Bad Dog

Starred review from April 4, 2011
Kihn, a television writer turned management consultant, recovering alcoholic, and dog lover, shows how healing can come from the most unlikely of sources. He introduces us to the overzealous and energetic Hola, his five-year-old Bernese mountain dog who greets friends and strangers alike with full-body slams, chases buses, terrifies her family, and has the distinction of being expelled from two obedience schools. When we meet Kihn, he's doing no better. An out-of-shape, deeply in debt alcoholic, Kihn is on the verge of separating from his wife. He trades his need for booze for a need for Hola to win a Canine Good Citizen rating in the hopes of convincing his wife that both master and pooch are deserving of forgiveness and another chance. As Kihn struggles to stay sober, Hola's training becomes a lifelineâand a clue to his recovery: he comes to realize his wayward dog is actually very intelligent; he's been her greatest obstacle all along as his anxiety has been causing her to act out. This wry memoir of the human-dog bond is one that eschews the usual treacly sentimentality in favor of a raw, deeply sincere, and self-aware homage to this powerful bond.

June 15, 2012
Kihn's moderately amusing tale is yet another variation on the "Marley & Me" template, though the writer's messy life receives as much attention as his pet's rambunctious behavior. Hola, a Bernese mountain dog, is seemingly untrainable, but if Kihn can make her more cooperative, perhaps he can also overcome his drinking problem and save his shaky marriage. Hola is more interesting than her master, whose musings can stray close to self-help territory. David Drummond's reading is a bit too formal for this comic material, but his Hola voice, for the dog's point of view, is charming. VERDICT Recommended for those who cannot get enough of how-my-pet-changed-my-life narratives. [This "sharply written, darkly funny memoir-cum-dog story-cum-recovery tale is a quick, absorbing read that will serve a wide audience well," read the starred review of the Pantheon hc, "LJ" 3/1/11.--Ed.]--Michael Adams, CUNY Graduate Ctr. Lib.

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