A Dog Named Beautiful: A Marine, a Dog, and a Long Road Trip Home
Written and Narrated By: Rob Kugler
Length: 8 hrs and 37 mins
Awwwww! One of the better memoirs of wonder dogs! Best. Dog. Dad. EVER!
Bella has gotta be one of the best-loved dogs out there. Or at least she was.
A Dog Named Beautiful chronicles her final journey with Rob Kugler, ex-Marine as they travel across America. He wants to show her the BEST time out there, filled with love, adventure, friends, before she passes of cancer.
The book starts with her diagnosis and the amputation of her leg, and the love never lets up. Though the story is of Kugler trying to find his way in the world and in life post-Iraq, his love for Bella is never in question. Kugler experiences loss after loss in his life, and that just makes him appreciate what he has with Bella even more. Which is good cuz the guy actually considers suicide at one point. He has his moods; he has his despair; he has his own physical pain and discomfort. He feels he is a ghost of a man.
But all that changes when he is reunited with Bella after his Iraq deployment. Rob is one devoted dog dad. And even tho’ his “voice” for Bella is goofy, it’s sweet even more than that because through his conversations with her, he finds a sense of peace. ESPECIALLY if it’s a conversation FRAUGHT with throwing a tennis ball to be fetched, like, a million times.
The book is also nice in that Kugler finds a sense of peace from service to others. He joins other veterans as they travel throughout the world to help others after hurricanes and earthquakes, devastation unimaginable. He’ll clear snow even; he just wants to be active and to help.
Mostly what I liked was how people went out of their way to help him and Bella as they traveled across the country. Need a dinner? We’d LOVE to have you and Bella over! Need a place to stay? Let Bella play with our own dogs before y’all crash in the guest room!
And: Bella needs tests and surgery?
They’ve got Rob and Bella’s back for that too. It’s precious and wonderful to listen to.
Though the ending is inevitably sad, I felt like I’d just met a really sweet pair of creatures, man and dog, who had a wonderful bond that occurred because Rob LET it occur. He was everything a dog could want in a loving, responsive, and adventurous owner.
Not quite 9 hours of pure and goofy and dog-drooling sweetness!
And, yes! A tribute to Dog Dads EVERYWHERE!!!
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