Sendak gave himself time to grieve, and in 1972 he adopted a golden retriever named Io and a German shepherd named Erda. They were his inspiration for Some Swell Pup, or Are You Sure You Want a Dog?, a training manual for aspiring young dog owners.
Dogs continued to be part of Sendak’s life for the following decades. Some of his later German shepherds were trained by the monks of New Skete in Cambridge, NY. As a tribute to Sendak, and with the support of The Maurice Sendak Foundation, the monastery named its dog training facility after him in 2016.
The monks wrote of their friend, “Not only was he a lover of all things dog, he saw clearly their spiritual importance and how they can enrich our lives when they are cared for and loved.”
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