MADCAP DOGS

Chandler’s YA collection of 14 short stories depicts the interactions between humans and dogs.

Although most of the stories collected here have human narrators, the opener, “Ain’t No Fence High Enough,” is narrated by a beautiful young greyhound, Freebie, who escapes from a cruel, abusive owner. Readers meet Freebie as he’s running what will be his last race. As he struggles to move up the line of racing hounds, he feels the pain and exertion: “Now my feet hurt all the time and my head feels lighter than a butterfly. Maybe my trainer is doping me by putting stuff in my food or in the water I drink.” After he finishes in fourth place, he faces an even more dire fate; so begins an adventure in which the clever greyhound has his chance to shine. Next up is “For Want of a Wag,” a tale about a 15-year-old girl, Wanda, who’s training her sheepdog-collie mix, Ruffian, for an agility competition. During the lead-up to the event, Wanda applies for a summer job with an abrasive manager, Mr. Quibble, who rejects her application because she lacks work experience. But at the agility competition, it’s Wanda who teaches Mr. Quibble a lesson in compassion, both in his relationship to his dog and in his treatment of humans. Several stories later, Freebie narrates a sequel to the opening entry (“Bark Is a 4-Letter Word”), this time recounting two love stories, one between two humans and the other between their respective pups. He and the kind owner who adopted him in the opening story are walking down the street when Freebie meets Peaches, a labradoodle, who immediately steals his heart, inspiring him to stand up to an aggressive Rottweiler in the dog park to show Peaches that he’s not a wimp—but relationship issues between the humans may compromise the canines’ romance. The collection highlights the antics of a wide variety of pooches—playful toy dogs, hunting dogs, and one little Boston terrier who has identity issues. A courageous Dalmatian firehouse dog narrates the anthology’s finale, “Perils of the Flame,” recounting a life-threatening adventure that makes him a town hero.

Chandler’s prose is pleasantly conversational, light on linguistic complexity, and easily accessible for the early range of YA readers. Through a mixture of adventure, humor, and a touch of pathos (as in the case of Harlequin, a depressed 150-pound Great Dane who left home believing his family no longer wanted him), the dogs will win over readers completely; they’re the innocent, albeit frequently rambunctious, conveyers of important lessons in love, loyalty, and compassion. In more than one story, they’re also detectives and lifesavers. In others, their behavior exposes the human frailties and insecurities hiding behind pompous exteriors. “Clandestine Caper” is entirely about the individual humans on a mission to rescue dogs from a testing laboratory, and although readers don’t get to know the canines directly, the piece shines a bright light on the issue of unethical treatment of laboratory dogs. With intermittent tense moments that keep the pages turning, the stories are upbeat and, happily, do not require an accompanying box of tissues.

An entertaining assortment of stories that pay tribute to a bevy of endearing pups.