One man and two dogs

In the time of plague or, more correctly, during the 2020 lockdown the sports journalist Andrew Cotter found himself without an occupation and with plenty of free time on his hands. He, like many other people, decided that now was the time to concentrate on dogs but unlike most of the rest of us he took funny videos of his companions and posted them to the Internet. They became hugely popular and this book has been written to talk about that time and how important his two dogs are in his life. I haven’t heard of this author before, I have never listened to his sports commentary and I never saw his social media posts but nevertheless I found his book highly entertaining.

In Olive, Mabel and Me the author tells us about his two Labradors, their characters and their activities. He also has a great love of walking up large hills in the UK, especially Scotland, and the book reflects that love. It’s really a celebration of the love and companionship that the dogs have brought into his life and the joy that their characters and quirks bring to him. If you are, or have been, a dog owner you will smile at much of what he says as you recognise similarities with your own canine companions.

There’s not a lot of meat in this book and it’s not one I would ever reread but it was entertaining and enjoyable. The author conveys the characters of his pets brilliantly and also his love of big hills. All three characters, human and canine, are pleasant companions for the reader and the book passes the time very nicely. It is interesting to compare the author’s views of dogs and their lives with that of the author of My Dog Tulip (see review here) – both authors have very different approaches to dog ownership.