My Boy, Ben: A Story
of Love, Loss and Grace, by
David Wheaton (Tristan, 2014, 254 pages, $18.99)
Ben was a serious self-trained gentleman of a self-cleaning
Labrador retriever who loved hunting and lakes and his person, David Wheaton.
This is the story of his life and of his person’s life pre-Ben and post-Ben.
“Not Over, But
Through”
How does one get over the sudden death of one’s dog who had
nearly been a one’s fifth appendage for years? Wheaton writes that one never
gets ‘over’ it but gets ‘through’ it with the help of friends, family, God,
work and a puppy.
Like many dog books, this ‘dog’ book is mostly about the
author, who writes about his dog, how he feels about his dog, and what he does
with his dog. Though many people do not like books written as if by dogs, I
believe readers glean more insight into the man’s best friend that way and feel
as if they really get to know the dog in those dog-centric books.
However, this book has so much more than just dogs: love,
tennis, training, family, Minnesota (Lake Minnetonka and Lake Superior), the
weather and the land and the seasons, and God. It also has a keepable ‘gold’ marbleized hard cover!
Both of Wheaton’s dogs were from excellent, responsible
breeders so it came as a surprise to me that he was able to select his dog: he
got his pick of the litter. Usually a responsible breeder (especially one whose
dogs have won at Westminster) interviews the prospective dog people for their
lifestyle, energy level, living quarters, and work schedule, and then selects
the puppy that will fit in best, since the breeder knows his puppies so well.
From Wimbledon to
Radio: Training a field lab
Rearing and training, loving and caring, feeding and
exercising, paying and praying are the activities when one has a dog.
Wheaton was a world-ranked tennis player who came to have a
radio show after defeating Michel Chang, Andre Agassi, Ivan Lendl, Jimmy
Connors, Stefan Edberg, and others, so it comes as no surprise when he reads up
on dog training before he even has his pup, Ben. Wheaton vowed to make training
fun and positive for his best friend – and he did. But he also used a remote
collar (page 237) and wrote about housebreaking rather than housetraining (page
224).
Dog trainers in the crowd will be heartened to read about
two of the three Ds (distance, duration and distractions), the recommendation
to end a training session on a high note when the dog wants more and is doing
well, but, on the other hand, because Ben came from such a responsible breeder,
he came with nearly a sit, a stay, a come and an OK built-in already, even in
off-leash environments. Wheaton still had to ‘enforce the commands’ on occasion
(a phrase that makes reward-based trainers cringe). But a redeeming note is the
emphasis on sequence training and building blocks. Not bad lessons from a
non-dogtrainer!
You will learn the difference between grouse hunting and
pheasant hunting, and between pointers (setters) and flushers (springers),
pointers being the sports cars of the field dog world and flushers being the
SUVs.
You will ponder whether you are an Egalitarian or
Utilitarian dog owner. A utilitarian believes a dog should have a job while an
egalitarian’s dog is just another family member. Some people are a bit of both
and Wheaton gradually changed into an egalitarian dog person.
You will learn that there are show labs and there are
hunting (field) labs and even pet labs but, of course Ben could have been all
three in the eyes of his family. The three photos are simply stunning, but
then, I too, am a yellow lab person so, of course, I wish there were more
photos in My Boy, Ben!
But most of all, you will go on a journey of love for a dog
and the choices made and the joy of living with all that Minnesota has to offer
(Minnesota is actually the third character in the book)
For more information, see the trailer here.
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