Great read: Marley and Me

I just finished reading a book by John Grogan of the Philadelphia Inquirer, entitled Marley & Me: life and love with the world's worst dog. It is obvious why this book has resonated with so many people, just as it did with me--it tells a story of an unconditional love so many of us have experienced with four-legged friends and it does so in a style that was totally endearing to this reader.

John (after reading this very personal story, I feel like I am on a first-name basis) tells the story of how a family was formed around an irrepressible force of a 96lb Yellow Lab named Marley. Despite everything that he (and myself up until reading this book) had read and heard prior to getting Marley that Labs were the best-behaved, most-tractable, brightest, most-obedient family dog, Marley stands as a glaring example of how these labels may be over-stated.

I particularly empathize with that facet, as I experienced the same mis-information before adopting our beloved beagle, Billie. Everywhere I looked when I thought about getting a beagle, folks were talking about their gentle, lazy, good nature that makes them one of America's favorite family dogs. Unfortunately, I got one whose entire puppyhood was dedicated to sinking her teeth into any and everything. OK, so this is not so unusual for a puppy; but with Billie, everything included our hands, wrists, legs, ankles, pant-legs, and worst of all, the soft skin on the underside of my arms (or in the case of the photo above, my Mom's). When Billie was about 4 months old, she still had many of her baby teeth and I had nightmares of those needle-like protuberances sinking into my prone skin. In one of these night-time episodes, I woke up my wife to help me rummage through the bed sheets to look for a 'baby alligator' that I was certain had breeched the safety of our bedroom. When I 'snapped out of it', I realized that it was only the apprehensions of the previous weeks of relentless attacks on all my extremities that had triggered this reptilian to visit my dreams.

Marley's story is incredibly touching, amusing, and real on many fronts. John framed the emotions of having such a disobedient but constant companion in a most-succinct way that I will not forget for some time. As one of his chapters described the bad dog support group that came as a result to his journalistic ode to Marley's impact on the Grogan family, I also sensed this same support that came just from hearing his well-told story. Excellent read.

Photos: Top, Billie as a puppy attacking me for the camera. Middle, Billie attacking my mother in that particularly painful area I spoke about above. Below, Billie giving her new toy Frisbee hell with the spirit of Cerberus driving her actions. Bottom, Billie struggling with 'dominance issues' with my sister.