The Wrong Dog: An Unlikely Tale of Unconditional Love

I will forever return to, reread, and keep “The Wrong Dog,” as an antidote, a balm, a talisman, a small and concise discourse on elegant and simple wisdom. I have ordered a few extra copies that I will send to friends on the same mission. I know that they will smile and be informed and entertained when they read it, just as I have been. I do not read much non-fiction, nor do I read much modern fiction. I tend toward classic novels.At some point soon, I will re-read “Moby Dick” and “Wuthering Heights,” for something like the fifth time. Each book will take me hours, and beyond that each will give me hours of thought, of searching for wisdom and understanding, of moments with myself that are among the best moments I could ever have. I am not saying “The Wrong Dog” is one of those books, but I do know it approaches that rare goal, the way in which reading can improve your internal life.The Romans who translated the New Testament from its original Greek called it “caritas.” It was one of the several Latin words for love, and it was the one they chose to describe the love that St. Paul told the Corinthians without which we are nothing. This slender volume is a conversation about that love. The book is ostensibly about the role a dog may play in our lives, the love we give them and they give us. But it is the family of this book for whom the dog, Simba, is really an exact and magnifying mirror.Simba gives his best but he largely reflects this extraordinary blended family’s, and our own, capacity for the charitable love that has no self-interest. It may come from the heart but it also has a philosophical basis, and that foundation is what emerges from this text. What is required to blend two families, to cope with severely ailing parents and far too colorful ex-spouses, to manage career and home, to raise five children, to move that family across the country, and to generally greet life and death with grace and aplomb? It is apparent from every word of this narrative that one thing that might help is the kind of generous and disinterested and daring affection that would lead a man to drive his sick old dog on a cross country trip, just so the pet might live to see his family’s new home, and that would lead a friend to accompany him.That narrative is at once entertaining, erudite, informative, humorous, open-minded, charming, and above all, wise. The author will not take you to any of the several truly American roadside attractions without answering the questions you will certainly have, without giving it its due without judgment, and without imparting some wisdom. Part of the warm-hearted affection in this book is for this country and its people. This is a very good time for that sentiment. There is never a “wrong dog.” Only people may get it wrong, and we often do. This book shows us how to get it right. Buy it and read it, and hold onto it for later, when you will need it.

Book got a little lengthy in unrelated explanatory info of extraneous material. But overall loved the whole story of Simba and the underlying importance of pets in people's lives.

A first person, true life story of a family and their beloved dog.Mr Cohen and his good friend Erick drive across the States taking elderly and delicate Simla from San Francisco to Manhattan. Along the way, they find themselves becoming more and more attached to their four legged buddy, doing their best to take care of him even as they also take advantage of this road trip through some of America’s natural beauty and man’s triumphs and follies.Recommended for dog lovers and for lovers of humanity in general.

An interesting story of two male friends on a cross country trip.

A good dog story. I didn't like knowing that the dog was going to die, but did enjoy the author's description and remarks concerning the places that they visited on their last trip home. The book was purchased for my wife and I to read.

I was looking forward to a good dog story, and since I have a weakness for senior labs, I was especially interested to read this book. It started out really well and the author clearly is a good writer, but then the author made the ridiculous decision to insert his POLITICS into the story....I couldn't believe it!! I don't sit down to read a book so I can be preached at about someone else's politics! The author blasts the NRA and glorifies the Clintons. If you're a liberal, I suppose you might like that.....but I don't think politics of ANY persuasion should be inserted into a novel that purports to be about a wonderful dog and his family. The author also spends a lot of the book describing his travels across the country to places of interest to him, but I found that boring. The fact that they were making this journey to reunite their lab with the rest of the family on the opposite coast was an afterthought....and the dog was only mentioned in passing in those chapters. I can't remember ever being so annoyed with a book.

I have several thousands of books 📚 stashed in my mind, sloshing through the many words that have lost their homes in the mud of the muck. Black Beauty was the only one I had never lost. I was three (idiot savant) am now 75. Simba will now join the Black. Thankful, Lynn Porter ([email protected])

This story rings true for dog lovers every where. We love our dogs throughout every stage of their lives and, ultimately, mourn their loss. And then, somehow, open our hearts to the next dog chooses us.