I’ve just read two nice pieces of writing that were written in the dog’s voice. The first is Dog on It by Spencer Quinn. It’s a crime novel, and Chet the dog is the narrator. The book does a very good job of examining our behaviors from a dog’s point of view and the writing and story kept me glued to it until I finished it. This is the first in a series of books, it came out several years ago and I believe there are at least two more books in the series already in print.

And this morning, the following poem came to me, courtesy of the Yeoman’s Fund for the Arts.

The Musing Labrador, by Ann Burghardt, Sandwich, NH

I often wonder about you:
why you have so many coats
but I have just my basic black

which also covers head and tail;
why you don’t carry sticks or
old tennis balls in your mouth

or chase cats across the lawn or
sleep curled on your bedroom floor.
And why you use so many words

when I need only two or three
to tell you someone’s at your door.
But one thing I know for sure:

that when I sit quietly by you
at half past five, or rest my head
on your knee as you read the

New York Times and then
you get up to fetch my food,
I know I’ve taught you rather well.

Love it. That’s what Chico’s training has been about (from his point of view) – training me to give him treats.