Title: Show Dog: The Charmed Life and Trying Times of a Near-Perfect Purebred
Author: Josh Dean
Genre: Journalism
Trigger Warnings: Rape (mentions), excrement, animal death (mentions)
Back Cover:
Journalist Josh Dean tells the story of a loveable Australian Shepherd, Jack, on his novice tour through the exciting world of professional dog showing, following Jack from his first competitions in local school gymnasiums all the way to the great granddaddy of them all, the Westminster Dog Show. A veteran journalist, Dean shines a warm, steady light on the trials that Jack and his plucky, dedicated owners come to face, and uses their story to explore the larger histories of dog shows themselves; the fascinating and sometimes bizarre history of purebred dogs; and our complex, heartfelt relationships to the pets we grow to love. For dog lovers, readers of Marley & Me, Merle’s Door, and Oogy, and fans of Best in Show, Dean’s Show Dog is an irresistible instant classic.
Review:
This was another recommendation from my mother-in-law. We watched the most recent Westminster dog show together and I made an offhand comment about showing Newfoundland dogs, and she suggested this book. My library had it on audiobook, so I figured, what the heck.
I generally enjoy long-form journalism and have read a few books that are essentially journalism long enough to make a book, and those one is not like those. Josh himself is barely in the book. There’s no discussion of why he was interested in dog shows or how he found Jack and his owner Kimberly or why the agreed to be part of his book. The other people in the book only interact with him a few times, and he only does anything besides watching and talking to people once. It was easy to forget this was all being observed by a journalist and often felt more like I was reading a story about these characters and their dogs.
It almost felt like Josh was trying to keep himself out of the story, which is the opposite of every long-form journalism piece I’ve read. It made the book feel less authoritative, less like a well-researched piece of journalism and more like a based-on-a-true-story tale with some facts about dogs for flavor. It also limited my engagement since I didn’t have the author as a reader avatar to follow and relate with.
That said, it was an interesting book. I learned some things about dog shows and their history, and quite a bit about Australian Shepherds in particular. The main point seemed to be “it’s harder than it looks and it’s expensive so think carefully before you get into showing dogs.” But it did tell a story that was engaging enough, and I think it did give a good behind-the-scenes look at dog showing for people who’ve never done more than watch the Westminster show on TV. It’s most definitely not a stellar example of the journalistic art, but it was a perfectly acceptable reading experience.
Bluejay Reads 