Ted Kerasote met and adopted Merle, a Laborador mix, while he was on a camping trip. Merle had been living in the wild, and after taking the dog home with him to Wyoming, Kerasote soon realized that Merle could not adjust to inhabiting exclusively in the human world. So he put a door in his house to let Merle live both outside and in.



A deeply touching portrait of a remarkable animal, Merle's Door explores the issues that all animals and their human companions face as their lives intertwine, and presents the latest research into animal behavior as well as the origins and evolution of human-dog interaction. Merle showed Kerasote how dogs might live were they free; Kerasote suggests how they should be allowed to live, and the doors that should always remain open to them.