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Howl: A Collection of the Best Contemporary Dog Wit
A pot roast left unguarded. An open bedroom door. An ill-timed squat. Dogs seem to have impeccable timing. Yet how quickly calamity turns to comedy in the company of a dog, and the wrong moment turns out to be just the right one. In this delightful follow-up to Dog Is My Co-Pilot, which won the Best Book of the Year award from the Dog Writers Association of America, the editors of The Bark bring together more stories, essays, and artwork that highlight the hilarity of dog behavior and the comical interactions between dog people and their four-legged friends. From playful puppies who wreak havoc in the home to dogs with a whole array of comic shticks and tricks, Howl celebrates the verve and the laughs pets offer their people. It includes laugh-out-loud reflections (and confessions), rib-tickling tales, and whimsical vignettes from well-known writers such • Dave Barry• Margaret Cho• Al Franken• Kinky Friedman• Pam Houston• Haven Kimmel• Neal Pollack• And many more!
354 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2007
19 people are currently reading
152 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
March 3, 2014
I read as much as I could... To be fair, it was a different author each chapter (so they each had their own story), but after a while it became a tiresome parade of jokes about picking up poop and neutering and variations on those two themes... or sad stories about rescued animals... or both in the same chapter.
It elicited a few hearty guffaws, the two best chapters were "I Done Them Wrong" by Cathy Crimmins, and "Kirby," by Al Franken--remind me not to get a lab (black or otherwise). There may have been more nuggets of wisdom, but I wasn't willing to wade through the rest the way.
It elicited a few hearty guffaws, the two best chapters were "I Done Them Wrong" by Cathy Crimmins, and "Kirby," by Al Franken--remind me not to get a lab (black or otherwise). There may have been more nuggets of wisdom, but I wasn't willing to wade through the rest the way.
May 19, 2013
Lee Harrington
Yes, as a contributor to this collection, I am a bit biased, but these are some of the wittiest essays about dogs I have every read. A must-read for all dog lovers.
Yes, as a contributor to this collection, I am a bit biased, but these are some of the wittiest essays about dogs I have every read. A must-read for all dog lovers.
March 30, 2008
A collections of short sometimes funny sometimes pensive tidbits about dogs, written by dog lovers. Easy to read, no great investment of time or brain cells.
November 17, 2008
It was supposed to be a collection of short stories aimed at pet humor. Unfortunately, it wasn't funny.
April 12, 2009
If you own a dog or love dogs, this book has some laugh-out-loud moments. I really liked Kinky Friedman's essay. However, overall, not quite a "howl."
December 24, 2010
Some of the pieces deserved 5 stars; others were skippable.
March 26, 2012
It was just ok. It did have one very good story about an abandoned dog. The rest of it was not very witty, inspiring, or funny.
November 28, 2020
So this was billed as a book of funny stories about dogs and things relating to dogs. Maybe I am not enough of a dog person, but I would says that nothing was laugh-out-loud funny for me. Most stories were mildly amusing. I found it a good bedside table book. At bedtime I could pick it up and read a story or two in order to transition between wake and sleeping. I did not have to worry about running into anything so exciting that I would find myself unable to put it down and staying up until 1 AM.
July 9, 2017
I love the Bark magazine and got this book free with my next years subscription (such a great birthday present!) and I was excited to read this book but found it mostly disappointing. I love dog stories, but these were trying to be "funny ." Mostly they just fell flat for me. I think I'm too earnest to enjoy most comedy writing so despite being a dog nut I probably wasn't the right audience for this book, that said I'm glad it's on my bookcase
August 4, 2018
So dissappointing, put it down halfway through. The essays were not funny, the book's name is inaccurate. It started to feel like a chore to read through, which is when I realized it was time to move on. Far and away the best story in the volume is "I done them wrong...." by Cathy Crimmins, but that can be easily found online, no full book required.
December 29, 2017
I love dogs and I love comedy and wit, but this book just falls flat for me. There are a few gems in here, but other stories are just painfully unfunny. I’ve seen and heard a lot better.
February 11, 2019
Includes some funny dog stories. Worth reading.
Read
December 31, 2019Thought it would be funnier than it was. Last story was very thought provoking. More poignant than funny overall.
May 15, 2022
a mixed bag, as are most collections. The best part of the book is probably the cover.
June 3, 2024
A collection of short story's all about dogs. The tales of real dogs were fun and enjoyable, but half of the book was boring nonsense, hard to get though.
July 15, 2025
Like most essay/short story collections, some of the pieces are good, some are meh, and a few are downright hilarious. Overall, though, an enjoyable read, especially for dog lovers.
September 29, 2016
After reading a few issues of The Bark about ten years ago and enjoying their first anthology Dog is My Co-Pilot I had high hopes for this book.
Which were thoroughly dashed.
Don't let the cover fool you -- this is NOT funny. Let me give publishers a little advice about dog-lovers -- we do NOT find stories about dying dogs or stolen dogs that vanish forever funny. We find them horrifying and nightmare-inducing.
Now, for a book about "dog wit" you have to expect some bathroom humor and snide remarks about dogs' overenthusiastic behavior, rolling in corpses and chasing squirrels. But to have these jokes again and again and again ruins their tenuous charm.
Another problem is that much of the selections here would never have been accepted by The Bark about ten years ago, when I had their publishing guidelines practically memorized. I tried writing stuff for them, which were all rejected (and rightly so.) But I did at least follow the guidelines. One rule was "We will reject anything that appears to be written from a dog's point of view." About a third of these selections were written from a dog's point of view.
That being said, there were a few good entries, such as the ones from Dave Barry (who provided one of the only laughs in the book) and "Canine Einstein?" from John Warner. There also was an interesting little essay by Mark Newgarten on the history of a non-copyrighted doggie cartoon "How to Housebreak Your Dog" by the creator of the Nancy comic strip. The absolute best was a John Swifitan satire on the sheer ridiculousness of breeding unhealthy dogs just because they look cute, Georgia Getz's "How to Raise and Train Your Mini-Berger-With-Cheese Doodle."
The cartoons and doodles gracing every selection's beginning (and sometimes ends and middles) of selections were better than most of the text.
Which were thoroughly dashed.
Don't let the cover fool you -- this is NOT funny. Let me give publishers a little advice about dog-lovers -- we do NOT find stories about dying dogs or stolen dogs that vanish forever funny. We find them horrifying and nightmare-inducing.
Now, for a book about "dog wit" you have to expect some bathroom humor and snide remarks about dogs' overenthusiastic behavior, rolling in corpses and chasing squirrels. But to have these jokes again and again and again ruins their tenuous charm.
Another problem is that much of the selections here would never have been accepted by The Bark about ten years ago, when I had their publishing guidelines practically memorized. I tried writing stuff for them, which were all rejected (and rightly so.) But I did at least follow the guidelines. One rule was "We will reject anything that appears to be written from a dog's point of view." About a third of these selections were written from a dog's point of view.
That being said, there were a few good entries, such as the ones from Dave Barry (who provided one of the only laughs in the book) and "Canine Einstein?" from John Warner. There also was an interesting little essay by Mark Newgarten on the history of a non-copyrighted doggie cartoon "How to Housebreak Your Dog" by the creator of the Nancy comic strip. The absolute best was a John Swifitan satire on the sheer ridiculousness of breeding unhealthy dogs just because they look cute, Georgia Getz's "How to Raise and Train Your Mini-Berger-With-Cheese Doodle."
The cartoons and doodles gracing every selection's beginning (and sometimes ends and middles) of selections were better than most of the text.
February 14, 2013
Amy wrote she read as much as she could.
Agree that....this was often a tough read.
Well, you come to expect such when you opt for an anthology.
I read 'em all; the good, the bad, and the whatevers.
Many were more than rewarding. 'Dog is my Co-depndent', the endpiece has the perspective to mention .... my own dog's lfie changed for the worse the minute I brought him inside....his days as a free-range dog were numbered...eventually.
I do not what is best for him but what is best for me... and all the doggie playdates in the world would never give him half as good a life as he'd had when, like the dogs I now see fit to "rescue", he lived in perpetual danger of getting run over on the road...
..when he looked in the mirror on that first day indoors he was seeing not himself or even another dog, but the refletion of insatiable human need.
We call that love,
but there is no love that doesn't come at the cost of some degree of freedom.
To love our dogs is to hope they love us bacfk enough that it was worth their sacrifice.
Amen, please pass the kleenex.
Agree that....this was often a tough read.
Well, you come to expect such when you opt for an anthology.
I read 'em all; the good, the bad, and the whatevers.
Many were more than rewarding. 'Dog is my Co-depndent', the endpiece has the perspective to mention .... my own dog's lfie changed for the worse the minute I brought him inside....his days as a free-range dog were numbered...eventually.
I do not what is best for him but what is best for me... and all the doggie playdates in the world would never give him half as good a life as he'd had when, like the dogs I now see fit to "rescue", he lived in perpetual danger of getting run over on the road...
..when he looked in the mirror on that first day indoors he was seeing not himself or even another dog, but the refletion of insatiable human need.
We call that love,
but there is no love that doesn't come at the cost of some degree of freedom.
To love our dogs is to hope they love us bacfk enough that it was worth their sacrifice.
Amen, please pass the kleenex.
December 16, 2010
Short stories about dogs, what could be better? Seriously, the only thing that kept this book from getting the 5th star was the lack of a story about a bulldog. C'mon, bulldogs are a laugh a minute, surely there must be anecdotes out there.
I read this off and on over dinner during the week, and the stories were perfect lengths to get through a few in an hour. There wasn't a bad one in the lot, and I was pleased to see contributions from some of my favorite dog authors like J.F. Englert and Susan Conat.
The last page in the book directs readers towards the first collection of dog stories, and I look forward to reading that one too.
I read this off and on over dinner during the week, and the stories were perfect lengths to get through a few in an hour. There wasn't a bad one in the lot, and I was pleased to see contributions from some of my favorite dog authors like J.F. Englert and Susan Conat.
The last page in the book directs readers towards the first collection of dog stories, and I look forward to reading that one too.
December 1, 2016
The essays are ok. The description of the book and the quotes on the back make it seem as if it is a collection of funny essays about dogs. Most of these essays are not funny. Some are interesting. Some are down-right depressing. It is quite a mixed bag. But if you are looking for humor, this is not it.
April 2, 2008
Sorry - not that funny! Unless there's a real gem hidden at the end of the book (haven't made it to the end). But how often is that the case?
_____________________________
Dave Barry contributed?? Say no more!
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Dave Barry contributed?? Say no more!
January 18, 2015
This book just didn't find a place in my different reading stacks around the house, and I had only read two stories before it was due to be returned to the library. The stories I read got a chuckle or two out of me at the time, but definitely nothing that has stuck with me.
September 14, 2008
Hilarious book and not as sad or melodramatic as many books of dog themed short stories. Will make you appreciate the special sense of humor of dogs and dogowners.
Currently reading
June 17, 2009A fun collection of short stories about dogs. Always a welcome change from big book reading.
July 22, 2012
Good to fair collection of dog stories.
February 28, 2020
They're all good writers, Brent.
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews