Author Description

So just who is "Man's Best Friend" anyway? Not cats, surely? They sharpen their claws on our furniture. They wail like banshees in the depths of night. They kill off our songbirds and expect us to be grateful when they bring half-dead mice into the family home. And worst of all, they leave their poop the length and breadth of my little patch of lawn. And what do we do in return? We print posters of them, looking cute as they sit in hand-woven baskets. We make them the subject of poetry collections and sing their praises in alarmingly popular musicals. Well, the time has come to redress the balance. And despite being renowned as one of the slowest moving mammals on the planet, Young Sloth reckons he might just be the beast to do it. He's known a few dogs in his time, and he's heard tell of quite a few more. And with the help of a thesaurus, his trusty rhyming dictionary and three close canine associates - Ulysses, Minty and Little Albert - he's about to share their stories with you...Young Sloth's Book of Consequential (Under) Dogs is one kennel's attempt to reassert their pet power, as the four main characters decide to stage their own show, in best "let's do it right here in the barn" tradition. As Ulysses reasons, "Every dog has got a tale to tell", and the venture is declared to be "of the canines, for the canines and by the canines".Numerous other characters appear, including: a golden retriever who had to find his "fetch"; a French poodle, who joined the foreign legion to forget; a Russian wolfhound, who bemoans the mistreatment of space-dog Laika; a theatrical red setter, bemoaning how his years as an understudy can go so unrewarded; and a discontented stray, who insists that his rejection by Man means that Man must take some responsibility for his rebellious temperament. The tumult of stories also includes a meditation on the chasing of squirrels, advice on not barking at postmen, consideration of the packs various enemies - including cats and fleas - and a p