Overview

A lovely recounting of a very small puppy’s first year.

Blurb

In May 2023, Brian Porter and his wife added a new member to their family of rescue dogs: in this case, a tiny Dachshund puppy who they named Heidi.

She had been the runt of a litter and barely survived her first day of life. Only the love and devotion of the lady who bred her managed to literally breathe life into her lungs, and proceeded to hand-rear her for the first two crucial weeks of her life. Having recently lost their beloved Muttley, the Porters decided to give this beautiful puppy a home.

This book chronicles Heidi’s first year with the family and how she was accepted immediately by the rest of the dogs, despite some initial worries by Brian and Juliet. Anyone who’s ever raised a puppy will recognise many of the trials they went through in those early months: the laughs, the utter mayhem and the satisfaction that comes from seeing an undersized, weak and vulnerable puppy dog grow and learn to love life.

Review.

Brian and his wife, Juliet, have dedicated their lives to rescuing many dogs who have suffered terrible things. Those who have read Mr Porter’s previous books about these dogs will know how dedicated they are to this project. This is number 11 in the series.

Sadly, one of the six rescue dogs, Muttley, became ill and died at the age of thirteen. Juliet decided that, in order to help her husband to get over the loss, a new puppy would be the right thing. But her suggestions fell on deaf ears.

She suggested a dachshund, as the first two dogs Brian had were two dachshunds, Sophie and Candy. (You can read about them in Sophie and Candy. A tale of two dachshunds.)

It took a while, but eventually, Brian went to look at a litter and fell in love with a tiny scrap of a puppy. She had almost died, being so small, even for a dachshund, and only lived thanks to Julie, the owner of the mother. Brian decided to buy Heidi, as he named her.

When the day came to bring her home, both he and Juliet were concerned about how the other dogs would react. But I’m saying no more about that here, as it would be a spoiler.

The book goes on to tell of how Heidi grows from a tiny puppy to a happy, confident little dog. We learn of her antics, and how her personality develops throughout her first year.

There are lots of pictures of both Heidi and the other dogs, as well, so we know exactly what they look like, which is lovely.

There are some typos, but that did not detract from my enjoyment of the book.

This is a very readable book. I fell in love with Heidi, as I am sure all readers will.

I give it 4*.

My ranking of books.

In order to get a particular number of stars, it is not necessary to meet all the criteria. This is a guide only. This guide refers to fiction, as you will notice, but I think it gives the general idea of my thinking.

5* Exceptional. Wonderful story. Setting well drawn, and characters believable–not perfect, but with flaws. Will keep you up all night. No typos or grammatical errors.

4* A thoroughly enjoyable read. Great and original story. Believable setting and characters. Very few grammatical errors or typos.

3* I enjoyed it. Good story. Characters need some development. Some typos or grammatical errors.

2* Not for me. Story not very strong. Unbelievable and flat characters. Setting not clearly defined. Many typos or grammatical errors.

1* I hated it. Story almost non-existent. Setting poor. Possibly couldn’t finish it.

Have you read any of Brian Porter’s A Family of Rescue Dogs? Please leave your comments in the comments box. I love to hear from you.