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Pawverbs for a Dog Lover’s Heart: Inspiring Stories of Friendship, Fun, and Faithfulness
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A dog’s love is one of life’s greatest blessings.
Your dog doesn’t ask you to be anyone other than yourself. When you’re with your dog, you don’t have to worry about what you say or what you look like; all your canine friend wants is you (and food, and belly rubs, and treats).
But dogs are even more than our best friends―they can be our wise teachers, sharing lessons that stay in our hearts forever. Every day, they show us the value of listening and loyalty; what it means to trust and obey; and the importance of just sitting with someone and being a friend. God has given us animals, ultimately, to point us to Himself―to the One who is always there and who loves unconditionally.
Pawverbs for a Dog Lover’s Heart is a collection of stories with beautiful photographs, each featuring a real-life animal and sharing a principle from the book of Proverbs. You’ll not only find inspiring and heartwarming tales, but spiritual truths to touch your heart and remind you of God’s unfailing love, wisdom, and grace.
A dog’s love is one of life’s greatest blessings.
Your dog doesn’t ask you to be anyone other than yourself. When you’re with your dog, you don’t have to worry about what you say or what you look like; all your canine friend wants is you (and food, and belly rubs, and treats).
But dogs are even more than our best friends―they can be our wise teachers, sharing lessons that stay in our hearts forever. Every day, they show us the value of listening and loyalty; what it means to trust and obey; and the importance of just sitting with someone and being a friend. God has given us animals, ultimately, to point us to Himself―to the One who is always there and who loves unconditionally.
Pawverbs for a Dog Lover’s Heart is a collection of stories with beautiful photographs, each featuring a real-life animal and sharing a principle from the book of Proverbs. You’ll not only find inspiring and heartwarming tales, but spiritual truths to touch your heart and remind you of God’s unfailing love, wisdom, and grace.
256 pages, Hardcover
Published September 8, 2020
62 people are currently reading
156 people want to read
About the author
Jennifer Marshall Bleakley
27 books126 followersJennifer Marshall Bleakley is the author of Joey, Project Solomon, and the Pawverbs devotional series. She has a master’s degree in mental health counseling and worked for several years as a grief counselor. Jen loves writing stories about the ways animals can teach us about ourselves, each other, and about God—and how they can even point our hearts toward hope.
Jen lives in Raleigh, NC with her talented software engineer/wood-working husband, their two rapidly growing teenagers, and her very needy golden retriever. You can connect with her online at jenniferbleakley.com or on social media @jenbleakley
Jen lives in Raleigh, NC with her talented software engineer/wood-working husband, their two rapidly growing teenagers, and her very needy golden retriever. You can connect with her online at jenniferbleakley.com or on social media @jenbleakley
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
June 9, 2021
I really enjoyed this book! Some stories were cute and some were sad.
December 16, 2024
If you are looking for a Christian inspirational book tying a verse from Proverbs (thus Pawverbs), a story with a dog, a couple of sentences of instruction (Paws & Ponder), and a couple sentences of prayer (Paws & Pray), this would be a very good book for you. As far as just taking it as a book of stories involving dogs, it was ok. It was a birthday gift from my friend Pam and much appreciated.
I really loved this paragraph in the introduction:
'I think that one of God's greatest kindnesses to mankind was giving us dogs. Canine companions are quick to forgive, always willing to play, and content to just sit with us. They provide us with living, breathing safe places to which we can retreat. These loyal friends love us unconditionally and ultimately point us to God, who is the embodiment of perfect friendship and love.'
Some stories shined a little brighter for me. I liked this quote from the story 'Little Cesar' to go with the proverb 'We may make our plans, but God has the last word,' (Proverbs 16:1). She wanted a small dog but wound up with something different.
'He was like sunshine wrapped in fur.'
In the story 'A Job for Pepper' with the proverb 'Laziness leads to poverty; hard work makes you rich' (10:4), I loved the mental image that comes to mind thinking of the hard working dog:
'PEPPER LOVED TO WORK. From the moment the black and gray Australian shepherd awoke in the morning, she had one important mission in the morning - retrieve the paper.
Pepper took her job very seriously. So seriously, in fact, that some Sundays when the paper was too thick and heavy to fit in her mouth, Pepper would push it toward the house with her nose. Her owners, Kathy and Mike, were both amused and inspired by her persistence.'
My favorite story though was 'A Picture of Loyalty' about dealing with a child of elementary age who had abdominal migraines that caused chronic vomiting, often in the early hours of the morning. Her Mom would get up to be with her daughter on her bout in the bathroom, but one time she didn't wake up:
'Eventually, the nightly routine began taking a toll, not just on Abbey but on Cindy as well. Her nightly vigils had resulted in extreme fatigue and exhaustion.
One night, Cindy slept through Abbey’s nightly run to the bathroom. When she awoke the next morning, she was consumed with guilt.
“Oh, Abbey, honey, I am so sorry I wasn’t there for you,” she apologized over breakfast.
Abbey’s sweet smile warmed Cindy’s heart. “It’s okay, Mommy. Baci was with me.”'
Too bad we can't be as loyal and always there for people as a good dog like Baci the bichon frise.
I will end with two of the prayers in the 'Paws & Pray' section from a couple of the stories:
'Lord, thank you for the gift of friendship—both with other humans and with animals. You are the perfect example of friendship and love. Help me to follow your example and love others well today and always. And help me be a friend who points others to you.'
'God. you have given me so many examples of what loyalty looks like. I see instance of loyalty throughout your Word, in my relationships, and even in the animals | love, And yet, there's no one as loyal as you. I marvel at your steadfast love for me. Help me to look for ways to demonstrate your loyalty and love to others. And enable me to be a truly loyal friend.
I really loved this paragraph in the introduction:
'I think that one of God's greatest kindnesses to mankind was giving us dogs. Canine companions are quick to forgive, always willing to play, and content to just sit with us. They provide us with living, breathing safe places to which we can retreat. These loyal friends love us unconditionally and ultimately point us to God, who is the embodiment of perfect friendship and love.'
Some stories shined a little brighter for me. I liked this quote from the story 'Little Cesar' to go with the proverb 'We may make our plans, but God has the last word,' (Proverbs 16:1). She wanted a small dog but wound up with something different.
'He was like sunshine wrapped in fur.'
In the story 'A Job for Pepper' with the proverb 'Laziness leads to poverty; hard work makes you rich' (10:4), I loved the mental image that comes to mind thinking of the hard working dog:
'PEPPER LOVED TO WORK. From the moment the black and gray Australian shepherd awoke in the morning, she had one important mission in the morning - retrieve the paper.
Pepper took her job very seriously. So seriously, in fact, that some Sundays when the paper was too thick and heavy to fit in her mouth, Pepper would push it toward the house with her nose. Her owners, Kathy and Mike, were both amused and inspired by her persistence.'
My favorite story though was 'A Picture of Loyalty' about dealing with a child of elementary age who had abdominal migraines that caused chronic vomiting, often in the early hours of the morning. Her Mom would get up to be with her daughter on her bout in the bathroom, but one time she didn't wake up:
'Eventually, the nightly routine began taking a toll, not just on Abbey but on Cindy as well. Her nightly vigils had resulted in extreme fatigue and exhaustion.
One night, Cindy slept through Abbey’s nightly run to the bathroom. When she awoke the next morning, she was consumed with guilt.
“Oh, Abbey, honey, I am so sorry I wasn’t there for you,” she apologized over breakfast.
Abbey’s sweet smile warmed Cindy’s heart. “It’s okay, Mommy. Baci was with me.”'
Too bad we can't be as loyal and always there for people as a good dog like Baci the bichon frise.
I will end with two of the prayers in the 'Paws & Pray' section from a couple of the stories:
'Lord, thank you for the gift of friendship—both with other humans and with animals. You are the perfect example of friendship and love. Help me to follow your example and love others well today and always. And help me be a friend who points others to you.'
'God. you have given me so many examples of what loyalty looks like. I see instance of loyalty throughout your Word, in my relationships, and even in the animals | love, And yet, there's no one as loyal as you. I marvel at your steadfast love for me. Help me to look for ways to demonstrate your loyalty and love to others. And enable me to be a truly loyal friend.
April 27, 2021
Such a cute book! Definitely laughed & teared up at some of the stories. What would we do without our pups?
February 6, 2026
This is a collection of stories about real dogs with a reference from the book of Proverbs. Each story is 2-3 pages in length, perfect for a devotional reading.
These short stories are entertaining, insightful, and thought provoking. I really enjoyed them. It was nice to read something uplifting and positive.
These short stories are entertaining, insightful, and thought provoking. I really enjoyed them. It was nice to read something uplifting and positive.
January 20, 2025
I loved this book! My daughter gifted it to me for Christmas, and she thought I would read one chapter a day, but I looked so forward to laughing (or crying) reading about these dogs’ stories that I quickly finished it in days! The book warmed my heart 🩷
January 13, 2023
Cute stories and pictures. I love the paws and ponder to make me think. Paws and pray are wonder little prayers to remember.
December 29, 2021
I love the beautiful pictures of the different dogs you used to remind you of your loved ones and friends you have made along your life. I like your Paws and Ponder and the Paws & Prayers. The cover was what caught my eye since I love animals, especially dogs so much!
June 10, 2022
While you might be able to sniff out a decent story here or there, if youre looking at Pawverbs for a literally masterpiece of "Inspiring Stories of Friendship, Fun and Faithfulness," then you're barking up the wrong tree. However, like most other coffee table books (and some magazines which I wont mention here) Pawverbs' warp and woof is in its photos (and title), not its stories.
This book is about half stories and half pictures. So as a book, it's all bark and no bite and that's a doggone shame. Is it New York Times best smeller material? Certainly not. But the real treat is in its pictures, title and best in show stocking stuffer potential. 1 star but I would buy it again.
This book is about half stories and half pictures. So as a book, it's all bark and no bite and that's a doggone shame. Is it New York Times best smeller material? Certainly not. But the real treat is in its pictures, title and best in show stocking stuffer potential. 1 star but I would buy it again.
July 21, 2024
Most of what you need to know about Pawverbs for a Dog Lover's Heart you can probably deduce from its title and cover. The cheesy pun, the beautiful picture of a dog, and the word "inspiring" suggest that this coffee table book cum devotional aims to reach a particular audience. I am probably not that audience, but I was given this book as a gift and decided to actually read it. Now, like the time when my dog ate an entire bag of Rolos, I may have regrets . . .
The book is divided into 50 short sections. Each section includes a verse from the book of Proverbs in the Bible, followed by a story about a dog. For the record, I don't know where the author got the stories - I assume she put out a call to people she knew, and collected these. The eclectic sourcing means that the stories themselves are uneven in quality and style. Following each story, author Jennifer Marshall Bleakley includes two brief codas, "Paws and Ponder" (questions for reflection) and "Paws and Pray" (prayer prompts for the devout). There is also a high quality glossy photo of a dog, or sometimes two.
At a conceptual level, the idea of using animal stories to make spiritual points isn't necessarily wrong. But the execution here fails on many levels for me. For one, by focusing exclusively on the Proverbs, Bleakley paints herself into a very small corner. Every dog story must somehow relate to these pithy quotes about wisdom. Are these the best source of devotional material for the Christian? Would it not have been more interesting to open up the larger Bible - especially the New Testament and the teachings of Jesus? But no, the pun reigns supreme, and Bleakley forces all of her stories to sync up with a Proverb or two. Thus, the cognitive leaps she sometimes makes to create a "moralto the story," stretched my patience thin. A story about a dog that destroys its toys becomes a tale about not "trashing" God's gifts to us. A story about loyal animals is followed by a reminder of God's faithfulness to us. It's not that these parallels can't be made, of course, it's that the format of the book makes them feel imposed, not natural. Bleakley does not build to the point she is making, instead telling her story and then making her point as an entirely separate thing. Continuity and smoothness of delivery are missing.
(I won't say too much about the places where I disagree with Bleakley's theology. She treats God as punitive, which seems to me very much like the "fire and brimstone" picture of the Old Testament and not like the accepting and inclusive Jesus of the New. There's not a lot of grace here and, in Bleakley's interpretation, our opportunity to be loved by God seems to be contingent on our willingness to be "wise" about things, or to behave well. But I said I wasn't going to say too much, so I'll stop with my digression . . . )
I also disliked the way that animals were portrayed in the book. Although some of the dogs are heroic (the one who saves his owner after she slips on black ice comes to mind), others are profiled due to their bad behaviors (e.g., eating an entire chicken carcass out of the trash, or getting too close to a horse and getting kicked) and the naughty dogs are often played for laughs. My wife fosters rescue dogs, and she has taken some coursework in animal training, so I admit to a bias here. But in several of the stories in this book, the bad behaviors could have been avoided if the owners had been smarter. Acting as if the dogs are "dumb," when the owners didn't train them appropriately, listen to them, or generally put their animals in a position to succeed seems cruel. It also then feels as if we're taking the wrong lesson from the tale.
(I'm going to ignore the cheesiness of the constant dog puns and the mawkish nature of the overall layout and language for a moment. It's not my style, but perhaps it works for other people who like things cozy, charming, and kitschy. To me it feels saccharine and insincere. Oh, wait, I said I was going to ignore it. Too late, I guess.)
The one saving grace of this book proves to be the photos. Drawn from a variety of private and public sources, the animal photography in this volume is quite nice. There are some amazing shots of various breeds of dogs in a variety of poses. Beautiful. It's not enough to make me keep the book or recommend it to others, but it provided some respite from the bad theology, poor writing, cheesy puns, and stupid animal owner stories.
The book is divided into 50 short sections. Each section includes a verse from the book of Proverbs in the Bible, followed by a story about a dog. For the record, I don't know where the author got the stories - I assume she put out a call to people she knew, and collected these. The eclectic sourcing means that the stories themselves are uneven in quality and style. Following each story, author Jennifer Marshall Bleakley includes two brief codas, "Paws and Ponder" (questions for reflection) and "Paws and Pray" (prayer prompts for the devout). There is also a high quality glossy photo of a dog, or sometimes two.
At a conceptual level, the idea of using animal stories to make spiritual points isn't necessarily wrong. But the execution here fails on many levels for me. For one, by focusing exclusively on the Proverbs, Bleakley paints herself into a very small corner. Every dog story must somehow relate to these pithy quotes about wisdom. Are these the best source of devotional material for the Christian? Would it not have been more interesting to open up the larger Bible - especially the New Testament and the teachings of Jesus? But no, the pun reigns supreme, and Bleakley forces all of her stories to sync up with a Proverb or two. Thus, the cognitive leaps she sometimes makes to create a "moralto the story," stretched my patience thin. A story about a dog that destroys its toys becomes a tale about not "trashing" God's gifts to us. A story about loyal animals is followed by a reminder of God's faithfulness to us. It's not that these parallels can't be made, of course, it's that the format of the book makes them feel imposed, not natural. Bleakley does not build to the point she is making, instead telling her story and then making her point as an entirely separate thing. Continuity and smoothness of delivery are missing.
(I won't say too much about the places where I disagree with Bleakley's theology. She treats God as punitive, which seems to me very much like the "fire and brimstone" picture of the Old Testament and not like the accepting and inclusive Jesus of the New. There's not a lot of grace here and, in Bleakley's interpretation, our opportunity to be loved by God seems to be contingent on our willingness to be "wise" about things, or to behave well. But I said I wasn't going to say too much, so I'll stop with my digression . . . )
I also disliked the way that animals were portrayed in the book. Although some of the dogs are heroic (the one who saves his owner after she slips on black ice comes to mind), others are profiled due to their bad behaviors (e.g., eating an entire chicken carcass out of the trash, or getting too close to a horse and getting kicked) and the naughty dogs are often played for laughs. My wife fosters rescue dogs, and she has taken some coursework in animal training, so I admit to a bias here. But in several of the stories in this book, the bad behaviors could have been avoided if the owners had been smarter. Acting as if the dogs are "dumb," when the owners didn't train them appropriately, listen to them, or generally put their animals in a position to succeed seems cruel. It also then feels as if we're taking the wrong lesson from the tale.
(I'm going to ignore the cheesiness of the constant dog puns and the mawkish nature of the overall layout and language for a moment. It's not my style, but perhaps it works for other people who like things cozy, charming, and kitschy. To me it feels saccharine and insincere. Oh, wait, I said I was going to ignore it. Too late, I guess.)
The one saving grace of this book proves to be the photos. Drawn from a variety of private and public sources, the animal photography in this volume is quite nice. There are some amazing shots of various breeds of dogs in a variety of poses. Beautiful. It's not enough to make me keep the book or recommend it to others, but it provided some respite from the bad theology, poor writing, cheesy puns, and stupid animal owner stories.
March 9, 2025
As anybody who has ever had a dog can tell you, life may be a lot of things but it's rarely boring. Whether it's a run in with a skunk, running off with their best friends, or raiding chicken coops everyone has a story that revolves around their furry friend. There are 50 short stories, either personal or told to her by close friends, of doggy anecdotes, each paired with a Biblical Proverb. Some stories will have you laughing, others tugging at your heartstrings, but all will remind you of why we love our furry companions.
This book was given to me as a gift, and while I don't often buy non-fiction for myself I really enjoyed this book. As someone who has had a dog for most of my life, there were stories I could relate too, and others had me being thankful I haven't experienced it yet.
This book was given to me as a gift, and while I don't often buy non-fiction for myself I really enjoyed this book. As someone who has had a dog for most of my life, there were stories I could relate too, and others had me being thankful I haven't experienced it yet.
December 9, 2023
In Pawverbs for a Dog Lover's Heart, Jennifer Marshall Bleakley shares captivating stories that contain powerful life lessons. The beautiful, full-color photos coupled with practical life principles encourage and inspire the reader to live life with courage, compassion, and kindness. Touching on emotions, experiences, and challenges that are common to us all, Jennifer helps us see the beautiful truth tucked inside the mundane moments of life and the unexpected ways God can speak to us through the canine companions He has placed in our lives. This book is packed with golden nuggets of wisdom that will benefit readers young and old.
November 16, 2024
This was a feel good book of 50 stories centered around dogs and so many positive interactions they add to our lives. Each short story ends with two short sections entitled “Paws & Ponder” and “Paws & Pray.” The pictures between each story are beautiful and a good reminder to think about one story before moving to the next.
August 5, 2025
I love this book. This is perfect for any dog owner or lover. 50 inspirational stories. Endless amounts of beautiful dog pictures. Every story ends with a reflection and a rightful prayer. This book is an enjoyable blessing.
August 6, 2025
This book was gifted to me last Christmas and I finally got the chance to read it. As a life-long dog lover, this book made me smile, chuck, laugh out loud, and even tear up. Dogs are such an enrichment to human lives.
November 5, 2025
A more balanced history was the goal and I think the author makes a good case that there is far more to the story than the west and southwest Pacific. I do like the occasional, if not outright joke, good humor in the prose.
March 26, 2022
A book that I will continue to read and keep by my nightstand.
April 13, 2022
Has some cute and some sad short reads
May 30, 2022
Loved all the pictures!! Such cute stories!
August 25, 2023
Reading one a day and smiling at the dig phots is very good for the soul
May 13, 2024
If you love dogs and God as much as I do, this book is for you. Absolutely beautiful and touching. Will be gifting this one to several of you.
August 18, 2024
Such a good book! I tried to only read one or two stories a day as it was so good!
October 6, 2024
Not really a book to finish. More of a read some every few days. Quite cute.
January 20, 2026
Such a cute book that made some great connections between the loyalty of a dog to the God who loves us deeply no matter our baggage.
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews