Taking part in high speed pursuits with dogs howling in back seats, trailing along for a drug search inside Sonoma County Jail, or committing to tracking exercises amid clouds of Albertan mosquitos, she’s an avid note-taker. About the latter, she experiences a eureka that might make her unpopular with some readers: “I’ve met a lot of cops, and a lot of what I thought I knew was dead wrong.” and France across eight chapters she relays captivating interactions with dog trainers and intermittently tense conversations with policemen far from her on the political spectrum. (If not for personal safety: she later confides to having to book off a couple of months from writing for physiotherapy.)Īs Rose travels from Canada and the U.S. Opening with a hair-raising anecdote - stemming from an impulse: “I wanted to experience what it felt like for suspects to be attacked by these turbocharged police dogs” - Rose displays a sure instinct for storytelling. The questions raised and poignant episodes linger well after the final page is finished. Absorbing, informative and thoughtful, The Dog Lover Unit manages to be emotionally rewarding and provocative as well. In the case of Vancouver’s poet laureate Rachel Rose, the acuity she’s exhibited in verse is also evident when applied to a new genre. Though devoted to dogs (and our complex bonds with them) the books couldn’t be more different. Exhibit A: two works of non-fiction by a pair of poets stepping outside customary territory.

Eileen myles dog