A cute book allll about Peter, the author's dog. ( )

PETER is loving tale of a beautiful dog and the kind woman who fostered, then adopted him.

Though some chapters = Dance and Ghosts = are skippable and could be replaced in future editions.
the fun and compassion still weave through.

Letting readers know that the author believes that Peter will die soon could also have been left out -

My two dogs, both rescues, lived to be 17 years old, through arthritis and blindness,
with all the Love flowing around them. Peter may well outlive them! ( )

This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.
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I think once a person has a dog the idea of not having one quickly becomes absurd. I know there are other ways a person can fill their time—golf, et cetera. I know you can Hula-Hoop. You can pan for gold, or “do some work at a café.” I know a person can exist without the ability to make a creature they love thrash with uncontrollable joy, wild-eyed and ecstatic, at the mere mention of din—; hush, that’s enough, they're already excited. I know you can watch TV without a dog resting his paws and head on your leg, breathing quietly, warming you and allowing you to feel like you're having a real human experience rather than idly ingesting The Sopranos, I know you can go to sleep without a dog in your bed and wake up without a little face staring down at you, whiskers in your eyes, and a nose dripping onto your skin, waiting for you to take him outside so that he might urinate. But... why? Why even wake up at all?

WHATS THE PARTICULARS OF PETER ABOUT?
It is, quite simply, about Peter. Well, it's more about Conaboy's obsession with Peter and the things she'll do to foster the relationship between them as well as all the things she's willing to do with/for him for the sake of her writing.

She begins by talking about how Peter came into her life, going to Woofstock with him, trying to get into agility training, dance classes, and so on. She gets a DNA test, goes ghost hunting, consults a pet psychic, and more.

Each chapter is filled with jokes, amusing anecdotes, and useful information on a particular subject/experience, told with a lot of humor (some-self deprecating).

SOME HIGHLIGHTS
It's probably easier to think of this as a collection of essays rather than a cohesive book, and as such, there are going to be some chapters that stand-out above the others. I think the first two chapters—about adopting Peter and getting a DNA test were the best—with the chapter on where the dog should sleep as a close third.

The chapter on Dog Dancing was, on the whole, not that interesting for me until she dropped the jokes and got to a hard story about Peter and a medical problem. It probably became the strongest chapter in the book at that point.

ON THE OTHER END OF THE SPECTRUM
There were a couple of chapters that did nothing for me—training Peter for Ghost Hunting and then trying to communicate with him using pet psychic just bored me. I couldn't get into them, but I could see where someone would find it interesting.

The rest of the chapters were a good mix of things I thought were great and then a page later made me wonder why I tried the book.

SO, WHAT DID I THINK ABOUT THE PARTICULARS OF PETER?
There was something in the preface, that made me wonder if I'd made a mistake and I was going to end up annoyed with this book, but I wasn't quite sure. Then I got to the paragraph I quoted above—the third in the book, and realized that yeah, this book was for me.

I'm not going to tell you that this is the best book about living with a dog that you're ever going to read. I'm not saying that every chapter was worth the time. But there's just so much heart displayed in every chapter, that you can't help but cut her a lot of slack for whatever shortcomings may appear.

And it's a funny book. I chuckled and laughed a few times, I enjoyed an eye-rolling smile a few times, a more than a few times I grinned and made not of a fun line. I fell in love with her habit of writing a parenthetical remark to get a punchline into something, and then immediately following it with another parenthetical joke—naturally, I didn't write down any examples of that, because why should I make it easy for me to explain the quirk.

Basically, this was a fun book about one of my favorite topics—of course, I'm going to recommend it. ( )

It's no secret that I love dogs. There is just something I cannot resist when it comes to these furry little (or not so little) beings. I am lucky enough to live with three of these wonderful animals and my life revolves around them. It probably is no surprise that I felt like I needed this book in my life. I found this to be an enjoyable and sometimes rather humorous book.

This book is a collection of short essays dedicated to the author's dog, Peter. The author's love for her pet was very clear throughout this book. I was able to relate to so many things in this book. We have a large collection of chewed up pieces of dog toys in our house, similar to Peter's. I haven't tested the DNA of any of my dogs but I could understand her desire to do so. All three of my dogs are mixes and one dog is so mixed that the vet told me I could just pick a breed for the chart because she had no idea. There were also a few things that I couldn't see myself doing. Dance lessons would be a prime example. The world does not need to see me or my dogs trying to perform a dance routine.

There were some really amusing moments in the book. When the author described the sweater she bought for Peter and his reaction to it, I couldn't help but laugh. I liked the way that she tackled pet psychics and thought it was great that she really explored just about every possible aspect a dog owner might encounter. There were some more emotional parts of the book when the author was worried about her dog that really hit home for me as well

I would recommend this book to dog lovers. This is a lighter read that I found quite entertaining. I am happy to report that the book ends on a very positive note. I wouldn't hesitate to read more of this author's work in the future.

I received a review copy of this book from Grand Central Publishing. ( )