Book It for Friday Book Review: Animals Don’t Blush

James Herriot, vet and author, of the acclaimed All Creatures Great and Small series has nothing on Dr. David Gross. Gross’s book, Animals Don’t Blush, takes us through a year in the life of a new vet. Right out of veterinary college and newly married, Gross accepts a position as associate veterinarian in remote Sidney, Montana. Dr. Marcus Schultz’s small veterinarian practice was growing. After an initial interview, Gross spent the day assisting Dr. Schultz’s in taking blood samples from thirty-five cows and an angry, uncooperative two thousand pound bull. The day ended with a verbal analysis of the day’s event, a salary negotiation, and a handshake. Dr. David Gross would begin his life as a country vet on June 9, 1960.

The book begins with the story of Skipper Jones, family dog of the Jones Family, who met with a terrible accident on the ranch thirty miles from Sidney. Skipper survived the drive to the vet’s office, but the surgery and treatment would be extensive and costly. Children Ferdie and Jenny’s pleading eyes and Gross’s special discount, convinced the parents to give the young vet a chance to prove his worth. Skipper pulled through only to check himself out of the hospital as soon as he was feeling frisky. I won’t spoil the rest of Skipper’s story except to say and the family was eventually reunited.

Throughout the following months, Gross and his wife, Rosalie, adjusted to life in rugged Montana, befriended ranchers and farmers who struggled to make a living in the Badlands, and made an unforgettable contribution to the community. People like country folk Joe and Sally Lufkin, professional radio cowboys, brothers Ted and Ed Simpson, diary farmer Fred Homer, big, hairy rancher and eloquent story teller Will Dow, gorgeous newspaper editor Janice Freeman and her pet chicken, Banty, and, my favorite, Taco Baldwin, a tiny, feisty four-legged nightmare, who mellowed under Grosss’s direction and advice to the animal’s owner.

Gross tells a compelling story which had me reading late into the night until I finished the entire book. Animals Don’t Blush was the second David Gross book I read in a week. Click on to my Book it for Friday Book Review blog of October 23 for my review of Travels with Charlize: In Search of Living Along. After reading these two books, I was eager for David to tell me a little more about his life as an author, vet, a more recently a recovering widower.

1. After that first eye-opening year in Sidney, did you know you’d one day write a book about your experiences?

No, I never thought about a book but over the years I told stories about the various animals and clients and cases and people seemed interested in them. I didn’t start thinking about writing a book about that experience until after I retired from research and teaching.

2. You’ve also just published Travels with Charlize: In Search of Living Alone, a heartwarming book about a difficult life transition. I found your writing uplifting and encouraging. Did you know at the time you adopted Charlize that you would eventually share your travel experiences with her a memoir?

I am a big fan of John Steinbeck’s writing and have probably read and re-read his Travels With Charley a half-dozen times. Rosalie held on for almost exactly a year after her diagnosis of stage IV lung cancer and during that year I had to face what I would do after she passed. I decided I would buy a camper and just travel until I could get used to the idea of living alone. I also knew I would get a dog as a companion. After she passed I applied to the German shepherd rescue organization and adopted Charlize. I changed her name to Charlize because I had the idea, as a method of healing, of writing articles reminiscent of Steinbeck’s work. I had been writing veterinary advice columns for on on-line newspaper, My Edmonds News and the publisher agreed to publish my travel experiences. I also posted the articles on my blog. I didn’t think about a book until a fan that happens to be a professional editor contacted me. She said I needed to put the articles into book form and she would help me and also help me find a publisher.

3. I had the pleasure of meeting you and Charlize at a recent book event and she is one of the most patient, loving dogs I’ve ever come across. How did you find her? When did you realize she was the right dog to help you in your emotional recovery?

Charlize is the third German shepherd I have cared for, along with mixed-breeds when I was a child and at various times a Labrador retriever and an Airedale. In Animals Don’t Blush I tell the story of how my first purebred German shepherd named Mister, convinced me to marry Rosalie then he adopted her into our pack. We always had pets until Rosalie suffered a viral encephalopathy that left her with balance problems and she was afraid of tripping over a dog. So for the last six or seven years of her life we were dogless. When the foster lady from the German shepherd rescue group brought Charlize to see how we would get along, only a week or so after Rosalie passed, the dog was extremely nervous and scared. Having been around all kinds of dogs for so many years I guess I have a “bed-side manner” that calms them. Charlize quickly sensed my emotional state and needs and became very solicitous and aware when I got depressed. I think all dogs are very tuned in to their people’s moods but Charlize is, I think, especially sensitive to how I’m feeling. For many years my research involved doing cardiovascular surgery on animals. During those procedures things often happen that require the surgeon stays very calm, calming everyone else in the OR and getting the problem solved in the most efficient and speedy way. I suppose that method of dealing with stress became a part of my personality and Charlize, as many dogs do, absorbed that personality as well. I don’t think we become more like our animal companions they become more like us.

4. Not only were you in private practice you also taught and did research at Texas A&M University for sixteen years. You were the director of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery Research Labs in the University of Kentucky College of Medicine and finished your career as professor and head of Veterinary Biosciences at the University of Illinois. During all your years practicing veterinary medicine, teaching, and conducting research, you must have witnessed vast changes in animal science. What changes surprised you or encouraged you the most?

Three things have drastically changed the way Veterinary Medicine is practiced since I started. My class in veterinary school only had three women, all of whom were married to classmates before we graduated. The profession was primarily male from an agricultural background. Today veterinary classes are eighty to eighty-five percent women and almost all of the students are from urban backgrounds. The second thing has been the concept of animals as members of the family. When I started the profession was very pragmatic, every animal had a monetary value and few people were willing to spend more for veterinary care than the cost of replacing the animal. Today’s clients are willing to spend thousands of dollars to keep animals alive another six months or a year. The third is the development of specialists. When I graduated only radiologists were board certified. Today we have almost the same board certified veterinary specialists as in human medicine. It’s not the same profession it was back in the 1960’s.

5. What advice would you give someone who was considering a career as a veterinarian?

Take every science and math course you can fit into your schedule. Learn to manage your time and get in the habit of learning effectively and efficiently. My book Succeeding as a Student provides the methods of accomplishing this. Getting into veterinary school is very competitive, only the best students make it and doing well in the veterinary curriculum requires the same skills as a student. I cannot tell you how many young people I’ve met over the years who tell me they want to be or wanted to be veterinarians but never got the opportunity. Most of them were unable to do well enough academically to make it into veterinary school. Anyone can learn to be a good student it takes discipline, practice and determination.

6. You also write crime-fiction and have published a novel, Man Hunt, set in the American West during the Civil War. How did you make the transition from fiction to nonfiction?

I think writers write. For me the subject is anything that catches and holds my interest. I mostly read history for fun and have an inordinate interest in the Mountain Man era of American History. Naturally everything I write tends to include some sharing of this information just because I am obsessed with it and need to communicate what I have learned. That’s the teacher in me I guess, the sharing of knowledge.

7. You are now retired and living in Seattle. You are active in many social causes. Could you share some of those causes with the readers?

I am very concerned with the problem of homelessness particularly family homelessness. This is a problem that engulfs and traps and devastates members of the family by circumstance, mostly not of their doing, particularly children and pets. I believe it is almost criminal that in this country we cannot take care of these families, get them back on their feet and provide them with the opportunities they need. There are many charity and volunteer organizations that do a great job with this problem but they are always underfunded. Private charity giving just cannot keep up with the need. This is a society problem and society needs to address it so all citizens share the financial burden it can’t be left to charity, although charity giving is also important.

Family homelessness is different than individual homelessness. In most instances the later is the result of mental and/or addiction illness. Our society must recognize mental and addiction illnesses and work harder and more effectively to institute programs and treatments and research to combat these illnesses. Our current pseudo-solution is to fill our jails with these folks because their illness has resulted in criminal behavior. That is NOT a solution to the problem. Sorry you asked me to climb up on my soapbox.

For more information about David Gross and his books visit:http://www.DocDaves.Voice.com