Gaits of Heaven

THE BERKLEY PUBLISHING GROUP
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    Penguin Books Ltd., Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England
     
    This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.
     
    GAITS OF HEAVEN
     
    A Berkley Prime Crime Book / published by arrangement with the author
     
    PRINTING HISTORY
    Berkley Prime Crime hardcover edition / November 2006
    Berkley Prime Crime mass-market edition / November 2007
     
    Copyright © 2006 by Susan Conant.
    Cover illustration by Louisa St. Pierre.
    Cover design by Lesley Worrell.
     
    All rights reserved.
    No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.
    For information, address: The Berkley Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.,
    375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014.
     
    ISBN: 978-0-425-21835-8
     
    BERKLEY® PRIME CRIME
    Berkley Prime Crime Books are published by The Berkley Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.,
    375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014.
    The name BERKLEY PRIME CRIME and the BERKLEY PRIME CRIME design are trademarks belonging to Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
     
    PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
     
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    If you purchased this book without a cover, you should be aware that this book is stolen property. It was reported as “unsold and destroyed” to the publisher, and neither the author nor the publisher has received any payment for this “stripped book.”
     

In loving memory of my own Rowdy,
    Frostfield Perfect Crime, CD, CGC, ThD, WPD
    (November 29, 1993—November 29,2004),
    my perfect girl.
     

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
     
    I am grateful to Phyllis Hamilton for allowing me to write about her majestic Monty, Alaskan malamute Ch. Benchmark Captain Montague, ROM, a legend in the breed.
    For answering my questions, I am grateful to James Dalsimer, M.D., and Michael Glenn, M.D. Special thanks to Carter Umbarger, Ph.D., for discussing hypothetical cases with me. Any errors are mine alone. Roseann Mandell, please accept my thanks for your help with the manuscript. Profuse thanks, too, to Jean Berman, Lynn Madar, Pat Sullivan, Margherita Walker, Anya Wittenborg, Suzanne Wyme-lenberg, and Corinne Zipps.
    For companionship and inspiration, my thanks to Jazzland’s Got That Swing, my beloved Django.
     

CHAPTER 1
     
    The first step in recovery is to admit that you are powerless—your life has become unmanageable. Second, you need to believe in a power greater than yourself that can restore you to sanity. When I first met Ted and Eumie Green, they were indeed powerless. Their dog, Dolfo, hadn’t exactly become unmanageable; he had never been otherwise. As to restoration to sanity, I, Holly Winter, intended to become the Higher Power: I wanted to rid poor Dolfo and his owners of their multitudinous defects and shortcomings, thus inducing in all three a spiritual awakening that would free the dog from his seemingly incurable addiction to canine bad citizenship and simultaneously cause Ted and Eumie forever after to practice the principles of responsible ownership.
    Having mentioned sanity,