Happy July 4, Dogsters! I hope your dogs are chillin’ today. If not, check out our post from Friday, about how to help your dog get through the hot and booming holiday.

Meanwhile, since it’s a day off for many of our readers, I’ll kick back and ask this: What are you and your dog doing today? Let us know – whether you’re going for an extra fun dog walk, catching up on laundry, hunkering down away from fireworks, or starting to write that novel with your dog curled up at your feet. We’d love to know what you do in your down time. Even if you don’t celebrate US Independence Day, chime in.

I am going to be taking the day off from doing interviews and other hands-on (and exciting!) research for my upcoming book, Soldier Dogs, and will be reading on my swing chair on what promises to be a rare sunny San Francisco summer day. (I’ll be reading a book about military working dog history; not exactly light People magazine fare, but fascinating.)

Inspired by the photo I ran with the announcement of the winners of the book giveaway in the post before this one, and by the fact that Jake will surely be at my side while I’m reading, here are five fun images involving dogs and books. It’s kind of random, but I know a lot of you are avid readers, so enjoy! (I especially like the last one. If you’ve ever seen the book, you’ll know how the dog feels.)

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Credits: Image 1, As seen on Summit Musings; Image 2, Flickr photostream of The Pack; Image 3, Flickr photostream of SnapShot1951; Image 4, Flickr photostream of susyr22; Image 5, Flickr photostream of stillpositive