Other editions of book The Dog Who Came to Stay

The national bestselling memoir of a friendship between a New England outdoorsman and the scrawny foxhound who came to his door one snowy day. In the midst of a blizzard, late one Christmas night in the 1950s, author Hal Borland heard a howl at the back door of his home on a hundred-acre farm in the Housatonic Valley of northwest Connecticut. Resistant at first, he called around trying to find an owner whose dog had gone missing—with no luck. Finally, with the encouragement of his wife and haunted by memories of his childhood collie, Borland brought some scraps of leftover steak outside. This was his introduction to Pat, a miserable, half-starved, but deeply trusting black-and-white foxhound mutt. Pat would soon become a member of the family, accompanying Borland on hunts and terrorizing the local woodchuck population—and teaching him that sometimes our most immediate connection to the natural world is through the animals we live with. A longtime journalist and a winner of the John Burroughs Medal for distinguished nature writing, Borland tells the tale of the time he shared with Pat in this touching true story that “will appeal to many sportsmen and to all people who have ever been closely attached to a dog” (The New York Times Book Review).

"The rib-thin, black-and-white rabbit hound turned up at Hal Borland's Connecticut farm one Christmas night in the middle of a nasty winter storm. Pat, as the dog came to be known, and his raffish travelling companion, a young pup, 'were even more unwelcome than the weather,' but after a few preliminaries both settled in as members of the Borland household. The pup eventually found his permanent home elsewhere, but Pat became Hal Borland's true companion - and a local legend, the terror of woodchucks for miles around. With his keen sensitivity to the natural world, Borland here recounts, with deep affection and wonder, how a man and his dog can form a magical and unforgettable partnership. First published in 1961, THE DOG WHO CAME TO STAY 'will appeal to many sportsmen and to all people who have ever been closely attached to a dog.' (The New York Times Book Review)

The rib-thin, black-and-white rabbit hound turned up at Hal Borland's Connecticut farm one Christmas night in the middle of a nasty winter storm. Pat, as the dog came to be known, and his raffish travelling companion, a young pup, "were even more unwelcome than the weather," but after a few preliminaries both settled in as members of the Borland household. The pup eventually found his permanent home elsewhere, but Pat became Hal Borland's true companion - and a local legend, the terror of woodchucks for miles around. With his keen sensitivity to the natural world, Borland here recounts, with deep affection and wonder, how a man and his dog can form a magical and unforgettable partnership. First published in 1961, THE DOG WHO CAME TO STAY "will appeal to many sportsmen and to all people who have ever been closely attached to a dog." (The New York Times Book Review)

During a fierce snowstorm, an abandoned and hungry animal howls at the back door of nature writer Hal Borland's farmhouse, announcing the beginning of a transformational friendship Hal Borland and his wife Barbara have recently moved onto a hundred-acre farm in northwest Connecticut, where both hope to write and live in harmony with nature. From his New England home, Borland travels the country searching for material for his New York Times "outdoor editorials"-but soon nature comes searching for him, in the form of a miserable, half-starved, deeply trusting, black-and-white foxhound mutt that wanders onto the farm during a blizzard. The dog, Pat, becomes a member of the family and teaches Borland that, often, our most immediate connection to the natural world is through the animals we live with.