As a single woman living in the city, Louise Bernikow relished her independence. Then a brown boxer with amber eyes unexpectedly came into her life and taught her a few lessons about love and companionship.
At first, they're not the perfect match. She's never had a pet and knows nothing about dogs. He's got a gimpy leg and a mysterious past. They first meet in the park: he, hunched down in the backseat of a police car; she, jogging and minding her own business. But when she sees a crowd around the police car, she stops and sees a scrawny dog with big eyes gazing up at her. He needs a home, she's told. Never mind that she lives in a small fourth-floor walk-up apartment. Never mind that she's been told she's allergic to all animals. She takes him in.
With wit and heart, Bernikow chronicles their first bumpy year together--in which both dog and woman become part of the neighborhood's eccentric
community of dog people. And she discovers, just as her sister-in-law predicts, that a dog is a good way to meet people (that is, men). But in the end, she realizes that she's already met Mr. Right. BARK IF YOU LOVE ME is the uproariously funny and moving story of a woman, a dog, and how they manage to find their way into each other's hearts.
Being owned by a Boxer I really wanted to read "Bark If You Love Me". This is a wonderful book about a rescue that turned into a great friendship. The book is funny and heart-warming. It is a must for anyone who loves dogs and shouldn't be passed by if you are not a dog lover. Just a really good story.
I love dog books. I bought this one on the basis of a quick glance at a few of the sentences. The writing looked clean, unsentimental. I don't require much in a good dog story.
My mate, my dog, and I went away to a cabin for a few days and I looked forward to indulging in this book. There, blithely reading along, doing my best to ignore the author's self-centered narrative, waiting for the part where the dog redeems her and she finds herself and becomes less Manhattan-shallow, suddenly she makes a confession that makes me ill. She comes home one day to find the dog in the bathroom, where she sends him when he is bad. Apparently, he knows he's done something wrong. She goes into her office where she finds her datebook chewed to shreds. Furious, she storms back to the bathroom and kicks the dog, "hard."
Ugh. Even thinking of it now it's like I've been kicked in the stomach. How can you kick a *dog*? How, especially, can you kick a dog that you've already seen cower from past abuse?
It's great that she confessed, and I hope she never did it again. But I didn't stick around to find out.
I tried. I tried to pick up the book I thought I was going to be reading and keep on. But it made me sick, and finally, I realized I couldn't keep reading a book written by a woman who abused an abused dog. I don't care if it was just once. If you kick a dog who already knows it's done something wrong, a dog that has already cowered from past abuse, there's something wrong with you and you should not be owning dogs, much less writing about them.
If you want to read a good dog book, there are plenty of others. Pick one of those instead.
Loved this book, being a new yorker myself and currently on boxer number 3, (no not all at the same time) I could totally relate to this delightful story. I saw his face on the cover while browsing in the bookstore, snapped it up and couldn't put it down. When I'm on the upper west side, I actually find myself looking for him, or at least hoping to bang into him. My little brown angel would probably like it too! Very nice read.
