Cover of Wally's World: Life with Wally the Wonder Dog

Wally's World: Life with Wally the Wonder Dog

It takes about sixty-three days to make a litter of puppies, but sixty-three years later the people who loved those puppies remember the dogs they became.

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When a puppy that fit into a baseball cap entered bestselling author and shepherd Marsha Boulton's life she had no idea he was really a rambunctious kid in a dog suit. Wally (named after the poet Wallace Stevens), a loopy-nosed bull terrier whose face looked like a bicycle seat with eyes, became more of an experience than a dog from the moment he arrived at Lambs' Quarters Farm. He proved to be a valuable hand on the farm and an even more valuable companion. The spoiled, personality-loaded, soccer-playing pup quickly developed a penchant for high-thread-count linens, organic beef, and gourmet cooking. Life was good.

Then all hell broke loose. An intense legal battle engulfed Marsha's partner, Stephen, and plunged the couple into a punishing, decade-long struggle. During that time Marsha was also diagnosed with cancer. With his indomitable spirit and wild enthusiasms, Wally's unrelenting appetite for life and carpe diemattitude renewed the couple's ability to step outside themselves and gave them the strength and perspective they needed to persevere. Whether playing class clown at puppy school or looking up the skirts of judges at dog shows, Wally the Wonder Dog ensured that serious laughter was a daily routine. Wally's Worldis a raucous memoir, a roller-coaster ride with an irrepressible partner in paws who is impossible to forget.

Audience
adult

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