…once an authorized off-leash ‘dog-park’ was proposed and a petition presented to the Littlefield Board of Aldermen, fierce arguments erupted over whose rights to the park should be upheld, and the town broke into factions…
-- Narrator (Chapter 1)

Importance: From the very start of the novel, the narrator lays out the predicament of Littlefield. The proposal to allow dogs to run free in the park, however, causes the otherwise warm and friendly town to go to war with itself. People line up on different sides over the issue, and are prepared to go to war.

With all these dogs, these are very strange times.
-- Hedy (Chapter 5)

Importance: When Margaret, Hedy, and Clarice learn of a second dog killed in Littlefield, they know something is going on. Hedy expresses it best by talking about the dogs that are being killed. She explains they are living in very strange times. Normally, such a remark by Hedy would be taken...