Alfie's Diary

ISBN-13: 9781909894266 / Angielski / Miękka / 2015 / 272 str.

Rosemary J. Kind

Opis

Alfie Dog, the founder of the Pet Dogs' Democratic Party and champion of the rights of the underdog, brings you 'Alfie's Diary - Dog enough not to be human, human enough to be a pet.' Alfie has written his diary as an internet blog since the age of 10 weeks old, developing a growing, loyal reader base and has now pulled together the best of the first year of his diary in book form. His diary presents an entertaining and thought provoking dog's eye view of the world.

His book follows his considerations of career options for dogs and his concerns that discrimination legislation needs to be extended to cover his species. He dismisses the usual occupations for Swiss Mountain Dogs, based primarily on his dislike for both bad weather and hard work and instead sets himself up as the self styled leader of his own political party. Alfie is not slow to spot opportunities and even at this tender age has identified marketing opportunities including his own range of T shirts, with slogans such as 'Isn't everyone wearing dog hair this season?', 'Minimum wage for working dogs' and 'Every dog must have his say'.

Whilst growing up in Belgium he has travelled around a number of European countries. His unique blend of observational humour and satire enables him to highlight the peculiarities of the different nationalities of humans that he finds in everyday life around him and he is more than happy to comment on their idiosyncrasies.

Alfie is depressed by the state of education of 'the dog on the street'. He is concerned that most of his fellow kind are simply trained to obey and are not provided with the tools to think for themselves. He is endearing, playful and not afraid to poke fun at everything and everyone around him, including his owners and is certainly not afraid to laugh at himself. Sadly, Alfie is never destined to have puppies of his own and he talks frankly and at times candidly about his disappointment and about the medical problems that have caused this situation. In researching his family tree he expresses concern about the close relationship of some of his ancestors.

Behind all of this Alfie talks about all the normal processes of growing up in what he regards as a slightly crazy household, together with the insecurities and emotions faced by any young puppy.

Through his revelations, his humour and his pathos, Alfie will make you laugh and at times make you cry. Most of all he will leave you wanting to meet him and find out whether the Pet Dogs' Democratic Party has had any of its policies adopted by the other political parties now that he has moved back to England.