Though Mark Twain was an avowed lover of all animals, his highest regard was reserved for cats and dogs. Four-legged friends appeared frequently in his correspondence and his fiction—excerpts from which have been collected into these lighthearted anthologies of "true and imaginary adventures."

This collection honors man's best friend with 46 short works by Mark Twain, including "Why Dogs Aren't Welcome at Funerals" and "A Dog with Genius in Him." R. Kent Rasmussen traces the presence of dogs in Twain's life, both the ones he knew personally and those he encountered on his travels.