My Life in Dog Years is an autobiography because it is about Paulsen's relationship with dogs, but the dogs are the stars of the book. Paulsen declares: I am—I say this with some pride and not a little wonder—a "dog person." I make no excuses for unabashedly loving them—all of them, even some that have bitten me. I have always had dogs and will have dogs until I die. I have rescued dozens of dogs from pounds, always have five or six of them around me, and cannot imagine living without dogs. They are wonderful and, I think, mandatory for decent human life.

These are the most important facts a reader needs to know about Paulsen for My Life in Dog Years. Other facts come out in his stories of his dogs—that he likes to wander...