My Real Dog product reviews

My miss 4 was so excited to receive this book and was drawn to the full cover illustration of the sweet dog. "What is the book called?" she asked with excitement and wonder in her voice. Upon telling her it was called My Real dog the excitement grew and her eyes really started to widen. You see she dreams of having her very own real dog and immediately made the connection reminding me how badly she needs this dream dalmatian.

We could of known the real dog in this story was infact a toy dog by the sweet illustrations that show the patched eye stuffed dog. Miss four has a stuffed toy dog of her own that is never far from her grasp. In fact she had to cuddle her dog Chloe as we sat down to read the story. As we moved through the pages and the realization that the real dog was in fact a toy dog set in boy did she cuddle that toy dog even tighter.

You see this real dog may of been a toy but the story tells of just how special this to was. A dog that's always there through play, for sleep, through morning and night yet never does those nuisance things that actual real dogs do. A toy dog may not be real but they can certainly be real in the imagination of those children that treasure them. Miss four couldn't help but tell me all the things she loves about her toy dog Chloe once we finished the story.

Sometimes not being able to have a real dog is hard to understand especially when you are so little this book perfectly captured that conversation in a fun and affectionate way. Wonderful story to share with children like my own who dream of a real puppy to open up talk about how it maybe not the right time but a toy dog is fun.

Miss Five and Mr Three were ecstatic when they found they were going to review a new book. They flicked through the pages immediately to look at the pictures - always the first thing to do, before they get down to the story proper! Mr Three loved the blue and orange colour scheme. He already has several other books in a different series that boast the same colour combination, so he decided this book would be just as good as the others.

Dogs are popular in their family. Their great-grandmother has some, and they are always excited when the children visit. It is a mutual bond as the children are equally excited and love to play with them. However, when they go back home, they have to leave the dogs behind. This is really sad as they would really like to take them home so they could cuddle up in bed together. One day, maybe! In the meantime, Miss Five has her own toy dog called Violet which goes to bed with her each night. Once she realised that the book was about a toy dog just like hers, Violet was included in story time each night. Miss Five assured everyone that Violet enjoyed listening to the story just as she and her brother did.

Mr Three was fascinated by the way the child in the book was able to teach the toy dog to do frontways flips - he assured everyone that his great-grandmother's real dogs can't do that, so the toy dog must be a lot more clever. He was interested in the story and after a couple of readings he was able to complete the rhymes. Miss Five has started to read basic words, and could pick out some like "dog" and "bed" much to her delight.

We did enjoy the excuses made by the parents when they were explaining why the child should not have a live dog - how fussy can a person get? And yet the child is philosophical about it and clearly adores his "real dog" who is so well-behaved and does not need parental permission to love his small human back. Because neither the child nor the dog is named, the child who is reading it can appropriate the story as his own.

The book itself is sturdy enough to withstand a reasonable amount of handling. I am always glad when children's books have a hard cover because it does add to the life of the product. I liked the layout - plenty of illustrations and not too much text so even a very young child can "read" it and follow the story. I also liked the book plate at the beginning where a child can write his own name. It makes the copy more personal; book ownership is important from a very young age as it encourages reading.