This is the story of five talking dogs—four living and one dead. It contains about seventy-two thousand words. The story deals with how these canines react to the human world, its rules, and its way of life. Although this is a book of fantasy, it portrays how the dogs might interact with the humans. The dogs try to figure out what makes the humans tick in the manner they do. They are certainly an odd duck species. The story reveals how the dogs live for the moment, not concerned with the future. Meanwhile, the humans live for the future, which may never come. While the dogs are prepared for the next life, the humans are definitely not prepared. The dogs know where they are going. The humans think they are going to one place but are really going to another. It’s a story of love, compassion, relationships, endurance, dependence, and independence.
The main characters are five dogs:
Runner, a greyhound, the leader of the pact
Danny, a greyhound, deceased and spiritual leader and earthly advisor
Vinney, a whippet and risk-taking lunatic that acts first and thinks later
Doggie, a treeing walker coonhound and cocker spaniel mix and an immigrant from West Virginia who is educated and rational
Peanut Butter, a pug and beagle mix that is naive and uneducated except for four months in a biology class.
Danny, the dead one, communicates with the Almighty frequently. The Almighty informs Danny about the dogs’ next adventure as to benefits and hazards. Danny relays the info to Runner. On every adventure, the dogs run against the grain of the law. The Almighty makes sure the dogs never get into trouble. He is an accessory to their crimes, before and after the act. The dogs seem to be invulnerable to prosecution, thanks to the Almighty’s playing interference for the dogs.
