It is one of life’s great mysteries (an undeniably beautiful mystery) that simply can’t be explained (at least in rational human terms). I am of course talking about the bond between humans and their dogs. We feed, walk, cuddle and share life with them. And our lives are vehemently enriched and more joyful for it. When it is time to say a final good-bye, our hearts are broken. Sometimes forever.

In Australian author, Markus Zusak’s, recent memoir about his three rescue dogs (Reuben, Archer and Frosty), Three Wild Dogs and the Truth, there is a poignant but entertaining twist. The twist being that these dogs were (Rueben and Archer) and are (Frosty) completely naughty and feral, albeit highly loveable and loving.

After being the stoic owners of two recalcitrant and aloof cats (Bijoux and Brutus), proud Sydney-siders, Markus and Mika Zusak, along with their young daughter, Kitty, from the affluent eastern suburbs (“We don’t belong in the eastern suburbs, not really – one of the fancier parts of Sydney. Mika’s from the west. I’m from the distant south”), decide (?fatefully) to get a dog.

“That night in November, 2009 Mika was scanning the internet for abandoned dogs. My obvious advice for anyone approaching those animal websites is that whatever you do, if you’re only fifty per cent sure, don’t look. Once you’ve looked, you’re gone. You might as well start buying the food, the leads, the beds, the toys, and finding your nearest vet”.

There’s a not inconsiderable complication for the Zusak clan. Mika “has a knack for finding problem dogs – the ones no-one else can handle”.

And so the hurricane-like dog called ‘Rueben’ is seen online by Mika, decided upon to be taken in by Markus and Mika, and adopted into the Zusak family (Mika is pregnant with another baby, Noah, at this time). 

Rueben was a puppy of brown and black and had been “advertised as a Great Dane crossed with a Labrador”. In reality, he may have been comprised of many breeds.

Rueben quickly became ‘Markus’s dog’ but Reuben also had a great love for Kitty. “Every day was a tea party or picnic”.

Taking Reuben to Centennial park every day was an adventure (not always pleasant) for Markus, and of course the ever forward-thinking (what trouble can I get in to next?) Rueben. 

Markus tells us of his and Rueben’s jaunts to the park, “sometimes we walked down into that valley and it looked like a Hallmark greeting card. Dogs were prancing and frolicking, playing nicely; their owners chatting cordially, nursing tea or takeaway coffee cups. ……Then Rueben came – everything changed. Somewhere between a dozen to twenty dogs would instantly be chasing him, barking and carrying on”.

Rueben attacked the plumber, bit the piano teacher, was eyed suspiciously by other dog owners, carried out mayhem and disruption on an unprecedented scale to unsuspecting dogs and people, and became a problem for the Zusaks.

However, Markus writes “You take in a dog. The dog’s problematic. You do a good deed and you keep him. You don’t ditch him at the first signs of trouble”.

When former street dog, Archer (“a cross between a Staffy and Labrador”) joins the Zusak family, Reuben has a partner-in-crime and trouble-making accomplice. “Sure, they were wild and troublesome, but their flipside was beauty and light”.

Of great hilarity (because it has a happy ending) is the drug overdose incident with Rueben that entails a much-needed trip to the vet, the constantly trustworthy Paul. Suffice to say that Rueben has a cast-iron stomach.

After Rueben and Archer leave this world, the Zusak’s take in Frosty (another dog from the pound). Frosty is large, white, rambunctious and delightful. A dog to treasure.

And so the Zusaks (particularly Markus) become yet again the greatly enviable persons in our society known as dog owners or ‘dog people’. 

Despite their innumerable faults, Rueben, Archer and Frosty were and are dogs that taught Markus and his kind family so much. Unconditional love (from dogs and humans), rock-solid loyalty and faithfulness, and that no-one (dogs included) is beyond redemption and a second-chance in life.

Ruben, Archer and Frosty make not have been entirely loveable (for all their misdeeds) but the Zusak clan loved them as fiercely as any dog owner can love their dog. And the dogs unwaveringly loved them back in abundance.

As Markus writes so well and poignantly, “We take these animals in, often grudgingly, and all they do is love us”.

Rueben, Archer and Frosty may have wreaked havoc in the world as well as loving their owners and others (including destroying books and spooking dogs and their owners), but their love was strong and never-ending. A love for their ‘people’ and a love for life.

I have a confession to make. I have long been a dog lover. Give me any book where dogs are discussed and I’m hooked from page one. I love and adore my sister’s black Labrador, Miffy, and every day spent in her presence is a good day.

Whilst Miffy does not exhibit the naughtiness of Rueben, Archer and Frosty, there is a strong commonality between them. And that is a dog’s love for humans and a dog grabbing life’s opportunities with both hands (or paws!).

Bravo Markus! You have knocked it out of the ballpark with this memoir, a love letter to your dogs and all the adventure and love that they have brought to your and your family’s lives.

I smiled and laughed as I read each sanguinely exquisite page of this book. There were also moments that made me want to cry (aka when Rueben and Archer breathe their last).

I loved reading Three Wild Dogs and the Truth. Dog lovers will be enraptured by this book and even those who aren’t fans of our canine friends will be be highly entertained and captivated by this tribute to doggie friends.

If there is a doggie heaven, I am sure that Rueben and Archer are there (Frosty is still alive) and running across lush green fields and eating succulent steaks, all with a smile on their face.

Our dogs give us so much, yet ask for so little in return. Whatever we give them, we get back a thousand times. Love and devotion to the end.

A worthy quote by blind and deaf American author, disability right advocate, political activist and lecturer, Helen Keller (1880 – 1968) deserves to be mentioned, as it relates to the character traits of dogs in our lives – love, loyalty and eternal devotion.

“The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched – they must be felt with the heart”.

A special shout-out to our special doggie friends everywhere!