Brian Lowney has learned to appreciate it when strangers call him early on Saturday mornings, approach him at gas stations or sidle up next to him at grocery stores.

“I listen to everybody’s story because you never know what it’s going to teach you,” he told a group at Plumb Library on Thursday evening.

He also writes down a lot of those stories.

Lowney’s 20 years of “Fur, Fin and Feathers” pet columns in The Standard-Times have made him a local authority on animals as he shares everything from medical prevention for pets to heart-warming stories of dogs, cats and even ducks.

Last September, Lowney, a Swansea resident, published his first book, “Unconditional Love: Pet Tales to Warm the Heart.”

The book is a mixture of bite-sized stories from the column as well as new tales. Most of the stories center on South Coast pets, from a Marion resident's Affenpinscher to Lowney's own cats.

On Thursday, Lowney related the tale of a wayward Airedale terrier named Max. Max’s owner, Bill Clark, called the author at the somewhat inconvenient hour of 8 a.m. one Saturday morning, but in two minutes Lowney said, “I was mesmerized.”

Strapped into Clark's motorcycle sidecar wearing a bandana and “doggles,” Max is an often photographed dog. But one day on an outing, Max and his owner were in a car accident 16 miles from home. The frightened dog ran off into the woods.

Clark did everything he could to lure the pup out of the woods. He also posted missing dog posters for miles around and received calls from many who had seen Max.

Weeks later, Clark came home to find the Airedale 11 pounds lighter and covered in pests, but safe and sound. From the calls, Clark believes Max traveled at least 45 miles before finding his way home.

“It’s been such a wonderful privilege to meet so many fascinating people and to tell their story,” said Lowney.

He also shared the story of Lemon the Duck from his days as the Rhode Island Catholic newspaper editor. The disabled duck was hatched as part of a classroom science project. Unlike her siblings, Lemon had neurological issues that kept her from balancing properly. But in caring for the disabled duck, the school found that she changed the way students saw their peers.

A hearing impaired student had often been left out by her fellow students. Lemon’s example gave the students fresh eyes on their classmate and they began to include her.

The duck has gone on to help teach inclusion, and said Lowney, “She is still quacking away.”

Going forward, Lowney said he plans to write another book, this time with a national scope.

He’s also continuing his column, which is 1,000 articles strong.

“People like their animals,” said Lowney.

"Unconditional Love: Pet Tales to Warm the Heart" is available at Amazon.com.