Wednesday, May 10, 2006

Dog stories: Marley and Me

I just finished the bestseller Marley and Me: life and love with the world's worst dog by John Grogan. The Philadelphia Inquirer columnist, Grogan , tells the story of his crazy yellow labrador retriever, Marley, and tells it in a way that even non-dog people will enjoy. But for dog people, especially anyone who has had a crazy dog, (are those two categories synonymous?) it will really resonate. Throughout the book, Grogan is sure that Marley is the "world's worst dog," as it says in the subtitle, but when he writes a column for the Inquirer after Marley dies (yes, it is another dead dog book, but read it anyway) he gets hundreds of emails, calls and letters from dog owners assuring him that their dog was as nutty or worse. At this point if any non-dog lover is reading this and asking that un-dog lover question: why do you put up with these hairy, smelly, dirty, disobedient, house-destroying, totally wacked-out animals and even let them on the furniture and in your beds? I can only say, read the book; you will find the answers to that and many other questions about the meaning of life that can only be learned from dogs and maybe from dog-lovers who can write well like John Grogan.
Here is my dog, Addie , who was featured in a recent post on this blog. Addie is pretty sure she is not as nutty as Marley was, but that's just her opinion.

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