A writer?s journey with a stray pup he picked up while river rafting with friends in Utah. A remarkable dog who led a life beside his human almost as equals. Ted includes the history of dogs and the findings of experts as to their behavior. A compelling story of a very special dog.

Touching and controversial (to me) book about a Wyoming man who adopts a dog and details the adventures they have together. Some of his thinking is repugnant to me: all dogs do not want to be off leash and run around town, not all dogs can figure out things for themselves (Merle was very astute) and I don't think dogs have the emotions that he described. It got annoying to read what Merle was "thinking". I have dogs, and I know they think...but not to the degree that Kerasote thinks they do.

Merle had a great life, and was loved and had many adventures. This book will challenge your thinking about what a dog's life should consist of (free roaming, shock collars, raw meat..etc). Some of you will agree, some disagree. However, one thing is true, no matter what you believe; Merle was a happy and well loved canine. ( )

This is a fantastic book for dog lovers. The story of the author and Merle is intriguing and emotional. They are partners in every sense of the word.

In addition, the author provides a lot of information about theories and research in dog evolution and behavior. ( )

Seriously one of the best books I've read in 2012. Ok, it's still January, but this one was fantastic from start to finish. I hit the jackpot when I picked this up at the library. Having been to the area of Wyoming where the author lives and writes about, it was captivating. The revealing way Kerasote writes about the connections with animals which are so personal and real, his thoughts on paper truly resonated with me and I could appreciate that. It was a very entertaining book in which I laughed dozens of times and also cried for the last two chapters. Truly heartbreaking and my husband thought I was having a breakdown.
Back to the beginning, I love how the author said that the dog picked him and that was that. I get that. I remember when I picked our rescue out of a line-up, I sensed this dog was going to be great. He looked pathetic at the shelter, but he has blossomed into the best dog for our family and our lives are so much richer with him, not to mention hairier and smellier. But, it's worth it. ( )

I didn't think I would particularly care for this book, but, of course, I loved it - it's lovingly written about a dog, after all. The author is a bit holier-than-thou, but he has a valid point about how we treat our dogs in the 21st century west. And he quoted this, which was one of those lovely moments that books can give you:

You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.

~ Mary Oliver, Wild Geese ( )

Ted Kerasote and his friends found a dog on a river boating trip, and Ted, who'd been looking for the right new dog for a while, fell in love.

Merle was perhaps ten months old, a Labrador mix, perhaps born on an Indian reservation. Shy of people at first, he grew to trust Ted in the course of the river trip. He was wary of sticks, and wouldn't fetch. When Ted brought him home to Wyoming, both their lives change.

This is both a fascinating and a frustrating book. Ted and Merle have a wonderful, rich relationship, and most of us with much-loved dogs feel pretty confident we can interpret our dogs' side of our interactions, just as Ted does. We've experienced the joy of getting to know a new dog in our lives, and growing into a relationship.

But Merle was half-wild and had been surviving on his own for a while when Ted found him. He's got both survival skills and a committed habit of roaming his territory that a pup raised in a family would be far less likely to have. Full grown, he's seventy pounds. And Ted brings him home to Kelly, Wyoming, a tiny village inside the boundaries of Yellowstone National Park, a village with little vehicular traffic and an established custom of free-roaming dogs.

Kerasote thinks that dogs who live inside full-time, walk on leashes, and are crate-trained only seem to be happy because they're suffering from Stockholm Syndrome. He goes on a long rant about how clicker training and positive reinforcement training reduce dogs to automata unable make their own decisions--and then, much later in the book, reveals that Karen Pryor, a major early proponent of clicker training, and a trainer of trainers in clicker training and positive reinforcement, is his favorite behaviorist.

He's got two examples from Merle's life that, in his mind, demonstrate the failure of positive reinforcement training and why punishment works better. One involves Merle chasing cattle, a behavior which he has to be cured of quickly, and Ted uses a choke collar and a long line to convince him it's a Really Bad Idea. (Why does Merle have to be cured of this quickly? Because he's a free-roaming dog, and ranchers and farmers shoot dogs who harass the livestock.)

The other instance is when Merle acquires the habit of making regular visits to a woman in the village who feeds him as much as he'll eat of extremely tasty foods, including meats prepared in extremely fatty ways. Attempts to talk to the woman about the harm to Merle's health that will result from the fact that the formerly lean and muscular dog is getting fat on this all-you-can-eat high-calorie diet are unproductive. So Ted finally resorts to using a shock collar to make visits to the woman's home seriously unpleasant.

What Ted misses in discussing both these incidents is that, far from showing that positive reinforcement doesn't work, these two problem behaviors were highly self-reinforcing. And while there are other things that could have been done about the woman feeding Merle excessively, the cattle-chasing had to end immediately, or Merle would have been killed.

Another amusing feature is that these appear to have been the only two occasions when he used anything that could be called punishment or correction on Merle, while he and Merle used positive reinforcement on each other for pretty much everything else. His admiration for Karen Pryor is more in accord with his real behavior than his contempt for all those other positive trainers.

That doesn't stop him from scolding about the misguided fools who look at misbehaving dogs and recommend exercise, mental stimulation, and crate training for them because they are bored and under-exercised. He says there's something perfectly natural going on; that dogs are supposed to roam freely, live like dogs, and make decisions!

He's right. There is something perfectly natural going on. And it's that dogs need exercise and mental stimulation, and if they don't get it, the excess energy and the mental boredom lead them to find something, anything, to do, and perfectly natural dog behavior, such as a love of chewing things, becomes destructive.

And we don't all have seventy-pound dogs with wilderness survival skills, and live in a tiny village in Yellowstone National Park. Putting in a dog door and letting them roam isn't a viable solution for everyone, or every dog.

But regular walks, visits to the dog park, involvement in dog activities, and provision of appropriate chew toys and food dispensing toys that let dogs use their brains to work out how to get their food provide the physical, mental, and social stimulation dogs need--the things Merle got by free roaming in a community where that was both safe and accepted. Correctly done, crate training makes the crate the dog's own space, a comfortable and secure space the dog can use when he needs a break from people and their antics. It also reduces a bit the inevitable stress when a dog has to be left at the vet's, if crating is already a known experience with some positive associations.

For all those criticisms, though, this is a fascinating and moving story of a man and a dog who were truly soul mates. It's a beautiful relationship and a wonderful story. You'll love Merle, and Ted's relationship with him. Interwoven with that story is the research on dogs that Ted read and absorbed, while working to deepen his understanding and appreciation of a remarkable dog.

Recommended.

I borrowed this book from the library. ( )

A great dog and outdoor living book. Ted finds Merle (dog) on a camping trip and Merle ends up adopting Ted! They seem to understand each other from the start. I love the way Ted talks for Merle- it's not baby talk, but it seems to really come from Merle. This is also a lot of asides that go into aspects of dogs; id; how they came from wolfs; how they were probably domesticated. Excellent! ( )

The story of a man (Ted) and his dog (Merle). It begins when Merle finds Ted and friends getting ready to go on a river trip and ends when Merle is about 14 years old. (He dies.) In between are stories of the adventures they have together (and sometimes separately): hunting, hiking, skiing, etc. Along the way, they both teach each other lessons about life.

It made me want a dog--if the dog was an animated and expressive as Merle! ( )

Lessons from a freethinking dog

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Ted's writing style is easy to read and interesting. This is about a dog and a man in unusual circumstances, delightful really. Oh that all dogs should have such a life in such a place. The story is true. Merle chooses Ted to be his person, his friend. They have adventures together and a mutual respect. I learned a lot about dogs. Everyone who has a dog or wants to have one needs to read this. Everyone else needs to read it for the life lessons that carry over to all animals and all people.

Ted, if you read this, I'll be reading all your other books in time. ( )

I tried to like this book - but was too irritated with the fact that author was a completely irresponsible dog owner. If it hadn't been a borrowed book on CD from the library I would have chucked it in the trash. ( )

This is a true love story. Though it be between a man and his dog aka bestfriend. This kind of bonding is rare to find between two humans. ( )

An excellent read. Sensitive without being sentimental, Merle and his owner learn much from each other. the human-animal bond is magical and mysterious. ( )

This is more than just a book about a man and his dog. This is a journey of passion, dedication, and how to be in a relationship without keeping those you love on a tight lease. It is about freedom and sharing the journey of life with someone who really, truly understands you.

It is a mix between a biography of Merle and an in-depth look at the lives of dogs including evolutionary history, psychology, anatomy, and social dynamics. This book is packed with information and as well as emotion as Kerasote chronicles the life of a truly amazing dog. ( )

A poignant account of one man's bond with his dog. This sounds like you've been there before, but this account is unique in that the author suggests the readers to consider allowing their dogs to "just be dogs" in ways that may surprise you. ( )

What's truly wonderful about this book is the voice that Kerasote gives to his dog Merle. He writes "dialogue" that rings true. Merle's panting translates as "Ha-ha-ha," and his facial expressions translate to complete sentences and conversations that reflect an enviable relationship between a man and his dog.

Kerasote intersperses the narrative with a lot of research about the history of canine domestication, psychology and training. I'm very uncomfortable with a couple of the aversive training methods he uses, but he obviously loved his dog completely. Merle led a long, adventurous and charmed life, and Kerasote documents it well. ( )

A delightfully different book. Merle is a stray who wanders into Ted's campsite and adopts him. The author writes about his life with Merle in the great outdoors, and inserts facts and dog history in between. Now off as a rabck tag! ( )

I loved this book. I've been studying the habits of my dogs for years and I so agree that one can "dumb down" a dog or one can open their dog's eyes to the world. I don't talk baby talk to my dogs nor do I expect them to speak to me (even in my head). But we DO communicate, and quite well. Merle's Door may not be for everyone (especially those smug, scientific types with closed minds), but I thought it to be one of the best lay books on dog behavior I have ever read. Of all the books I've read in my long life, it is the only one that I feel comfortable with giving 5 stars. I love re-reading it from time to time.

Well done, Ted! ( )

Although "Merle's Door" was written first, I read Ted Kerasote's 2nd book, 'Pukka's Promise" first. It knocked me off my feet. The author is very knowledgeable about the care of dogs, their feeding and mental health, first and foremost.
While he doesn't believe in standardized sort of training, he does believe that owner and pet should complement each other and enjoy their time together. Therefore there must be cooperation and respect between the two. As the owner of a pack of dogs, I am in agreement with the way he communicates with his dogs. We talk to our dogs and watch in amazement as they respond to the sound of our voice and possibly recognize the words we are using. I am not in disagreement with some formal training which provides a safer atmosphere for a dog you can prevent from running into the street or towards a dog fight.
As Kerasote's companion, Merle led an adventure filled life, accompanying him on hunting and hiking trips. I particularly enjoyed that Kerasote recognized the spirit his dog had and tried never to flag it, but to find resolutions that respected canine behavior, and didn't require Merle to be ridiculed and reprimanded, in order to learn a lesson.
'Merle's Door" is sadder than Pukka's book, but in the same way, it is filled with information about every aspect of dog care, from feeding and vaccinating, to teaching the animal the proper ettiquette upon meeting the huge moose that they occasionally were confronted with as they hunted.
This book is not a quick, entertaining read. What it is, though, is a font of information, and quite soon after the reader begins the book, he will have to decide whether he wants a cutesy story about a pet, or to dig deeply with Kerasote, into animal behavior, as well as human behavior. Personally, I won't miss any dog books that he puts out, now or in the future. ( )

I have recently dropped. Merle's Door is about lessons from a free thinking dog. Ted Kerasote started off the book well but as I kept reading it felt like a drag to read. It was very boring at many different parts. It didn't have a lot to do with the actual dog in the beginning or towards the end. It was more about the past of dogs then the actually dog in the story. Merle was found on an expedition by Ted, and it book tells how the dog changed his life forever. But as I read the book would change back from the history of how dogs were used and their relations to merle. Ted could have changed it up a little and not given so much history and so little of the actual dog its self. The title Merle's Door: Lessons for a Freethinking Dog, you would think to be about a dog, instead you find your self lagging along to read the book. That is why I never finished the book and do not wish to. ( )

currently reading... ( )

Ok, so for much of this book I really disliked Ted. He is so pompous. He acts like everyone lives in a place were we can let our dogs run free. The was he looks down on the rest of us dog owners make be angry. But I can’t fault him on his love for this dog or how much he did for him to allow him a fulfilling dog life. I don’t fault him on letting Merle die naturally as Merle didn’t seem to be in pain. Of course, the tears just flowed and flowed. 9/7 ( )

A true story about a dog and dogs in general. The author discusses many aspects of dog behaviour based on research as well as his own dog's behaviour. Its an interesting book and worth a read if you have a dog or like dogs. ( )

Did not finish. I love dogs, but I guess I do not love books about dogs, generally.

The best dog lover book EVER. If I had the heart to give my dog this much freedom I just imagine how much more he would love me. ( )