Poetry. COUNTING IN DOG YEARS is the first full length collection from Frank H. Coons, a small animal veterinarian, who spent his career in close proximity to the joys of animal companionship and the realities of death. Here, the experienced thinker with science in his bones flexes his growing poetry muscles. The book begins with an homage to his masters, the poems that follow reveal his close study, each with an essence of something fundamental.