The Marley and Me film is coming out on Christmas Day. I’ve read the book. It’s a cute book. And if you just like dogs, well, it’s a good cuddly dog book. I’m sure the movie will be like that, too.
However, the subtitle of this book calls Marley the world’s worst dog. He was not.
Marley was a field line Lab that was kept in non-working home in the suburbs. That’s a recipe for a dog that is going to act out at some point. Marley actually adapted the best he could to this environment, which is about as natural for a working retriever as the zoo is for a tiger.
The person who posted this video on youtube called it his or her “favorite book.” It is a good book, but my favorite book is Tolstoy’s The Death of Ivan Illych. My favorite dog book is Merle’s Door: Lessons from a Free-thinking Dog. It is about a similar dog, a Lab-golden mix, a Lab-rebone mix, or a rebone-golden mix, but Merle’s owner doesn’t try to bend him into an idealized version of what dogs are supposed to be. Merle is allowed lots exercise. He is allowed to socialize with other dogs, and he is trained using more scientific and more effective methods than the ones that Marley was subjected to.
Really, I’d like to see a movie about Merle, but Marley is more relatable to the average American, who lives in the suburbs and cannot fathom a dog running around in the great outdoors. The book has lots of biological and behavioral science in it, which is why they’ll never make a movie out of it. However, I love it, but then I’m a dog nerd.
In the end, I wish Marley’s owner had done a bit more research on the breed before selecting one. I know that everyone wants a Lab, but if you get a performance line (field-bred) Lab, you’d better give him lots of exercise and training.
If you just want a dog, why not rescue one?
And if you don’t have lots of time to train and exercise a dog, I’d seriously suggest two breeds: the pug and the Boston terrier. They may have genetic problems. They may be unnatural in their conformation. But they aren’t as driving and wild as working dogs can be.
We have to blame the movies to some extent for this phenomenon. Every time a Beethoven movie comes out a whole batch of Saint Bernard puppies get temporary homes (I have no doubt that there was a similar rise in yellow Lab adoptions after Marley came out). Later, folks like my wife and I have to rescue as many as we can when its “discovered” by the new owners, how big Saints really get or how much they drool, or how needy they are.
Dogs, like kids, aren’t objects that you can pick up, play with for a bit, and then put away until your interest peaks again. They’re living beings, bred to rely on and live with humans. Each breed has its own characteristics and it behooves the would-be owner to find out what they are before buying that cute puppy. In other words, if you’re a couch potato don’t by a Border Collie, a Lab or a Golden; if your a neat freak don’t buy a Mastiff or a Saint, etc., etc.