Concerning & Potentially Concerning Content

The main issue here is that the book attempts to focus on right & wrong, but misses wildly on the messaging that we Christians would want our children to understand and believe on this topic. As you read the samples below, keep in mind that while the book has a nice and happy ending, this behavior is never resolved and shown as wrong. Examples: One dog says about their potential bad behavior, “we can’t, we’re good dogs” to which another replies “and what good has that ever done us?” At another point a dog says that now he is misbehaving for a very good reason. There are frequent examples of them indulging in behavior they have been taught by their owners as wrong and each time it is shown as a total blast as well as totally freeing and natural (think of all of the examples of commercials and movies and the way they portray alcohol and immoral living). One dog asks if they are being bad dogs during a day when they are doing everything they have been taught not to and his friend answers no, they had just been doing what they had had to do which is then followed by describing themselves as not bad dogs, but good dogs having a bad day. In another instance one character says not to think of their theft as stealing, but rather to just think of it as helping. One of the dogs tells another that their owner says good dogs never steal people food to which the friend says, that well, she’s not here right now. To make things worse, there is a lot of justifying the behavior (e.g., saying if their owner had been paying attention to them that none of the bad behavior would have happened). At one point they decide that they had already done so much (bad behavior), why not just keep going the rest of the day? Similarly, the thought comes up that since they try so hard to be good that they should just have a wild day. Later in the book they decide that maybe it is more fun without anyone telling them what to do. There are several more examples, but you get the main gist of the issue that comes up throughout. — There are several irreverent instances of “Oh my dog!”. — There are a few other concerning moments to know about. At the start of the book a dog is describing his family in a very busy mode and says that the parents are barking at the kids and each other. One of the main dogs is shallow and obsessed with Instagram and her followers. She brings this up throughout the book as it is the lens she views the world from. She thinks that nothing is more important than attention. At the start a young girl tells her parents that if she doesn’t get a puppy her birthday will be ruined. A boy lies to cover for his dog and it is portrayed as a good thing. - A few other things that are mentioned to be aware of: Beyoncé (she is called “the Queen), coming back as a ghost, OMG, passing gas, pee, butt, barf.