Dog’s advice nothing to bark at

It’s a universal truth. Ask anyone about their dog and you’re guaranteed to get a smile and a story.

CANINE AUTHOR—Curtis the dog put his animal instincts to work and wrote his own bookAsk Agoura Hills-resident Dan Gersten about his dog, Curtis, and he’ll tell you how the collie-golden retriever mix became a writer and dispenser of doggy advice to canines everywhere in Gersten’s new book “Ask Curtis.” Dan tells Curtis’ story with a New Yorker accent mellowed by time in California. He said the book was born out of his own turbulent past, and that he sees its creation as the start of a new chapter in his life.

A native of the Big Apple, Dan made the trek to Los Angeles in 1996 with his wife, Nina, and 10year-old son, Matt. Although Dan came here so he could take a job with a Century City-based marketing research firm, he would eventually shed his corporate image and take up work as a professional writer.

About two years after the Gerstens moved to California, they adopted Curtis from a local animal shelter. Their newest family member was a troubled, nervous animal who was aggressive towards other dogs.

However, both Curtis and the Gerstens would be transformed in the coming years.

In February of 1999, shortly after Curtis’ adoption, Nina was diagnosed with brain cancer. To care for Nina, Dan quit his job and made her his first priority. During that time, Dan started writing the “Nina Updates,” a series of e-mails he sent to friends and family, updating them on Nina’s health.

Dan said the responses to his updates evolved into a series of exchanges on life, death, courage and human nature.

Nina eventually succumbed to her disease and died in January of 2000. They had been married for 15 years.

“When Nina died, I died, too” Dan said. “I woke up one morning and looked in the mirror and I realized I didn’t want to be a ‘woulda, shoulda, coulda’ kind of guy. I realized life was too short and I should follow my heart.” Dan’s heart was no longer in marketing research. So, he quit.

Dan saw the “Nina Updates” as his chance to kick-start a writing career. He compiled the series of emails, wrote an introduction and began shopping the “Nina Updates” as a book.

Although he sent the book to nearly 100 literary representatives, Dan said the response was few and far between. He never gave up hope, though.

His optimism paid off, and Dan finally met an interested literary agent. As fate would have it, though, it was a letter to the editor Dan wrote to the Los Angeles Times in May 2004 that initially got him noticed, not the book.

The morning the letter was printed, Dan received a call from J.T. O’Hara, a longtime literary agent from Beverly Hills.

“J.T. said she loved the letter to the editor,” Dan said. “She wanted to know if I had written anything else, and I thought it was a perfect opportunity to send her the ‘Nina Updates.’” J.T. and Dan worked on the book for a brief time before her unexpected death a few months later.

“Just as quickly as (J.T.) had come into my life, she was gone,” Dan said. “I had to ask myself why we had crossed paths.” Again, both fate and a letter to the editor would guide Dan’s next step.

Shortly before her death, J.T.

gave Dan “Hound Wisdom,” a book she had written under the pseudonym of her dog Jiggs. Dan used Jiggs’ name to respond to a July 2004 letter submitted to The Acorn by Agoura Hills’ residents frustrated that local pet owners weren’t picking up after their dogs.

“Next time your owner allows you to poop on someone else’s lawn or along the street. . . roll in it and rub yourself along your master’s leg, giving him or her the biggest, cutest, happiest and lovingest dog smile you can,” wrote Dan, giving advice as Jiggs.

With the consent of J.T.’s family, Dan took the idea of a column written from a dog’s perspective and made it his own.

“I realized I really didn’t have a chance of getting ‘Ask Jiggs the Dog’ off the ground as a newspaper column,” Dan said. “So, I thought, about making it a book.” Dan changed the name to “Ask Curtis.” The self-published book is a collection of answers to questions asked by people throughout the United States. Dan writes that Curtis’ responses are given in a “sometimes serious, sometimes tongue-in-jowl manner.” Questions in “Ask Curtis” cross a broad spectrum of topics and were submitted by dogs, humans, cats— even a flea and tick.

The book is peppered with quotes about dogs, and also serves up various tidbits on grooming, canine nutrition and safety tips like how to protect children from dogs and vice versa.

Dan initially printed 2,000 copies. He said the first run is “an investment” to generate buzz on the book and help garner nationwide distribution from an established publisher. Dan already has a routine worked out for David Letterman and knows the book is the first step into a whole, new world.

Dan continues to write and is currently engaged to Beth Spector.

His son Matt is now 17 and set to complete his junior year at Agoura High School.

Like his family, Curtis has been through some rough times. Regardless, the once-timid pooch has since been transformed into a smiling tail-wagger who eagerly welcomes visitors, fans and life’s next adventure.

And if you don’t believe it, all you have to do is ask him.

To purchase “Ask Curtis,” seek advice, or learn where the “pawthor” will be appearing next, visit www.askcurtis.com.