I was on the news desk looking for articles to add to the MoD pages when I happened to run across LA Times' article "Animal rescuers become a sick, abandoned dog's many best friends." I had a German Shepherd mixed with Labrador Retriever for 13 years and dognap my parents' German Shepherd for the past 7 years so dogs are clearly close to my heart. I can't wrap my mind around why someone would own a dog they can't take care of or let that dog get to the point where it's drinking its own urine (fucking ridiculous!), but this line almost put me in tears: "Now sitting before me was the canine equivalent of a Charlie Brown Christmas tree. Shy and smelly, he was perfect."

Anyway, I really enjoyed the article but I think it's terrible that the article had to be written in the first place.

Maybe it was my time camping and meeting a Native American girl scout troop in Canada. Or maybe it was all of those pow-wows I went to when I attended Northern Michigan University. Or it could be all of those Native American folklore stories I read in elementary school and then college. I don't think it's because I'll indignantly shout "Team Jacob" at a "Twilight" convention or used to own a Taylor Lautner umbrella and blanket. I don't think it's because I was a dog owner for 13 years and a dog kidnapper (my parents' dog) for 7 more years. And Tyler Hoechlin is handsome on "Teen Wolf," but that's not it either. Whatever reason it is, I have always been fascinated with Native American culture and wolves, and "Wolves" by Shaun Ellis with photographs from Monty Sloan incorporates both.

Every animal who favors a dog isn't my thing. I'm not into foxes or coyotes, which are also in this book. But there's this fascination I have with the way wolves (and huge dogs) look. However, outside of how beautiful they are, I knew next to nothing about them besides legends. This book took us past the bad reputation wolves get (Little Red Riding Hood, you should've found another route) and into how wolves really behave. There are in-depth details about why their fur is the color it is, which wolves can eat what parts of certain prey, what a wolf has to do to become a nanny, why the alpha female is so hard on other female wolves, what pups must learn before they can become part of a pack, how packs are formed, what a lone wolf has to do to survive and how the human population had to be held responsible for extinct wolves. There are also countless observations about how smart wolves are, from figuring out how to break latches to putting snow around their muzzles so their prey can't see their cold breath.