‘Shaggy’ credits dogs

“Shaggy Muses: The Dogs Who Inspired Virginia Woolf, Emily Dickinson, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Edith Wharton and Emily Bronte,”

by Maureen Adams (Ballantine Books, 281 pages $24.95)

Countless lovers who, lacking their own voice, relied on Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s famous “Sonnets From the Portuguese” to woo their beloved should mutter silent thanks to a cocker spaniel named Flush.

Without the plucky pup’s timely intervention, one of England’s greatest poets might have succumbed to depression and never penned the immortal lines: “How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.”

Flush’s contribution to Victorian literature is one of five short biographies in “Shaggy Muses,” which details the profound and often unexplored influence a handful of canine companions had on five of the greatest voices in women’s literature.

Psychologist and author Maureen Adams began exploring the intense bond between humans and dogs after the death of Cody, her beloved golden retriever.

“Shaggy Muses” is a solid, academic work that still manages to be an entertaining read. Adams uses the authors’ own work to document something many biographers missed: These women relied on their dogs for security, friendship and inspiration.