From the back of the book (all typos mine):

The heartwarming and unforgettable story of a family in the making and the wondrously neurotic dog who taught them what really matters in life.

John and Jenny were young and in love, without a care in the world. Then they brought Marley home and their lives changed forever.

Marley quickly grew into a 44-kilogram steamroller of a Labrador retriever, a dog like no other. He crashed through screen doors, stole women's undergarments, and ate nearly everything he could get his mouth around. Obedience school did no good - Marley was expelled. Nor did the tranquilisers the vet prescribed for him.

Yet Marley's heart was pure, and his love and loyalty were boundless. He shared the couple's joy at their first pregnancy and their heartbreak over the miscarriage. When the babies finally arrived, he was there too - winning hearts while making a mess of things.

Through it all he remained steadfast, a model of devotion even when his family was at its wits' end. Unconditional love, they would learn, comes in many forms. Is it possible for humans to discover the key to happiness through a larger-than-life, bad-boy dog? Just ask the Grogans.

I have obviously spent far too many years in dog-free houses. I am now a cat-person, and no longer can count myself as a dog-person. (Wah! But I want a dog!) This book just never really suckered me in, I was hoping for a nice light fluffy funny book, but it didn't do much for me.

Having said that, I still cried when Marley died. But only one laugh did I have the entire book, and that was for:

Again Dr Jay seemed to be choosing his words carefully. "I think you need to be realistic about that," he said. "Marley's a great family pet, but I'm not sure he's got the credentials he would need to be in demand for stud." He was being as diplomatic as possible, but the expression on his face gave him away. It almost screamed out, Good God, man! For the sake of future generations, we must contain this genetic mistake at all costs!

Having been the proud owner of several dogs, all of whom were glorious genetic mistakes of Marley's calibre, that bit did make me laugh.

The most Marley-like of all my childhood doggie friends would have to be Boomer, who was some sort of gigantic mutt breed (we thought we could see some German Shepherd in him), who was enormous when he was dumped near our family home (near a nice big park, so we got a lot of dumped animals on our doorstep), and he "just followed us home, can we keep him?". And then he grew even bigger.

Dopiest dog in existence, but he loved us to bits. And he showed some brightness when he realised that if he just walked off with the tennis ball, then his exercise regime would be at an end for a day. (His doggie companion, Baxter, was less than impressed with Boomer's cognitive leap.) Of course, us wielders of the opposable thumbs (so useful for opening tins of dogfood) just went out with two tennis balls instead.

I know other people love this book, and it wasn't badly written or anything, it's just a case of while it's fun to tell my own doggie-behaving-badly stories, I'm just never as interested in other people's pets as I am in my own.

Reserved for the Oz Virtual Bookbox.

UPDATE 23-NOV-2007: Chosen by freelunch! I shall pop this in the post asap.

UPDATE 26 NOV 2007: Popped in the post today. Happy reading!

received today, thanks tqd :o)

I'm not any-kind-of-pet-person and I didn't really think this book would be my thing. I grabbed it from the VBB on a momentary must-expand-my-reading-horizons impulse. and it was very enjoyable. and I might even read another pet memoir one day.

released to the COT Bookcrossing Zone

Hi the book has made its home in benarkin north qld 4314 for the moment ☺