About the book
Bryan is an accountant on the Wirral who has turned fifty and is trying to slow down. His head hasn’t got the message: he’s been drafting the same four-line email for three weeks.
Coco is a Cavachon with conker eyes and a tea-stain patch on her back. She sleeps in the sun, loves nearly everyone, barks at the postman nearly every day and has never lost a minute’s sleep over any of it.
Across twelve chapters, from resting without guilt to forgiving fast, Coco shows how it’s done, Bryan mostly doesn’t, and a little real science checks her workings. There are field notes from the less glamorous end of dog ownership, a cartoon for every chapter, and a twelve-day challenge at the back. None of it involves a gym.
For anyone who has ever looked at their dog asleep on the couch and thought: she’s got the right idea.
The bottom line
Every chapter ends with a rule Coco lives by without thinking. Here they all are, in one go.
The Be More Dog rules
Be here. Love first. Forgive fast.
Know your pack. Play properly. Rest without apology.
Walk towards what you want. Save your bark for the door.
Find the frog. Go out in the rain.
Bark at the postman anyway.
Greet everyone like they’ve been on a polar expedition, even if they’ve only nipped out for a sandwich.
The author and the boss
Bryan Jackson
Bryan is an accountant. He was born in Liverpool and works from home in Upton, on the Wirral, with his wife Ceri, their children Emily and James, and a Cavachon. He watches Liverpool at Anfield whenever he can and still has a poo bag in every coat he owns.
Coco
Coco is seven, white, fluffy and largely in charge. She has never read a self-help book, and on the evidence, she doesn’t need to.
A cartoon for every chapter
Know someone who needs to be more dog?
It makes a good present for dog owners, people turning fifty, and anyone who could do with a nap.