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A delightful read filled with humor and wisdom

During the holiday season, morning television shows will parade out psychologists, therapists and assorted others in the therapeutic professions to offer advice and counsel on how to survive the holidays.

Ignore them.

All we need to know about life, happiness, bliss and virtue is provided to us by a Golden Retriever in a slim, yet outstanding, volume of humor and wisdom entitled, "Bliss to You - Trixie's Guide to a Happy Life."

Trixie was the late, much-beloved, canine companion to author Dean Koontz and his wife, Gerda. She had been trained by Canine Companions for Independence to assist people with disabilities but an injury forced her out of service. Fortunately, she found a home with the Koontzs, and has adopted some of the traits of her human dad.

Or, as Trixie notes, "is in the Koontz family blood - insane need to write. The other night, wanted to howl at moon. Instead, sat at computer and wrote about howling at moon. May need counseling."

Trixie did not need counseling but she has sage advice to give others in chapters such as Calm, Beauty, Fun, Meaning, Loss and Gratitude, with a few timeouts for some nuggets of dog wisdom, which are much better than any Philosophy 101 class in the land.

She reminds us that dogs and humans share many traits, "Humans and dogs are only creatures that love play throughout life. Both crave affection. Value loyalty. See mystery in world. Get excited by Frisbee."

Among the nuggets of dog wisdom, Trixie notes the importance of friends, but they must be friends who are good. "Dracula and Frankenstein monster were friends sometimes in old movies, but was not healthy life-affirming relationship."

While waiting at the Rainbow Bridge (the scenic place where she is buried) for her human companions to arrive, Trixie also delivers his exceedingly wise comment - "Humans love all things that cannot last. Is good to love what does not last - if also love, even more, what does last."

Because she loves humans, Trixie writes, she wants them to know bliss and "the road to bliss is paved with dog wisdom. I will show you the way to bliss."

And she does.

Koontz's (Dean, not Trixie) novels are enriching is not just because they are filled with suspense, drama, three-dimensional characters and intriguing plots, but also because he writes about the human heart and about those things that last forever.

So does Trixie. Her book is delightful, profound and incredibly amusing. It would make a wonderful holiday gift. (And all the proceeds go to CCI to pay medical bills for other assistance dogs).

After spending much of the last eight years in the frozen tundra of Virginia, native Floridian George Duncan is now the editor of the Lake Placid Journal in Lake Placid, Florida. Also a novelist, his latest book is "A Dark Orange Farewell."