A lot of the supporters of the Wolf Conservation Center love dogs as well as wolves, so when we read a moving excerpt of the book A Small Furry Prayer: Dog Rescue and the Meaning of Life by Steven Kotler, we knew we wanted to spread the word. Thanks to the generosity of its publisher Bloomsbury, we have several copies to give away! To enter our free random drawing for the book, just send an email to us at nywolf.org@gmail.com letting us know what your favorite breed (or mix) of dog is. (One entry per person.)

The book details Kotler’s move to New Mexico with his wife, Joy Nicholson, to start a non-profit sanctuary for small dogs, the irresistibly named Rancho de Chihuahua. In addition to discussing their efforts, Kotler also delves into dog rescue in general and the relationship between canines and humans. The book is right on mission for the WCC because we always stress that while wolves belong in the wild, there are plenty of suitable carnivorous canids in dog shelters around the country just waiting to be adopted. We know our “staff pack” would approve too, since 3 of them are rescues. (Pictured above are Noah and Tigre, a rescued Chihuahua who is the occasional “5th Beatle” of the pack.)

Rancho de Chihuahua focuses on special needs Chihuahuas, so (again) to enter our free drawing for the book, just send an email to us at nywolf.org@gmail.com letting us know what your favorite breed (or mix) of dog is. We’ll pick winners at random from all entries received by midnight eastern standard time on November 4th, 2010. For more information about the book and an excerpt, you can visit Steven Kotler’s website. (Incidentally, Kotler is the author of the excellent West of Jesus, an exploration of surfing and much more.) You can visit the irresistibly-named dog sanctuary at http://ranchodechihuahua.org/ The excerpt we read is in the current (October) issue of Outside Magazine, which has a great short video of Rancho de Chihuahua and Kotler being put through his paces on a run with some of the dogs.