May 29, 2007 3 min read

Back when you were a kid, was your love of animals the source of much exasperation for your ever-patient mother? Was every creature fair game for domestication? Did you have pet frogs, snakes, birds, a dog, a cat, longed for a pet skunk, would’ve had a squirrel if you could’ve caught one, begged for a donkey or a horse, and tried to sneak a mouse in your bedroom once?

Well, did you ever have a pet bison?

In the new book “A Buffalo in the House” by R.D. Rosen, you’ll read about one couple’s experiences with an unlikely pet, and the way it buffaloed its way into their hearts.

In the late 1800s, when Indian-white relations were far from friendly and buffalo were being hunted to near-extinction, Texas rancher Charles Goodnight and his wife, Mary Ann, hand-raised two buffalo calves and eventually grew them into a herd. Friendly with the Taos Pueblo Indians, Goodnight later gave several animals to the New Mexico natives so the tribe would have access to precious buffalo tallow. Three generations after Goodnight’s death in 1929, his gift was nearly forgotten.

But Charles’ generosity wasn’t forgotten by his great-great-niece, artist Veryl Goodnight. Veryl knew about her ancestors, and wanted to honor them through sculpture. But since Veryl worked with living models, she needed a buffalo calf. She and her husband, Roger Brooks, spread the word to ranchers that an orphaned buffalo was needed in New Mexico.

Enter Charlie, as the couple called him. Left behind after a herd migration, Charlie was less than a week old when Veryl and Roger flew to Idaho to claim him. He was the perfect model, but as Veryl’s sculpture grew, so did Charlie. At just a few months old, he was well over 400 pounds.

And he had grown in Roger’s heart as well. Brooks loved Charlie, and though he knew that a buffalo was a wild animal, Charlie had become, and acted, like a beloved outsized hound. Roger was aware of Charlie’s power, but he felt little danger from his “son”. The danger, as it turns out, was in Charlie’s misunderstood self-image.

I was somewhat prepared for what I was going to get when I started reading “A Buffalo in the House”. I wasn’t prepared to love this book so much.

A little bit of history, part animal tale, and with a good dose of Wild West, author R. D. Rosen tells a boy-and-his-dog story, buffalo style. Rosen is an excellent storyteller, and I particularly enjoyed the way he weaves the present in with the past. Every former kid who captured critters with the goal of taming them will love this book, as will Western fans, cowboys and cowboy wanna-be’s, and lovers of the West.

If you’re mad for “Marley”, elated over Elsa the lion, rowdy for “Rascal”, or if you just want to read a good book about the new Old West, then this is the one to find. Stampede out and get “A Buffalo in the House” to add to your animal-lover book collection.