Albert Payson Terhune (1872-1942) in my mind ranks as an American treasure. Out of his love for dogs, including his collies at Sunnybank Kennels in New Jersey, he wrote numerous epics of heroic dogs who served their masters with great devotion.

Prior to a family vacation a few years ago, I stopped by our Williamson County Public Library and checked out the audio version of Lad, a Dog. I recalled seeing the 1962 movie version at a drive-in theatre with my parents on a vacation of our own and thought it would make good listening while my passengers slept. I under-estimated the power of Terhune’s picturesque writing. Everyone was interested.

Only recently I recalled that the name I choose for the American Eskimo Dog of my boyhood was from another Terhune book, A Dog Named Chips. Nowadays, sitting on my bookshelf is the appropriately weathered copy that my wife, Lisa, thoughtfully searched out as a gift for me.

A Dog Named Chips, though more light-hearted than other Terhune novels, is just as engaging…enough to make a dog-loving boy name his best friend Chips.

Randy Smith