SHAGGY DOG STORIES
“ … a good Kiwi bloke …”
Shaggy Dogs and Other Stories, Tales of a Kiwi Vet
by David Marshall
(Shoal Bay Press, New Zealand)
Sleepless at 4am I picked up David Marshall’s “Shaggy Dogs and Other Stories, Tales of a Kiwi Vet.”
Apart from interruptions for the inevitable cup of coffee it did not leave my hands until the last page was turned 5 hours later.
From his early beginnings as a lad in Christchurch, with an angry father and and a determind mother, who decided early in their young lives that her sons would, “make something of themselves”, David takes the reader on a candid journey through his life.
From Christchurch, to the beginnings of his career as a Vet on the West Coast of the South Island, where the characters are larger than life, and back again.
With few wasted words and many humorous anecdotes David’s tales are a delight. At times my reading was interrupted as tears of laughter blurred the pages. At times my heart was touched.
The narrative portrays the author as sensitive and caring with a deep insight into the relationship between animals and their owners, while at the same time remaining a “good Kiwi bloke”, equally at home downing a few beers as having his arm up the rectum of a cow or horse.
From his distastrous first day on the job, to the duck who lost his “pecker”, (not to be confused with beak) and the bikie gang members who were told their dog was “fucked” , David takes readers on an hilarious ride through the traumas and triumphs in the life of a working Vet.
As the blurb on the back cover says, “ Genuine laugh-aloud books are hard to find. This is one not to be missed”.
-H.H., New Zealand.
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