WOOF! A Gay Man's Guide to Dogss
By Andrew DePrisco
Bowtie Press, $19.95, hard cover
www.woofbook.com

Gay men and dogs are getting their Warholian 15 minutes of literary fame. In the last issue, I reviewed Mark Doty's Dog Year, and now there's WOOF! A Gay Man's Guide to Dogs.

WOOF! gets blurbed by Carson Kressley and Joan Rivers, so you know at the outset to expect a high "precious" quotient. Then when you open the book and find a page whose pastel horizontal striped echo the rainbow flag, with one column listing "gay" names for dogs and a parallel column listing "nongay" names, your expectations are confirmed.

The book is colorful and fun to read, with large squarish glossy pages and lots of colorful cartoon illustrations. Many tables and charts add to the fun, with titles like "Gay Divas and Their Dogs," "Gay Icons and Their Dogs," and "The 10 Gayest Dog Breeds."

If you pass the nine bulleted tests for why you are not right for a dog, then you can dive right in to the challenge of finding out which dog is best for you (even if you already have a dog). Author Andrew DePrisco has cleverly come up with clusters of criteria that cut a swath like Solomon's sword, dividing gay men into seven clusters that match the seven categories of dogs recognized by the American Kennel Club.

Once you have determined, for example, that you are a "Hound" gay, you turn directly to page 48 to select your subgroup (Bear, Eurofag, Maple Leaf Fag or Southern Belle) then on to another page where you will learn what the ideal dog is for you.

Clearly, a WOOF! dog is a different species than a Dog Years dog, but there may be room for both in your life. If you support the idea of a dog as a companion, man-magnet, fashion accessory, political statement or entrée into worlds where no dog equals no admission, then WOOF! is for you. Even if you are dogless, WOOF! may give you a clue to the inner workings of that stud you see out walking his Yorkie every day.