The author describes some of the dogs that have had special places in his life, including his first dog, Snowball, in the Phillippines; Dirk, who protected him from bullies; and Cookie, who saved his life.

Recounts the author's journey nursing her adopted beagle Seamus through his cancer treatment as she learned to deal with medical situations, unknowingly preparing herself for her own later triple-negative breast cancer diagnosis.

"A memoir and elegy to the author's deceased dog, The Speckled Beauty"-- "Speck is not a good boy. He is a terrible boy, a defiant self-destructive, often malodorous boy, a grave robber and a screen-door muncher who spends his days playing chicken with the FedEx man, picking up livestock, and rolling in donkey manure, and his nights howling at the moon. He has been that way since the moment he appeared on the ridgeline behind Rick Bragg's house....

This book is the hilarious and heartfelt chronicle of a woman learning the secrets of love, health, and happiness from some very surprising teachers: her dogs. The author was thirty, single, and working as a part time clerk in an insurance company, wondering if she would ever meet the man she could spend the rest of her life with. And then it happened. She met the irresistible Otto, her first in a long line of Boston terriers, and fell instantly in...