A GREAT READ (and now a popular family movie)

"Marley and Me" by John Grogan

When considering finding a "new home" for his young Lab, Marley, Grogan wrote:

"He had come a great distance from the spastic puppy we had brought home two years earlier. In his own flawed way, he was trying. Part of our journey as his owners was to mold him to our needs, but part also was to accept him for what he was. Not just accept him, but to celebrate him and his indomitable canine spirit. We had brought into our home a breathing being, not as a fashion accessory to prop in the corner. For better or worse he was our dog. He was part of the family, and, for all his flaws, he had returned our affection one hundredfold. Devotion such as his could not be bought for any price

I was not ready to give up on him."


In a recent article by John Grogan written after the filming of "Marley and Me," he told of being given one of the 32 puppies used in the film. They named the pup Woodson. After several weeks it became obvious Woodson had some health problems noticed in his gait. Woodson's both hips were malformed. As can be imagined the breeder was mortified and said to bring Woodson back and he would replace him.
As tempting as the offer was, the Grogen family decided, "Dogs are not commodities to be discared when they break."
As he finished the article, and the reason I'm telling about it here, Grogen writes "Woodson will never go hunting or hiking or even on long walks, and that's OK. Some dogs are put on this earth just to love you." Amen.