IT’S rare to find a dog book that becomes a must-read whether you’re a dog owner or not. “My Lucky Dog” (William Morrow, $19.95), however, manages to transcend genres. In it, photographer Mellon Tytell displays a poem in pictures about her adopted mutt, Hunter.

Tytell had previously shot the Dalai Lama, Norman Mailer, James Taylor and Patti Smith, but after adopting Hunter, he became her favorite subject. “To me, Hunter was more fascinating than a Pollock or a Picasso,” she writes.

Tytell took thousands of shots of Hunter, focusing on such details as his amber-orange eyes and the whorls of his striped fur. Taking the time to appreciate these doggie details made the photographer see her surroundings in a new way: Panoramas and close-ups of the Vermont landscape, where Tytell would spend summers with Hunter, started to bear an uncanny resemblance to photos of the dog.

In 1999, when Hunter turned 11, his spine began to deteriorate and he couldn’t make it up the stairs of their West Village apartment. So at the peak of her career – with a new book, a gallery show and her work up for auction at Sotheby’s – Tytell relocated to her small Vermont cabin so Hunter wouldn’t have to navigate stairs. Regular house calls from a veterinary acupuncturist enabled him to walk alongside Tytell in the countryside he loved.

While it may be hard to take precious time away from your own lucky dog to read about someone else’s, the unique beauty of “My Lucky Dog” is that it can be enjoyed in one short yet completely satisfying sitting. Its 98 pages are mostly pictures you’ll want to revisit again and again. And I guarantee Tytell’s tribute to Hunter will make you look at your own pet with new eyes.

js@pet-reporter.com