One of the reasons why dog books continue to outsell cat books and other categories of pet books has to do with the very nature of what makes dogs unique,” says TFH publisher Christopher Reggio. “People want as much information as they can find about their companion, which creates a demand for a great variety of books relating to dog ownership.”

And variety is what publishers are offering these days—from baking doggie treats to knitting Fido a cap to reading him poetry, there's a growing array of titles for every breed and every need.

One of the most recognizable names in the panoply of dog titles is Cesar Millan—thanks not only to his several bestsellers, but to his TV hit, The Dog Whisperer. Millan's latest book, A Member of the Family: Cesar Millan's Guide to a Lifetime of Fulfillment with Your Dog, written with Melissa Jo Peltier, is coming next month from Harmony with a 750,000 printing. It covers, says executive publicist Tara Gilbride, “all of the essentials and answers the common questions families have about living with and caring for a healthy, happy dog.”

Another noted author of dog titles is Jon Katz, whose Izzy & Lenore: Two Dogs, an Unexpected Journey, and Me will be arriving in stores this month. In the words of Villard publicity director Brian McLendon, Katz “examines two of his exceptional dogs—Izzy, an abandoned three-year-old border collie, and Lenore, a jet-black Labrador retriever puppy—and the mysterious power they have in their interactions with the humans around them.”

Also coming from Villard is a novel by Merrill Markoe, Nose Down, Eyes Up, about a 40-something man who won't grow up and his relationships with his four talking dogs and the women in his life. PW termed Markoe's 2007 novel, Walking in Circles Before Lying Down, “offbeat enough to stand out of the pack”; that 2006 title has more than 100,000 copies in print.

Dean Koontz, while not a dog author per se, is well-known for his affinity to all things canine; he began adding dog characters to his bestselling novels with 2003's Watchers. Koontz's golden retriever, Trixie, gained many fans as an author in her own right (well, through Koontz) and as a blogger on Koontz's Web site, where she signed off each entry, “Life is good. Bliss to you.” Now Koontz fondly remembers his beloved friend, who died last year, in Bliss to You: Trixie's Guide to a Happy Life (Hyperion, Sept.), wise words on finding joy and living life to the fullest.

Two publishers—and their respective pooches—would seem to be seeking Marley-dom: to replicate the mega-success of John Grogan's irrepressible yellow lab hero, whose tale spent 81 weeks on PW's list, has four million copies in print and a movie version heading for multiplexes everywhere. Skyhorse plans radio and TV interviews for its January release of Mornings with Barney, the true tale of a mediagenic beagle who revitalized the career of his television reporter “dad,” Dick Wolfsie, by relaxing nervous TV guests, making sure the sets were stocked with his favorite toys, and even encouraging the producers to do more segments on digging. You go, Barney—maybe right onto the bestseller charts?

St. Martin's Thomas Dunne imprint bills Wally's World: Life with Wally the Wonder Dog as “a memoir about companionship and the lessons learned from a personality loaded, soccer-playing Bull Terrier whose face looks like a bicycle seat with eyes and whose preferences run to organic beef and high-thread-count sheets.” (Author Marsha Boulton is in fact Wally's proud mom.)

Doggone Funny

Two publishers have jumped on the wordplay bandwagon this season, with PhoDOGraphy and Indognito. The former, from Watson-Guptill's Amphoto Books, is subtitled How to Get Great Pictures of Your Dog and considers such topics as b&w versus color, indoors versus out, composition and more. Kim Levin's October title follows up her bestselling Cattitude; her 15 books have sold more than 400,000 copies and are published in six languages.

Indognito: A Book of Canines in Costume (Little, Brown, Oct.) is precisely that, with each page featuring a particular breed in finery that would do a Broadway designer proud (“chicken + pug,” “jailbird + Jack Russell terrier,” etc.). Photographer Karen Ngo, whose dog images have been published in magazines and on calendars, founded Scout, the first dog boutique in New York City's East Village.

Publisher/author David Ash at Basho Press in Mukliteo, Wash., has just added Haiku for Dog Lovers to his burgeoning Haiku for Life series (Poker Players, Catholics, Chocolate Lovers, etc.): “She hits a high C—/ Just outside the concert hall,/ Strays form a quartet.” Bypassing the dog lovers, St. Martin's Griffin imprint this month offers haikus written by Steve D. Marsh from canines' perspectives. Among the selections in Dog-ku: Very Clever Haikus Written by Very Clever Dogs is this joyous entry: “I found Nirvana./ It was right here all along/ In the kitchen trash.”

Equal Opportunity Publishing

Not wanting to play favorites, some publishers offer “matched sets”—dog and cat titles released in tandem. HCI launches a series next month with The Ultimate Dog Lover: The Best Experts' Advice for a Happy, Healthy Dog with Stories and Photos of Incredible Canines and The Ultimate Cat Lover: The Best Experts' Advice for a Happy, Healthy Cat with Stories and Photos of Fabulous Felines. The four authors—noted vet Marty Becker, pet-care columnist Gina Spadafori, animal-rescue volunteer Carol Kline and journalist Mikkel Becker (and Marty Becker's daughter)—says HCI's Kim Weiss, “have fielded just about every question under the sun pertaining to our furry friends' health, wellness, training and behavior.”

Also playing no favorites is Barron's, whose What if My Cat... (Jan.) follows last year's What if My Dog..., both of which dispense their practical information and concerns with a substantial dollop of humor. Says publicity manager Steve Matteo, author Claire Arrowsmith “covers all the bases with the book's subtitle—fights other cats... toilets around the house... scratches the furniture... kills birds... has mad moments... etc.?”

Two intriguing questions are posed in a pair of September Sterling titles: Why Do Cats Bury Their Poop? More than 200 Feline Facts, Fallacies, and Foibles Revealed and Why Do Dogs Like Balls? More than 200 Canine Quirks, Curiosities, and Conundrums Revealed by D. Caroline Coile and Margaret H. Bonham. Organized under such headings as Behavior, Emotions, Intelligence, Care, etc., the books provide answers to such queries as “Do dogs get sunburned?,” “Why do some cats lick people?” and, well, hundreds more.

As the number of dog owners grows apace, an increasing number of publishers are focusing on specific breeds. Willow Creek Press lends a waggish touch to two fall titles: The Yorkie Diaries: Inner Thoughts, Secret Antics & True Confessions by Melissa Sovey claims that there's more going on inside those furry heads than one might imagine; while Kim Leighton's offering sounds like a potential topic for Oprah or Dr. Phil—Lawless Labs: When Good Labs Go Bad considers such transgressions as disorderly conduct and fleeing the scene of an accident.

Meanwhile, the shoe is on the other paw with Your Inner Dog: Discover What Your Favorite Breed Says About You by Diane Morgan, an October TFH release that's targeted to pet parents who wonder what their choice of dog reveals about themselves.

Canine Health and Happiness

In Speaking for Spot: Be the Advocate Your Dog Needs to Live a Happy, Healthy, Longer Life (Trafalgar Square, Oct.), Nancy Kay, a board-certified specialist in the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine, navigates the confusing (and often expensive) world of veterinary medicine with reference sections on common symptoms, lists of questions to ask the vet and more. (Senior editor Rebecca Didier notes that the book's editing was overseen by company CEO [Canine Executive Officer] Laslo, the publisher's Vizsla.)

How to give not just Spot, but all our pets the best and happiest life—on their terms, not ours—is the premise of Animals Make Us Human: Creating the Best Life for Animals. Publisher HMH has announced a 250,000-copy printing for this January title and plans a major promotional push, including a multi-city tour for authors Temple Grandin (Animals in Translation) and Catherine Johnson, online advertising, live Webcasts and more.

Judging from some publishers' new titles, “creating the best life” can often translate as simple pampering. Accessorizing one's pooch, it appears, might be as critical as accessorizing oneself. Pet Projects: The Animal Knits Bible (Taunton Press, Feb.), however, doesn't play favorites: in addition to canine coats, collars and caps, authors Sally Muir and Joanna Osborne provide instructions for a horse blanket, a hamster house and flowers for your koi. Don't ask. Coach leather, Louis Vuitton, filet mignon—not just for humans any more, says Ilene Hochberg in Posh Pups: Dogs Who Live Better than You Do, coming next month from Sterling.

Once your pup has a new wardrobe, it's time to think about food—no, not canned: homemade. Just in time for the holidays comes Parragon's Baking for Your Dog, which includes 30 recipes for cookies, brownies, muffins and more, all especially created and tested for Fido and Fifi. The publisher also offers a related gift: the Baking for Your Dog Tin Boxset features the book, cookie cutters and a tin for storing the dog biscuits. Yum.

Pampered or not? Holt's One Nation Under Dog: Adventures in the New World of Prozac-Popping Puppies, Dog-Park Politics, and Organic Pet Food (Sept.) is by journalist Michael Schaffer, who, according to the publisher's catalogue, lives “with his wife... and their well-loved—but not freakishly pampered, they insist—pets, Murphy the Saint Bernard and Amelia the black cat.”

Two October titles from New World Library bring a spiritual dimension to the category. Dog Blessings: Poems, Prose, and Prayers Celebrating Our Relationship with Dogs is edited by June Cotner, whose 23 books collectively have sold more than 800,000 copies. The 10th book by Linda and Allen Anderson, founders of the Angel Animals Network (www.angelanimals.net), Angel Dogs with a Mission: Divine Messengers in Service to All Life, collects true stories of the achievements of working dogs.

Continuing in a spiritual vein is a January Fireside title, All Pets Go to Heaven: The Spiritual Lives of the Animals We Love by noted psychic Sylvia Browne. Says associate publicity director Ellen Silberman, “Browne explains how pets 'live' in the afterlife, how we will see our deceased pets on the 'other side' and how animals fit into creation.”

In the interests of prolonging Rover's time on the planet, Quarry Books offers The Safe Dog Handbook: A Complete Guide to Protecting Your Pooch, Indoors and Out by Melanie Monteiro; included in this March 2009 release are first-aid basics, travel tips, a dog-friendly plant guide and more.

Petfinder.com, a company that knows something about keeping dogs safe (since 1996, the largest searchable database of adoptable pets on the Web has facilitated 11 million pet adoptions) is joining forces with Collins Living on The Adopted Dog Bible: Your One-Stop Resource for Choosing, Training and Caring for Your Sheltered or Rescued Dog (Jan.).

Dogs and cats too commonplace? Think rodents. According to TFH publisher Christopher Reggio, “An estimated half million U.S. households own—by choice—a rat or mouse as a pet.” Useful training tips and fun ideas, he says, can be found in this month's The Complete Guide to Rat Training: Tricks and Games for Rat Fun and Fitness.

Almost Perfect

Mary Shafer, a marketing consultant in Ferndale, Pa., has four spirited cats, all rescued from shelters. This foursome, however, shares an unusual bond: they are each in some way disabled—like Idgie, for example, who was born without eyes. When Shafer, who started WordForge Books in 2005, couldn't find any titles on pet disabilities, she decided to publish one—the result, out next month, is Almost Perfect: Disabled Pets and the People Who Love Them. As the book's press release notes, “It's easy to be happy when life has been safe and protected, but it takes a special kind of critter to triumph over brutal circumstances that would make most people give up.” In Almost Perfect, 11 writers—Shafer is one—share true tales of courage, ingenuity, perseverance and inspiration on the part of companion animals that have become disabled either through birth defects or injury. And it's not only the animals' stories, Shafer points out: “it's about the humans who found love enough to welcome them into their hearts and homes.” Shafer's marketing background is serving her in good stead: she's planning a postcard mailing to U.S. and Canadian public libraries and U.S. school libraries; using her contributors' media contacts to connect with broadcast and print media; inundate the blogosphere via publishers and authors; and target pet-related media with ongoing e-mail publicity.