Come Back, Como: Winning the Heart of a Reluctant Dog

Based on a beloved ten-part series in the San Francisco Chronicle, Come Back, Como is Steven Winn’s tender and hilarious memoir of his uncommonly rich experience with a dog who wanted nothing whatsoever to do with him. With humor and pathos, Winn describes the exasperating but ultimately rewarding effects the pet had on his family, the ordeals he and his dog endured together, and the greatest lesson Como taught him: that loving a dog can somehow make us more human.

When Steven Winn and his wife,Sally, finally gave in to their onlychild Phoebe’s pleas for a dog,they adopted a scraggly terriermutt from a local animal shelter. The new familypet, Como, turned out to hate men—especially theauthor—and proved to be a cunning escape artist.Traumatized, single-minded, and exceptionallyclever, Como was bent on breaking Winn’s sanityand self-respect, his bank account, and his heart.

An international sensation, Come Back,Como is the story of one man’s hilarious andpoignant quest to win the trust of a dog whowanted nothing to do with him. With humorand pathos, Winn describes the maddening butultimately rewarding effects Como had on hisfamily; the misadventures, ordeals, and terrifyingevents he and his dog endured together; and thegreatest lesson Como taught him: that loving adog can make us more human.

“A delightful story about the joys and deeper meanings dogs bring into our lives.” - Amy Tan, New York Times bestselling author

“Even people who don’t much care for dogs, and I am one, will be moved and entertained by Steven Winn’s story of pursuit and rejection and renewed pursuit between man and pooch. Its real subject, transcending species, is the struggle for understanding between minds and hearts.” - Adam Gopnik, New Yorker staff writer and author of Paris to the Moon and Angels and Ages: A Short Book About Darwin, Lincoln, and Modern Life

As a man owned by a dog, I read this book with delight, merriment, and deep sympathy. And when I reached the most touching parts, there was my dog’s head, in my lap -- he knew I had a heart all along. - David Thomson, author of The New Biographical Dictionary of Film and Try to Tell the Story: A Memoir