W. Bruce Cameron explores the idea of the various lives of a dog spent protecting people: first, as a dog named Buddy, he looks after his master, Ethan. When Ethan dies, Buddy’s new charge is Ethan’s tiny toddler granddaughter Clarity. She calls the dog “Bubby”, and they bond after Buddy rescues Clarity from drowning after she toddles off the backyard dock. Clarity’s horribly narcissistic mother, Gloria, was paying more attention to her tan than her daughter. When confronted by her mother-in -law, Gloria then accuses the dog of pushing the child into the water. This sets the tone for the mother- daughter – dog relationship (no dad, he dies in a crash) for the remainder of the novel. Buddy now begins another dog life as Molly, a poodle mix, whose mission is to protect the teenage anorexic Clarity. Now known as CJ, Clarity decides to run away, to escape her thief/stalker boyfriend & crazy dog – hating Gloria to strike out on her own, with only her dog, Molly for protection. The next doggy life is spent as Max, a fiercely protective chihuahua, who recognizes the twenty something CJ and inserts himself into her life once again. And it continues into Gloria’s later life with another doggy life as the beagle Toby.
The writer does bring into play the aspect of dogs being able to identify people with cancer by their smell, which I found intriguing. This led me to look up studies that seem to indicate this is a possibility. I enjoyed the novel, which follows another title by Cameron – A Dog’s Journey. For dog lovers everywhere…