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MARLEY
A dog like no other
JOHN GROGAN
INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLING AUTHOR
To Ruth Howard Grogan,
who taught me the joy of a good story well told.
Contents
Chapter 1 And Puppy Makes Three
Chapter 17 In the Land of Pencils
Chapter 23 Beneath the Cherry Trees
We stopped at a farm run by a woman and her ancient mother. The farm didn’t grow wheat or corn. It didn’t even have cows or horses. It had just one thing – dogs. Dogs of every size and shape and age and temperament. They had only two things in common: each was a mongrel, and each was free to a good home.
“Now, take your time, son,” Dad said. “Your decision today is going to be with you for many years to come.”
I quickly decided the older dogs were not for me and raced to the puppy cage. “You want to pick one that’s not timid,” my father coached. “Try rattling the cage and see which ones aren’t afraid.”
I grabbed the chain-link gate and yanked on it with a loud clang. There were about a dozen puppies. They reeled backwards, collapsing on top of one another in a squiggling heap of fur. Just one remained. He was gold with a white blaze on his chest, and he charged the gate, yapping fearlessly. He jumped up and excitedly licked my fingers through the fencing. It was love at first sight.
I brought him home in a cardboard box and named him Shaun. He was one of those dogs that give dogs a good name. He mastered every command I taught him and was naturally well behaved. I could drop a crust on the floor and he would not touch it until I said it was OK. When I called, he came. When I told him to stay, he stayed. We could let him out by himself at night, knowing he would be back after making his rounds. We could leave him alone in the house for hours, confident that he wouldn’t have an accident or disturb a thing. He raced cars without chasing them and walked beside me without a leash. He could dive to the bottom of our lake and emerge with rocks so big they sometimes got stuck in his jaws. He loved riding in the car. He’d sit quietly in the backseat beside me on family road trips, happy to gaze out the window as the world zoomed by.
Best of all, I trained Shaun to pull me through the neighbourhood dog-sledge style as I sat on my bicycle. My friends jealously watched as he carefully
