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It takes about sixty-three days to make a litter of puppies, but sixty-three years later the people who loved those puppies remember the dogs they became. When a puppy that fit into a baseball cap entered bestselling author and shepherd Marsha Boulton’s life she had no idea he was really a rambunctious kid in a dog suit. Wally (named after the poet Wallace Stevens), a loopy-nosed bull terrier whose face looked like a bicycle seat with eyes, became more of an experience than a dog from the moment he arrived at Lambs’ Quarters Farm. He proved to be a valuable hand on the farm and an even more valuable companion. The spoiled, personality-loaded, soccer-playing pup quickly developed a penchant for high-thread-count linens, organic beef, and gourmet cooking. Life was good. Then all hell broke loose. An intense legal battle engulfed Marsha’s partner, Stephen, and plunged the couple into a punishing, decade-long struggle. During that time Marsha was also diagnosed with cancer. With his indomitable spirit and wild enthusiasms, Wally’s unrelenting appetite for life and carpe diem attitude renewed the couple’s ability to step outside themselves and gave them the strength and perspective they needed to persevere. Whether playing class clown at puppy school or looking up the skirts of judges at dog shows, Wally the Wonder Dog ensured that serious laughter was a daily routine. Wally’s World is a raucous memoir, a roller-coaster ride with an irrepressible partner in paws who is impossible to forget.
“Wally’s World is a gem. This story about a singular bull terrier that ruled the roost in a couples’ lives and hearts for a few short years is just like the breed the memoir so lovingly and poignantly portrays---funny, unexpected, and heartbreaking in the best ways.” ---Jonathan Carroll, author of the New York Times Notable Book of the Year The Wooden Sea, The Land of Laughs, and The Ghost in Love
“It is a rare treat to step into a total world revolving around a dog we’ve all dreamed about. Wally is a canine Clark Gable, a charming rogue, loved without reservation. More than that, here too is the writer’s life, with more twists and turns than a dangerous mountain road or a smooth interstate. Wally’s World took my breath away. You gotta love him and his family.” ---Mordecai Siegal, author of Dog Spelled Backwards"An entertaining and touching story of an inimitable dog whose winning personality and joie de vivre touched all who knew him. Whether during idyllic and hilarious times as a farm dog or helping his people navigate a Kafkaesque legal case, Wally was ever ready to inspire, comfort and bring joy to those he loved." —Claudia Kawczynska, Editor in Chief of The Bark Magazine"Wally, who is the centre of Boulton's and Williams' worlds, provides comic relief through the book as he does in real life. He's good natured, charming and loaded with personality. He'll do anything for a cookie or a ball." – Joanne Shuttleworth, Guelph Mercury"Wally is more like the thread that holds the book together -- just as he has helped to hold the author together during difficult times." – Kitchener-Waterloo Record"If you like pets, you will love Wally's World. "Wally uses his bully front paws as adeptly as Oscar Peterson uses his hands on the piano . . . he jumps in the air to make a header and has bounced tennis balls off his nose since he was a puppy." – Andrew Armitage, Owen Sound Sun Times"Wally's World is a gripping memoir that moves gracefully between humorous stories about Wally, the beloved dog cum child, and Boulton's narrative of Williams's tribulations, told with icy irony and barely restrained anger - 'not all that much has changed since Salem.'" – Elizabeth Abbott, Globe and Mail
Marsha Boulton is an award-winning, bestselling author and speaker. She continues to write and maintain her farm in southwestern Ontario with her partner, Stephen Williams, and their furry child, a bull terrier puppy named Monk. She has been a contributor to programs such as Fresh Air on public radio for a more than a decade. She is the recipient of the Leacock Medal for Humor and is recognized by a YWCA Women of Distinction Award in Arts and Culture. She is the only Shepherd-Author listed in Who’s Who of Canada.
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