This book was about much more than the antics of an over-sized, undisciplined dog. Grogan deals with the tribulations of a very difficulty pregnancy, the pain of a miscarriage, and the joys of parenthood:
Parenthood became us. Our two boys brought us more joy than we'd ever thought any one or any thing possibly could. They defined our life now, and while parts of us missed the leisurely vacations, lazy Saturdays reading novels, and romantic dinners that lingered late into the night, we'd come to find our pleasures in new ways: In spilled applesauce, in tiny nose prints on windowpanes, in the soft symphony of bare feet padding down the hallway at dawn. Even on the worst days, we usually managed to find something to smile over. Knowing by now what every parent sooner or later figures out: That these wondrous days of early parenthood, of diapered bottoms and first teeth, and incomprehensible jabber are but a brilliant, brief flash in the vastness of an otherwise ordinary lifetime.
John Grogan is a seasoned newspaper reporter. He has taken "an otherwise ordinary" series of events and woven them into a very entertaining story.