temples of Northern Thailand, Kelsey's biting satire offers an outrageously fresh perspective on the world of animal rescue and a life spent among man's best friends."
My favorite chapter is titled So Ya Wanna Start a Sanctuary. Allow me to share the opening paragraphs with you:
"Many of us dream of starting our own animal sanctuaries. In my world you hear this fantasy so often you'd think shelters would be as common as pigeons in Balboa Park or Republicans in denial.
"After two decades of working at, and volunteering for, every ilk of animal rescue, in addition to attending seminars on founding sanctuaries, and driving past many more, I fancy myself quite knowledgeable on the basics of sanctuary operations. This is precisely why I don't start one."
If you have any interest in animals, you'll like this book. If you're involved with animal rescue organizations, you'll love this book. Nola Lee Kelsey, a consummate writer who knows her stuff, has a quick mind and sharp wit, and it's not all about dogs.
Kaye Trout
Reviewer
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