Kellie O'Connor's Reviews > The Speckled Beauty: A Dog and His People

First, I wanted to write this review on Monday but I pulled out my right shoulder down to my fingers. I'm right handed so I'm having a hard time typing this out. So here we go!!

I absolutely adored this book and it had me laughing out loud through so many parts that I actually had tears running down my face 🤣!! I couldn't believe that this is a true story of Rick Bragg saving the life of a " throw away dog"! He and his Mom, two brothers and sister-in-laws live on a 40 acre farm in Alabama. Turns out that they rescued many dogs and cats over the years, but none were like Speck!! Now, as in life, there's some sad parts, but told with a mixture of laughter, sadness and tenderness that it makes everything balance out! They also have farm animals, which made this the perfect book for me because I love dogs, actually all animals and birds and work on a farm! Rick is battling Cancer and Speck helps him through his rough times as well as his good times.

Speck is not a good dog,he has many adventures and gets into trouble a lot. The first few weeks, he was in " jail" 29 times. This dog belonged to someone who threw him away 😢. He's a beautiful Australian Shepherd sadly lived on the streets and ate whatever he could to stay alive. He's blind in one eye, his ears don't hang right from all the battles he's been through. He has many other health conditions and the vet keeps " gluing him together." However, Speck is so devoted to Rick and his family, that they put up with whatever he does, although they do train him.

I wanted to share part of a poem in this book called Pandemonium that hsd me laughing out loud and crying because I was laughing so hard 🤣.

Pandemonium
" I woke up to shrieking.
Dogs, mules, cats, all.
A donkey screamed.
An old woman cursed.
A smart dog snarled in rage.
A small dog yelped in terror.
A bad dog howled in joy.
A mule kicked a metal gate, again and again.
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
I threw off the covers, and ran.
A cat clung to the screen door, five feet up,
hissing.
I swung it, cat and all,wide open.
And I saw bedlam.
Havoc.
Pandemonium.
I rushed out, barefoot into the end of times.
And it had all been going so well.
.....
If Bigfoot had skipped across the yard in a porkpie hat, it would have been less surprising to me than my sweet, elderly mother dog- cussing a... well, a dog, and I wondered if might still be asleep, dreaming."
Who is behind all this craziness? Speck!!!
This is just a sample of the comedy in this true story! It's a delightful book that I couldn't put down! It was just so great and cleverly written. I loved it and highly recommend it! I'll let you know this, Speck lives!!!🐾🐾💙 Their journey still continues even today!! This is Speck on the cover.

Enjoy and Happy Reading 💫✨🐾🐾💙