My mom just picked up a new book, Dog Park Diary: The Social Round of Goofy Beagle, channeled through author Kim Pearson. She read it to me and I was just getting ready to review it when we saw a comment from Goody Beagle herself on my shoe-chewing entry a few days ago.
Wow…comments from celebrities! Maybe Dean Koontz’s dog Trixie will drop by someday.
Goody Beagle, a lucky dog indeed, goes to the dog park every day. Their Bellevue East Side dog park has grass and trees. Our Belltown Regrade Park just has wood chips and cement (and lots of heart).
Goody writes about all the dogs who come there. She’s got a cute way to identify them: their own name and their breed. The first dog we meet is Alice B. Spaniel. B stands for Brittany. Cute.
I’d be Gracie the Mellowmutt. That’s okay, as long as you recognize I’m really Gracie the CUPPIE, the first dog on the planet to be identified as a Canine Urban Princess.
My mom liked seeing the different dog breeds. As a writer herself, she admired the way Pearson interprets Goody’s stories. “She summarizes a dog’s whole personality in just a few sentences. Wow.”
Hmm. I wonder how Goody would summarize my personality.
“So who would you play with?” my mom asked me.
Read page 10, Mom. They have to pass the sniff test.
You can tell Dog Park Diary was written by a dog, not a human. Goody writes dog to dog about the important stuff, like smelling and what my squeamish mom calls “doing your business.” There’s actually a rear view photo of Goody in the act…well, you better see for yourself.
Mom said she’s going to recommend this book as a gift for all the dog lovers in your life.
Personally, I would give a real present for the dogs, like a nice chew toy, cozy dog bed or peanut butter treat. But Mom says you have to give presents to the owners. In her young days, she once brought a package of catnip as a thank you gift when she was invited to dinner. Who knew they wanted wine?
Mom’s much more socialized now and she would recommend adding this book to your holiday and birthday gift list.
“But you have to be a hard-core dog lover,” Mom says. She once got into trouble with her Great Careers Ezine. In those days she had a personal “my life” section at the opening of each ezine, where she wrote about First Dog Keesha and the cats. One mention of Keesha exchanging a “ritual sniff” with another dog and her “unsubscribe” numbers went through the roof.
Save this book for enlightened dog owners, who will want to keep their own copy and buy more as gifts.