Come Back, Como Tells the Story of Rescue Dog with 'A Lot of Baggage'

When former San Francisco Chronicle writer Steven Winn let his daughter adopt a rescue dog in 2003, he had no idea what he was in for. "She saw something in this dog right from the start, but I still don't know what it was," he tells PEOPLEPets.com of mixed-breed pup Como. "He was scrawny, scraggly and completely terrified. And he definitely hadn't been bathed in a while. He came with a lot of baggage."

As it turns out, Como had a major issue with men — Winn in particular. "He wouldn't be in the same room with me," Winn says. "We had a rough start, to put it mildly. It was a blow to my ego." He wrote about his adventures with Como in the Chronicle, and almost immediately saw an overwhelming response. "People were sympathetic, entertained and instructive of how we should be dealing with our dog. Some people were even angry with me," he says. And from there, a book was born.

In Come Back, Como, Winn writes colorfully about his experiences with the family's temperamental pooch. "We started to figure some things out over time. There's a place on his back left leg where hair was burned away and doesn't grow — maybe someone burned him," recalls Winn. "And at one point after we'd had him a while, I bought new black shoes and he panicked. Was he cueing into that? Was someone who wore shoes like those mean to him? He was a mystery."

One incident that completely reshaped Winn's relationship with Como, though, was when the pup ran away in early 2005. While tearing through the streets of San Francisco with a bathrobe- and slippers-clad Winn on his tail, he was hit by a car. "It happened very quickly, but in that moment, time slowed down," Winn shares. "I was beside myself with grief and guilt, panic and fear. He'd become the focus of our family, what pulled us all together. I felt we were going to lose that."

Winn rushed him to a vet, and he was later taken to an animal hospital for extensive surgeries and therapy. "I was worried he wouldn't make it, and also fearful he'd blame me and we'd be back at square one. But it didn't happen. Instead it opened a gate between the two of us, and we've certainly become closer."

Now healthy, 7 years old and still slightly indifferent to Winn, Como is happy as ever — and still a frequent subject of sporadic Chronicle columns. Says Winn, "With him around, there will always be stories to tell."

Check out Come Back, Como, available online and in bookstores now!

See more animal-inspired books on PEOPLEPets.com:
America's Next Top Dog Model! Glamour Dogs Book Showcases Fierce Pups
Vision of Love: Homer the Blind Cat's Odyssey

Kate Hogan