The Animals of Adams County meet the world!

Submitted News

Few Adams Countians are aware that the pets and farm animals of this county have, for 19 years now, been read about, chuckled over, enjoyed and occasionally even cried over by people across the United States. In fact, their fame extends to Canada and countries much further as well.

The reason is that a veterinarian in Hillsboro, Dr. Robert T. Sharp, decided to write about his most memorable cases. Many of these took place in Highland County, but many, including some of the most interesting ones, also happened in Adams County. Dr. Sharp wrote stories about animals and their owners in Sinking Spring, Seaman, Marble Furnace, May Hill, Peebles, Tranquility, Cherry Fork, and Manchester, on Tater Ridge Road and more.

Dr. Sharp’s first book of these stories, No Dogs in Heaven?, was published in 2005 by the national publisher Carroll & Graf, in both paperback and a special hardcover edition created by Barnes & Noble. The book sold very well and received terrific reviews in all of the big national media. It was also translated into Czech. (Great fun, seeing Adams County animal and place names in Czech!)

A sample of those lovely reviews:

“Buoyant, tenderhearted stories of a rural veterinarian’s days and nights on the job…Here, in 38 vignettes, all written with an easy hand, Sharp describes with equal poise the countryside around him—an atmospheric blend of stormy nights, dogwoods and redbuds, coffee cake and milk, farms tucked away in hollows—and the practice it demands: horse work, hog work, bull work, animals big enough to kill you…Short, anecdotal material that animal-lovers can dip into with relish.“

—Kirkus Reviews

“…what a beautifully written little book! Author Robert Sharp is a born storyteller and No Dogs in Heaven? is a delight. Some of the tales will make you laugh, some will make tears come to your eyes, and some will make you shake your head. I love every bit of this book…reading it was like eating popcorn: I just couldn’t stop.

“Wrap it up for your favorite animal lover soon.”

—The Bookworm

“In this very well-written and entertaining book of anecdotes, Dr. Sharp has not only provided an intimate glimpse at the details of life as a veterinarian, but captured the heart and soul of life in small American towns. This is the perfect book for would-be vets, animal lovers, young adults, old adults, nephews, aunts, wives, brothers-in-law, etc., etc. Anyone just interested in a darn good story.”

—reader review posted on Amazon

An alert editor in New York read the book and asked Dr. Sharp to write a column—“Ask a Country Vet”—for the popular magazine Country Living. His expert and delightfully written answers to questions from readers across the country were read by millions during the five years he served as Country Living’s “country vet.”

You might say that by now Dr. Sharp could be called the “James Herriot of Southern Ohio.” (Except that many people feel that his stories are even more fun to read than those of that famous English vet.) His second book, the sequel long awaited by those who read the firstone, The Bull in the Darkness and the One-Eyed Dog , was published in 2023 by the national publisher Lyons Press.

These books were also edited by an Adams County editor, Carol Cartaino, a longtime professional book editor in Seaman. It took quite awhile, over the backs of cats she toted in to his office for treatment, but she finally nagged Dr. Sharp into doing what she knew he would be able to do- write.

Come to the Peebles Library on August 3 at 1 p.m. and Dr. Sharp will read you some of those great stories so that like readers across the country, you can chuckle, wipe a tear and be inspired by the adventures of the animals of Adams County.