The Dog Who Came to Stay: a Memoir

Author Hal Borland and his wife live in a home on a 100 acre farm in Connecticut.  One night in the 1950s, during a blizzard they hear a dog howl at their door.  When they open the door there are two dogs, an adult and a puppy, both black and white.  The Borlands don't want a dog. . Their careers involve their leaving for trips from time to time, but they can't leave the dogs out in the storm, so take them in.  They advertise in the newspaper, but nobody comes forward to keep the dogs.

They keep the dogs, but don't consider them "theirs."  But they name the dogs Pat and Mike.  Hal and the dogs go hunting with the dogs for rabbits (I always wondered what they did with the rabbits...do they bury them, as they do the woodchucks they catch).

When there is some danger of dogs chasing deer, which is against  the law, though neither Pat nor Mike is responsible, Borland ends up giving Mike  to a kid who has just lost his dog and the house becomes a one-dog house.

The book is the story of Borland's experiences with Pat and all the things that happen and it's a fun read.


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