"Kill a plant, buy a puppy. Well, of course it made perfect sense." Chapter 1, pg. 3

"His body would quiver, his head would bob from side to side, and his entire rear end would swing in a sort of spastic dance. We called it he Marley Mambo." Chapter 4, pg. 25

"We wouldn't realize it until years later, but he showed early signs of that condition that would later be coined to describe the behavior of thousands of hard-to-control, ants-in-their-pants schoolchildren. Our puppy had a textbook case of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder." Chapter 4, pg. 27

"Our rambunctious, wired dog stood with his shoulders between Jenny's knees, his big, blocky head resting quietly in her lap." Chapter 6, pg. 49

"Ireland was a coast-to-coast No Sex Zone. And that was all the invitation I needed. We spent the trip bopping like bunnies." Chapter 10, pg. 88

"He was a gentle giant around Patrick, and he accepted his...