Red Dog actually existed; the author notes in the author's note that the stories he tells in the book are all based in reality, and that all he invented were the characters. He first came across mention of Red Dog in 1998 when he went to Perth to attend a literature festival; part of the program was that the author would make his way to Karratha, a mining town to the north. There he came across a bronze statue of Red Dog, and wanted to find out more. To write the book, he later returned to the area, and just drove around & collected stories about Red Dog. He got some of his info from newspaper cuttings as well as two other books published about the dog in Australia.
The book is only 119 pages long of which the last three contain a brief glossary of Aussie terms. I read that part first and I would advise you to do the same. The story itself isn't one long narrative, but rather short little glimpses of Red Dog's life and adventures. Red Dog was loved by many people, didn't really have an owner, and was independent and assertive enough so that people let him have his way, and eventually, a majority of the people who came in touch with Red Dog ended up loving him.
The book is at times laugh-out-loud funny & you actually begin to feel that you are getting to know this dog while you're reading the book. The story is heartwarming yet a little sad at the end, but what a great story it is!
To be quite honest, I don't normally like stories about animals, and I picked this up only because it was recommended to me as a choice for novels set in Australia or by Australian authors, but I ended up absolutely loving this book. I would simply recommend it to EVERYONE, dog lover or no. For you cat people, there are some funny bits about a cat in here.