Reviewed by Cheryl E. Rodriguez for Readers' Favorite

The Puppy Tales by R.C. Miller is a delightful collection of stories about his dogs, oops, “canine persons.” This storybook is fun, comical and witty, and full of “canine person” antics. When seven dogs (give or take a few) live with three humans (give or take a couple), life becomes more than interesting. Mr. Miller, known as Bob in the book, portrays the thoughts of canine personalities with humor and breed distinction. Some breeds are ranked higher than others on the intelligence scale. This fact is depicted throughout the book as the Border Collies, who are ranked #1, constantly remind the Shelties that they are mere sixes. Bob states that his dogs are “probably more intelligent than a goodly portion of human beings.” Through the dogs, you learn such things as: human politics (Democraps and Repellicans) compared to canine politics, advanced math, déjà vu, Haiku poetry and limericks. Did you know that through scientific magic, dogs insert transmitters into their humans to enable them to understand and converse with them? Unfortunately, most transmitters don’t take due to allergies or human denial, but Bob’s works perfectly. So great, in fact, that his wife, Deb, thinks he is nuts.

R.C. Miller’s love for storytelling shows in The Puppy Tales. The Puppy Tales is a story about telling a story, as each tale is an individual story about their lives together. The author’s tone is rather unusual as he personifies his dogs, giving them voices in the dialogue. As if dogs speaking weren’t enough, he added further flavor by giving them accents as well - Zoey has a southern drawl and Cody, the Alpha, is fluent in British wit. Most of the book is written from the author’s point of view, except when the dogs voice their opinions regarding the story. The author does explain his narrator’s role and thoughts in the story. By doing so, he explains the format and the flow of the dialogue. Keeping up with all of the dialogue is quite challenging. Within the tales, Mr. Miller includes the use of alliteration (often prompted by Cody) and hilarious metaphors. Annie’s dream was weird, but it revealed that certain humans have a special gift that connects with dogs. We can learn a great deal about others by watching how animals approach or turn away from people. As a dog lover myself, I found myself giggling as I read. It is a charming work of fiction.