Emily Scott Pottruck fondly remembers the moment ten years ago when she fell in love, the day she met a friend's dogs for the first time. The four animals greeted Ms. Pottruck (a perfect stranger) with such eagerness, openness, and affection that her defenses melted instantly. "It was a pure wave of happiness," she recalls. "Something got lit inside me," she says. "My life hasn't been the same."

Ms. Pottruck soon acquired two dogs of her own, Andy and Boomer, and although she hadn't discovered the joys of animals until she was an adult, she is more than making up for lost time with her latest pet project, a book entitled Tails of Devotion. This coffee-table tome, to be released in March, spotlights the devoted relationships between San Franciscans and their pets.

The book includes lots of local luminaries: musicians like San Francisco Symphony conductor Michael Tilson Thomas and the Grateful Dead's Mickey Hart; Robin Williams the actor and Cecil Williams the pastor; novelists Amy Tan, Isabel Allende, and Michael Chabon; sports heroes Ronnie Lott and Orlando Cepeda; Mayor of Oakland Jerry Brown and designer of dresses Jessica McClintock; and many others. More than 50 families are featured, including people you haven't heard of, such as Elizabeth, a homeless woman and her constant companion, a shepherd named Hero.

For each featured family, an exquisite photographic portrait of people with their pets is paired with a letter written by a family member extolling the animal's virtues. Ms. Pottruck calls it "a visual testimony to the very special relationship between pets and their families."

Ms. Pottruck, a former Wall Street executive, began by contacting other animal lovers she knew, and the project grew from there. She's been at it for ten months now, interviewing and photographing and, in the process, making friends. "I got connected to other people because of their connection to their animals," she says.

There will be more to enjoying this book than the photos and love letters. That's because Ms. Pottruck and her husband (OK, so maybe she did fall in love one other time -- but that was with another human!) have underwritten the book's entire production, meaning that 100% of the purchase price of $29.95 will be given to local animal organizations, primary among them the San Francisco SPCA.

"The staff and volunteers of the shelters and animal welfare organizations are the angels who walk among us," says Ms. Pottruck on her Web site, tailsofdevotion.com. "The services they provide help pet guardians become better parents. They offer assistance to those people who do not have the economic capacity to cover all veterinary costs. I will be forever in awe …."

Like everyone else in the book, Ms. Pottruck has marveled at and reveled in the relationships she's enjoyed with animals ever since she was first smitten ten years back. Not long ago, someone asked her if she had ever felt complete contentment in her life. At the risk of upsetting her own friends and family, she answered honestly: Yes, with Andy and Boomer.

For this animal fan, her book-based labor of love is all about giving back. And we think this makes Ms. Pottruck and her husband true members of the Heart of Gold Society.

UPCOMING "TAILS OF DEVOTION" BOOK SIGNINGS & EVENTS

Tuesday, April 4; 7:00 pm	A Great Good Place for Books 6120 LaSalle Avenue Oakland, CA * Ian Dunbar will be part of this event
Tuesday, April 11; 7:00 pm	Clean Well Lighted Place For Books 601 Van Ness Avenue San Francisco, CA *Ian Dunbar will be part of this event * and may include Jan Wahl
Saturday, April 15; 1:00 pm	Book Passage Ferry Building 1 Ferry Plaza San Francisco, CA *Ian Dunbar will be part of this event, maybe Mark Bittner (Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill)
Friday, April 21; 12:45 pm	Borders 200 King Street San Francisco, CA This will include SF/SPCA Academy for Dog Trainers' Jean Donaldson
Wednesday, April 26; 7:00 pm	Copperfields 2316 Montgomery Drive (Within the Montgomery Village; at corner of Farmer’s Lane) Santa Rosa, CA 95405 *This will include the editors of Fetch
Sunday, April 30, 1:00 pm	Cover to Cover 1307 Castro Street San Francisco, CA * Pali Boucher will be part of this event
Sunday, May 7; 2:00 pm	Books Inc. 225 Chestnut Street San Francisco, CA *Amy Tan will be signing at this event. *Also Ian & Kelly
Sunday, May 7; 7:00 pm	Book Passage 51 Tamal Vista Blvd Corte Madera,CA 94925 *Amy Tan, Ian Dunbar, Lacy Atkins photography slide show