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A Sheepdog Named Oscar: Love and Companionship in Rural Ireland
Grieving his father’s sudden passing, a film scholar and father of two boys finds solace in the picturesque idyll of Ireland's East Clare region, where he discovers and adopts an enigmatic border collie from an abandoned farm.
What is the essence of a sheepdog? As much a part of Ireland’s traditional and rural life as the countryside itself, working animals are known to be incredibly smart, loyal, with distinct personalities. Dara Waldron’s memoir about the wandering border collie he adopted the year after his father died is both an animal rescue story and a deep reflection on place, with a happy ending. To make a family pet of Oscar, Waldron enacts the daily ritual of walking the rugged hills and rivers of Ireland's woodlands in its intemperate weather—rain, sleet, and snow. Oscar’s instinct, as a sheepdog, is to run away and return to his handler. Testing the limits of Waldron’s tolerance and trying his fragile trust, days with Oscar are defined by the author's attempts to process his grief. Slowly it seeps into his Oscar is asking him to understand a creature who lives for another, who will always return. In lyrical description of Ireland's mystical landscape, along with meditations on art, philosophy, and animal rights, this exquisitely wrought memoir about one man and his dog experiencing a symbiotic calling foregrounds the healing terrain of nature, and the true purpose and breadth of life.
Illustrated throughout with black and white stills in a cinema verité style.
What is the essence of a sheepdog? As much a part of Ireland’s traditional and rural life as the countryside itself, working animals are known to be incredibly smart, loyal, with distinct personalities. Dara Waldron’s memoir about the wandering border collie he adopted the year after his father died is both an animal rescue story and a deep reflection on place, with a happy ending. To make a family pet of Oscar, Waldron enacts the daily ritual of walking the rugged hills and rivers of Ireland's woodlands in its intemperate weather—rain, sleet, and snow. Oscar’s instinct, as a sheepdog, is to run away and return to his handler. Testing the limits of Waldron’s tolerance and trying his fragile trust, days with Oscar are defined by the author's attempts to process his grief. Slowly it seeps into his Oscar is asking him to understand a creature who lives for another, who will always return. In lyrical description of Ireland's mystical landscape, along with meditations on art, philosophy, and animal rights, this exquisitely wrought memoir about one man and his dog experiencing a symbiotic calling foregrounds the healing terrain of nature, and the true purpose and breadth of life.
Illustrated throughout with black and white stills in a cinema verité style.
- GenresMemoirNonfictionAnimals
200 pages, Paperback
Published August 26, 2025
60 people are currently reading
3206 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews
August 23, 2025
What a complete and utter disappointment.
This realistically speaking could have completely excised the dog and basically been the same story. Man deals with grief by thinking way too hard and putting his emotions on another being while also showing off his familiarity with art and Bob Dylan and giving a small lesson in Irish rural culture.
I don't know if this had an editor, so I very helpfully edited almost the entire book as I read, hit me up if you want to make this not suck.
Words used completely incorrectly in an attempt to sound elevated (man's an academic, doesn't need to try to bring his chops to a 200 page book about a dog. Also, now I have questions ABOUT his academic work as he clearly doesn't know how English works), punctuation completely fucked, changes tenses all over the place, vague phrasing, AWKWARD phrasing, etc., etc., etc.
I was expecting the dog to be more present, but he barely gives a feeling for Oscar at all. I just...can't describe how much nonsense this was. He had maybe three phrases that I thought were really good, and when he bothers to talk about border collies he does accurately describe them.
This realistically speaking could have completely excised the dog and basically been the same story. Man deals with grief by thinking way too hard and putting his emotions on another being while also showing off his familiarity with art and Bob Dylan and giving a small lesson in Irish rural culture.
I don't know if this had an editor, so I very helpfully edited almost the entire book as I read, hit me up if you want to make this not suck.
Words used completely incorrectly in an attempt to sound elevated (man's an academic, doesn't need to try to bring his chops to a 200 page book about a dog. Also, now I have questions ABOUT his academic work as he clearly doesn't know how English works), punctuation completely fucked, changes tenses all over the place, vague phrasing, AWKWARD phrasing, etc., etc., etc.
I was expecting the dog to be more present, but he barely gives a feeling for Oscar at all. I just...can't describe how much nonsense this was. He had maybe three phrases that I thought were really good, and when he bothers to talk about border collies he does accurately describe them.
October 14, 2025
I wanted to like this book more considering it’s about a dog and set in Ireland. However, the author is unlikable with constantly trying to show off his intellect by dissecting paintings, songs, etc and posing these boring philosophical questions about mundane things. Who cares!? I wanted to hear more about the dog! Even the dog kept trying to run away from this guy..
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September 11, 2025Positives:
Who doesn't love a story about a rescue dog?
Who doesn't love a story about a herding dog?
The dog does NOT die in this book.
Interesting:
I finally understand that the American definitions of
"collie" and "sheepdog" are different than the Irish.
Not so positive:
It felt like the author had a page minimum to reach and so
added all kinds of unrelated text about art and film. It was not
my favorite technique.
Who doesn't love a story about a rescue dog?
Who doesn't love a story about a herding dog?
The dog does NOT die in this book.
Interesting:
I finally understand that the American definitions of
"collie" and "sheepdog" are different than the Irish.
Not so positive:
It felt like the author had a page minimum to reach and so
added all kinds of unrelated text about art and film. It was not
my favorite technique.
October 20, 2025
This book was more philosophical than I thought it would be after reading the reviews.
However, it was a good book, and I recommend it to those who love to read about rescue dogs and the impact they make on their new owners as they move together through their lives...
However, it was a good book, and I recommend it to those who love to read about rescue dogs and the impact they make on their new owners as they move together through their lives...
October 13, 2025
Not what I was expecting given that Barnes & Noble made this their monthly pick...
October 7, 2025
I got my copy of this book yesterday and couldn't put it down..., I just finished it after dropping the girls to school and parked beside killiney beach......such a beautiful book..no words wasted..reminded me of seeing Dancing at Lughnasa in august for the first time ..both have that quiet, lingering power — taking fragments of ordinary life and turning into something layered that resonants. capturing the complexity of relationships, the pull of place, and the way our memory keeps
October 6, 2025
Enjoyed immensely, especially the part where Oscar barked. Not a straightforward doggy story but one that lingers and stays with you.
September 28, 2025
This the best book I have read all year! Simply wonderful!
September 18, 2025
I really enjoyed this book especially part 3 because Dara really begins to understand that companionship is the “job” working dogs will give themselves. Some of the stories definitely remind me of my submissive herding dog that has found her job in “herding” her family. Some of the bad reviews talk about film and book references but I think it’s important to keep in mind that the author/narrator has a background in writing about film! Of course he will incorporate his studies into this charming novel. Overall an endearing book about a man and his dog.
September 15, 2025
I was very intrigued by this book because my husband is from Ireland and we also have sheepdogs (albeit Australian shepherds instead of Border Collies) - bonus because there are pictures featured in the book and Oscar looks very similar to my husband’s childhood dog, Lucky, who was found under similar circumstances as Oscar.
I think this book suffered from lack of structure and direction, but I’ll come to that later.
First, I want to give the pros of this book.
1. Nothing bad happens to Oscar. He’s still alive at the time of publication and has a happy home.
2. Descriptions of Irish country life are charming.
3. Descriptions of grief are real and well written.
Where this book struggled was lack of direction and lack of plot/getting to the point. I’m still unsure what the point of this book is and I just finished it.
This would have been much better had the author written a series of essays using Oscar as the connecting motif throughout. I think the author attempted this, but without clear structure to his stories, this novel comes out to be a jumbled mess. Some of it reads almost like stream of consciousness, while other times it’s repeating similar stories and notions.
The author makes the point that grief is like looking for something and never finding it. Then he goes on to tell multiple stories about Oscar running away. While I understand the author’s need to connect his grief to Oscar, I didn’t need so many stories about Oscar running away.
The author attempts to connect grief, the countryside, and his dog together, but again, without proper structure to the stories, it misses the impact it could have made.
There was also a distinct lack of editing, or well done editing, with this novel. Why are the paragraphs completely over loaded and meandering?
While this book was short and did feature a number of photos of a gorgeous dog, I found myself wishing the author had taken less time making dated pop culture references and more time structuring his story. This book had so much potential, but ultimately missed the mark.
I think this book suffered from lack of structure and direction, but I’ll come to that later.
First, I want to give the pros of this book.
1. Nothing bad happens to Oscar. He’s still alive at the time of publication and has a happy home.
2. Descriptions of Irish country life are charming.
3. Descriptions of grief are real and well written.
Where this book struggled was lack of direction and lack of plot/getting to the point. I’m still unsure what the point of this book is and I just finished it.
This would have been much better had the author written a series of essays using Oscar as the connecting motif throughout. I think the author attempted this, but without clear structure to his stories, this novel comes out to be a jumbled mess. Some of it reads almost like stream of consciousness, while other times it’s repeating similar stories and notions.
The author makes the point that grief is like looking for something and never finding it. Then he goes on to tell multiple stories about Oscar running away. While I understand the author’s need to connect his grief to Oscar, I didn’t need so many stories about Oscar running away.
The author attempts to connect grief, the countryside, and his dog together, but again, without proper structure to the stories, it misses the impact it could have made.
There was also a distinct lack of editing, or well done editing, with this novel. Why are the paragraphs completely over loaded and meandering?
While this book was short and did feature a number of photos of a gorgeous dog, I found myself wishing the author had taken less time making dated pop culture references and more time structuring his story. This book had so much potential, but ultimately missed the mark.
October 8, 2025
I was deeply disappointed in this book.
The prose is a mixture of cliches and misused vocabulary. The author knows little about sheepdogs, or dogs in general. He finally recounts using Google to look up information about sheepdogs…on page 72, nearly halfway through the book.
Some representative quotations for the prose style:
“I propositioned him to answer while grabbing his shirt sleeve to get his attention; surmising that Oscar was knocked over and Ylva didn’t want to tell me by phone.” (Page 68)
“Once we had ascended the drive home, the mountains appeared aloof in the diminishing light….” (Page 47)
“In a storm of unanswered questions, I glanced over at the child in the passenger seat, a boy learning to comprehend the world, when a shared purpose seems to come from above—to covet life in a storm of complicated emotions that had descended for those driving to collect a dog.” (Page 37)
At best, the book is trite. At worst, it is incomprehensible.
This book is an ad for editors, because there’s a kernel there that’s interesting, but it’s not realized here at all. Please, publishers, hire more editors.
I feel very guilty and bad writing such a negative review, because I appreciate how hard it is to write a book and how much of this author‘s heart he put on the line, but I think it’s important to let people know that this book is very poor quality and they should not buy it. I hope this author gets a much better editor who can help him realize his potential as a memoirist.
The prose is a mixture of cliches and misused vocabulary. The author knows little about sheepdogs, or dogs in general. He finally recounts using Google to look up information about sheepdogs…on page 72, nearly halfway through the book.
Some representative quotations for the prose style:
“I propositioned him to answer while grabbing his shirt sleeve to get his attention; surmising that Oscar was knocked over and Ylva didn’t want to tell me by phone.” (Page 68)
“Once we had ascended the drive home, the mountains appeared aloof in the diminishing light….” (Page 47)
“In a storm of unanswered questions, I glanced over at the child in the passenger seat, a boy learning to comprehend the world, when a shared purpose seems to come from above—to covet life in a storm of complicated emotions that had descended for those driving to collect a dog.” (Page 37)
At best, the book is trite. At worst, it is incomprehensible.
This book is an ad for editors, because there’s a kernel there that’s interesting, but it’s not realized here at all. Please, publishers, hire more editors.
I feel very guilty and bad writing such a negative review, because I appreciate how hard it is to write a book and how much of this author‘s heart he put on the line, but I think it’s important to let people know that this book is very poor quality and they should not buy it. I hope this author gets a much better editor who can help him realize his potential as a memoirist.
October 10, 2025
I really found this book to be amazing. I know there are mixed reviews because people thought it was about a dog and it is and isn't. It really seems (to me) to be about the relationship that can develop between a person and a dog. The author lost his father suddenly and he has a bit of guilt about it and he finds this stray Border Collie and they bond. Oscar helps the owner with grief and answers many questions the author has about grief, guilt, loss, or at least he helps.
I also loved his descriptions of Ireland and discussions of Bob Dylan, and a certain author, Donald McCaig who also wrote about Border Collies. I had the good fortune to meet Mr. McCaig and visit his farm where he hosted several Border Collie trials.
Maybe this book just connected for me because I had two rescue Border Collies and went through many of the same experiences. And this book came to me when I am still dealing with the grief from losing my mom almost a year ago. For me, this book was a beautiful re-connection with my first beloved Border Collie and it also has helped me realize I am still grieving for my mom. This is a very personal book for me.
I also loved his descriptions of Ireland and discussions of Bob Dylan, and a certain author, Donald McCaig who also wrote about Border Collies. I had the good fortune to meet Mr. McCaig and visit his farm where he hosted several Border Collie trials.
Maybe this book just connected for me because I had two rescue Border Collies and went through many of the same experiences. And this book came to me when I am still dealing with the grief from losing my mom almost a year ago. For me, this book was a beautiful re-connection with my first beloved Border Collie and it also has helped me realize I am still grieving for my mom. This is a very personal book for me.
September 16, 2025
3.5⭐️
Not the book I thought I was getting into. Very cerebral and unexpected. Yes it’s about Waldron’s journey through grief and finding companionship through Oscar. But it’s also about looking at that story through the lens of Dylan, Dante and Pieter Bruegel the Elder just to name a few. If you want a cozy tale about a cute dog in Ireland this won’t be the read for you but if you’re willing to get slightly more academic (through still quite poetic) I think this book is at least worth the try. (Also is the cover AI? My coworkers and I have been trying to figure it out)
Not the book I thought I was getting into. Very cerebral and unexpected. Yes it’s about Waldron’s journey through grief and finding companionship through Oscar. But it’s also about looking at that story through the lens of Dylan, Dante and Pieter Bruegel the Elder just to name a few. If you want a cozy tale about a cute dog in Ireland this won’t be the read for you but if you’re willing to get slightly more academic (through still quite poetic) I think this book is at least worth the try. (Also is the cover AI? My coworkers and I have been trying to figure it out)
September 18, 2025
I found this story about the connection between a dog and his owner both captivating and heart warming. I recently traveled to Ireland and saw a demonstration of how a dog trained with signals can round up sheep. It was very impressive. The author tended to go off on tangents about art, music and poetry that he felt related to the situation. I found this dragged the story down a bit. However, this is a happy story of a rescued dog's adjustment to his new situation and how he helps the grieving author.
September 25, 2025
This wasn't the book I had in mind nor anticipated reading. Intelligent and detailed writing in Ireland. Centering on Waldron's experience of grieving and how he finds friendship with Oscar, the beautiful dog. You'll notice different perspectives of a few past writers if you've enjoyed classical literature. This is not the book for you if you're looking for a heartwarming story about an adorable puppy in Ireland, but if you're prepared to read something a little more scholarly and at times poetic. You decide.
October 13, 2025
As I read this memoir, it occurred to me that grief and love are like two hands clasped in prayer. Separately they have profound power, but joined together they create an even more powerful spirit.
This is more than an illustrated story about how a sheepdog acts or communicates. The bond that develops between Dara Waldron and Oscar as they become a family in the Irish countryside is a beautiful, contemplative tale.
This is more than an illustrated story about how a sheepdog acts or communicates. The bond that develops between Dara Waldron and Oscar as they become a family in the Irish countryside is a beautiful, contemplative tale.
October 1, 2025
I struggled to get through this one. It’s countless pages of rambling that usually don’t make sense or go off on random tangents. For example the author tells us he likes a Bob Dylan song about 20 times, he loses his dog countless times, and then compared his dog not barking to the Holocaust. Basically what I got out of this book was that this guy shouldn’t own pets.
October 8, 2025
This is a wonderful book, such an enjoyable read and a tonic. It’s such an earnest and authentic piece of writing. The author lays all his emotions on the table and it’s so obvious he is writing from the heart. Not a lot of books are like that nowadays in my opinion.
I loved the little segues into the history of border collies and how people deal with grief.
It’s beautifully written and an utter joy. A must read.
I loved the little segues into the history of border collies and how people deal with grief.
It’s beautifully written and an utter joy. A must read.
September 7, 2025
Very insightful and honest memoir on dealing with grief and the unique friendship with a pet that often can be dismissed. Throw in the west of Ireland setting and some tales that will resonate with dog owners. Loved it.
September 29, 2025
If you love border collies as I do this book is especially meant for you. I suspect the same could be said for all dogs and for rural Ireland and sons who have lost their fathers and for those who want to take their minds far away from today’s headlines.
July 26, 2025
loved the personal growth and Oscar's story.
August 23, 2025
Grief, friendship and insights into life with a buddy in Ireland.
September 8, 2025
Sweet read!
September 8, 2025
3 stars because of Oscar!
September 14, 2025
Gorgeous writing and a moving read.
September 19, 2025
So sweet. So thoughtful and introspective. Such a loving tribute to Oscar and all dogs. Gotta love someone who loves dogs.
September 29, 2025
Sheepdogs are a favorite subject of mine and I always appreciate another perspective on them. Timeless creatures. They’ve helped me multiples times through my own grief processing as well.
October 4, 2025
Too many changes from past/ present/ daydream states for me to follow what was real vs what was made up throughout the story.
October 7, 2025
Such a lovely read
October 12, 2025
A really good window into the symbiotic mutualism of our relationship with man’s best friend. You give and get so much back
Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews