GREENWICH, Conn. - Our pets can teach us important lessons about life.

That's what Robert Lee Wilson discovered when he tried to write about how his family's Australian shepherd survived a series of near-death experiences last year.

"The first draft was a survival story," Wilson said in a telephone interview from his office in Greenwich, Conn. "Then I realized that while the survival story was compelling, it was really just a backdrop for a bigger story about the relationship between Buster and my family."

The result is the newly published "Buster's Christmas Letter," which illustrates the truth of what his wife Deb has always told him, that feelings are more important than things.

"When we write our Christmas letters, we talk about what we do and the things we have but rarely talk about how we feel about the people in our lives," he said.

The son of Decatur natives Bob Wilson and Nancy Cannon Wilson, who both graduated from Millikin University and raised their family in Quincy, Lee Wilson describes himself as project- and results-oriented in the preface.

That led him and the former Deb Riefe, a native of Davenport, Iowa, to New York City, where he was a partner in a consulting firm and a senior corporate executive for many years.

Before moving there from Milwaukee, however, their two older children, Katie and Robert, persuaded them to get a dog after their baby brother, James, turned 3.

Wilson's story begins there and traces Buster's antics establishing his place in the family before it embarks upon the emotional roller coaster of his survival.

At the center is the dog's disappearance at age 12 from the family's home in Greenwich, Conn., for two weeks in February 2006.

"It was the dead of winter, with temperatures in the teens and single digits," Wilson said. "By the time we found him, he had lost 20 percent of his body weight and could not walk. We were afraid we would have to put him down."

Found in a ravine behind a neighbor's home, Buster recovered and was featured on a front-page article in the Greenwich Time newspaper, "Wayward Pooch Returns Home."

Public reaction was supportive, with people sharing stories about their pets, and this encouraged Wilson to write about his family's experiences with Buster as a way of thanking the community.

His Christmas letter for 2006 was written from Buster's point of view, sharing the wisdom gained from the dog's several close brushes with that "Big Kennel in the Sky":

1. Show your family and friends how much you care for them. I prefer licking hands, but other gestures may work equally well for you.

2. Take joy in the little pleasures of life. Don't you just love chasing squirrels?

3. Share the wonder of Christmas like you were a puppy. Your enthusiasm and hope will help those who need it most.

The letter was ultimately included in the book and became the inspiration for its title.

Having traveled recently to his hometown of Quincy and his wife's hometown of Davenport to sign books, Wilson said he is hearing scores more stories about people's relationships with their pets.

"You can see this glow on their faces when they talk," Wilson said. "One man was near tears two or three times, telling me about how he lost his dog of 14 years.

"Someone suggested I write a book about all these stories."

Theresa Churchill can be reached at tchurchill@herald-review.com or 421-7978.

About the book

TITLE: Buster's Christmas Letter

AUTHOR: Robert Lee Wilson

TYPE: hardcover, 108 pages

ISBN-10: 1-933705-09-4

ISBN-13: 978-1-933705-09-5

PUBLISHER: Paribus Publishing Ltd.

LIST PRICE: $19.95

AVAILABLE: Haines & Essick, Waldenbooks, amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com.