Park City residents love their dogs.
They take them for walks, hikes and shopping sprees.
That’s why Animal Health Options, the Expanding Heart, the Hope Health Center and Locals Supporting Locals is bringing in New York Times best-selling author Ted Kerasote for a night of videos, questions and a lecture.
He will also be signing copies of his book “Merle’s Door: Lessons from a Free-thinking Dog” and “Pukka: the Dog After Merle.”
“Ted has been consulting with me for the past few months for some information on his new book ‘Why Dogs Die Young,’ said veterinarian Kim Henneman of Animal Health Options. “I recently had a string of cancer cases come in and that’s what ‘Merle’s Door’ was all about. I thought it would be a great thing if Ted came in for a lecture to share the information he’s collected during his research.”
Kerasote first contacted Henneman because he heard she used integrative medicine, such as acupuncture, chiropractics and nutrition in her treatments.
“My practice in surgical residency and doing a lot of emergency equine and small-animal work evolved because of my own interests,” she said
When Kerasote first visited Henneman, he was a hit with her clients.
“Every one of them who came in that day knew who he was because they had read ‘Merle’s Door,'” she said.
Henneman also knew Bri Klug, founder of the Park City-based non-profit organization Locals Supporting Locals, through Klug’s dogs.
“I took care of both of her dogs, who also died of cancer, by the way,” Henneman said. “Bri had sponsored her first Locals Supporting Locals artist event at the Summit Center for Christmas and one of the artists involved was also a client of mine.”
Henneman stopped by the event and talked with Klug about bringing Kerasote back to town.
“Bri said, ‘Let’s make this a win-win situation’ and told me what she was trying to do with her Locals Supporting Locals organization, with helping the local businesses support each other,” Henneman said. “Even though there are big corporations in Park City, we still have that small-town mentality and have a lot of talent and great businesses here.”
Klug contacted her friend Jeannie Lambert, owner of Expanding Heart Bookstore, and asked her to supply copies of “Merle’s Door” for the signing.
“The book is about his dog and it’s about the adventures that they’ve had and gone through,” she said.
Lambert will have copies of Kerasote’s book “Pukka: The Dog After Merle,” on hand as well.
“I’m happy to be a part of this,” she said. “I am honored that she would start this and work so hard on this.
“A lot of our business, since we’re located on Main Street, is tourism, but I still have a 40 percent local following and without them, we couldn’t be a year-round business,” she said. “One of the things that is nice about what Bri is doing is helping with the awareness. I still have people who walk in and say, ‘I’ve lived here for 10 years and didn’t know you were here.'”
“We’re really excited to give back to the local community once again and give some attention to these people who have been here in this town for years doing business,” Klug said.
“An Evening with Ted Kerasote, NY Times best-selling author of “Merle’s Door: Lessons from a Free-thinking Dog,” will take place at the Summit Center, 2750 Rasmussen Road, on Friday, Feb. 11, beginning at 5:30 p.m. The lecture and videos begins at 6:30 p.m. and the book signing will begin at 7:30 p.m. For more information call (435) 647-0807 or (435) 649-3810.