Walking with Peety: The Dog Who Saved My Life
Written and Narrated By: Eric O'Grey, Featuring: Mark Dagostino
Length: 7 hrs and 43 mins
Plenty o’ Peety—but—plenty o’ dieting advice as well…
Dude! you had me with a picture of Peety on the cover of your story, Walking with Peety. The fact that the following subtitle is “The dog who saved my life” had me sooo THERE! A struggling person who saves a dog, an unwanted and unloved dog, with the outcome being one of those: Who saved whom? types o’ deals. Gosh, I LOVE those.
And so our story opens with Eric O’Grey’s struggles as a morbidly obese, and terribly depressed 50-something-year old man as he engages in something he haaaates: Travel for his job. Taking off shoes to go to security? Awful, as he needs a bench to be able to struggle to lean over to cram his shoes on, a bench that is nowhere in sight. Try being over 300-lbs and standing, exhausted in trying to put his shoes back on. Further? His extreme shame and embarrassment when a seat belt extender cannot be found for him, and the plane canNOT take off without every single person being seat-belted up. The attendants have to call to other planes to find one, making the flight take off 45 minutes late. His shame is compounded, his humiliation complete, when one of his row-mates gripes loudly about missing his connecting flight just cuz this guy is so flippin’ FAT.
Things are compounded when Eric gets back to his lonely home, downs two extra-large pizzas in one sitting (NOT a rare occurrence), and he ponders his existence. Barely making ends meet with his expensive eating habits, suffering from obesity-related illnesses that require over $1,000 a month of a plethora of medications, some meds being used to combat side effects, his life is quite simply: Dismal, his depression all-pervasive, and ending his life is starting to look like a viable, and attractive, option.
A sudden life-changing and mind-altering occurrence happens and Eric opens himself up to truly changing, to accepting every avenue, every opportunity that Life might throw his way. A new doctor, one who holistically treats the individual rather than the symptoms starts him on a path towards whole food, plant-based eating. Her final suggestion? Oh, and see about getting a dog—mitigates the loneliness, requires getting out of the house. He’s bewildered, but he’s open and is disappointingly matched with an overweight middle-aged sorely depressed dog.
Once again? Open, and so he takes the newly renamed Peety home. It’s a slow start, they slowly warm to each other, their walks are short and exhausting, but soon Peety’s smiles bring Eric a level of joy and contentment hitherto unknown to him.
Awesome, right?
And then the story goes into aaaaallll the dietary changes he makes, the new manner of cooking vegan dishes with plenty of spices. He even researches high-protein vegan diets for Peety (Uhm, I’d once followed a vegan blog where the woman tried this with her own dog, and the Before and After pictures were sooo appalling that it was obvious she had to stop. Dunno, maybe Eric is on to something, but pleeeease do PLENTY of research before doing this… just sayin’).
Eric starts effortlessly shedding pounds, he’s feeling more energetic, happier and more motivated about Life and Change. His adoration for Peety is readily apparent, so huzzah! for that. And there’s plenty of Peety here.
It’s just that, this book starts becoming more about diet and lifestyle, about Eric’s low testosterone levels suddenly increasing and finding himself attracted to women again, and the sudden joy of being attractive TO women again (Complete with his first tumble in the hay and how THAT all started and played out, so ICK!).
Then he gets involved in running, in PETA (Again, once loved them but soon became alienated by the shock videos on their website where atrocities occur but one is left with no one to write to but to only donate as a means of hoping to stop such things. These are horrors that once seen canNOT be unseen, so I decry such practices as FOUL(s) against choirs that should be sung to rather than shamed… just sayin’).
Eric goes on to describe his new relationships, their failures and break ups, and then it’s FINALLY back to Peety for his death (This is NOT a spoiler as the dedication makes clear that Peety has passed and is fervently to be sought on the Other Side of the Bridge).
So there were some gloriously loving parts, and I dearly love an inspirational tale (EsPECially at the New Year, esPECially involving Animals!) of a shut-down person awakening to Life, finding and experiencing Love through care and devotion to one of the Least of God’s Creatures. But, yikes! I truly coulda done without the cooking lessons; I mean Bravo to Eric for going beYONd Step One in Change, in going for things Full-Tilt with excellence in mind, and all that. And Bravo to Eric for elevating his shockingly low testosterone levels through diet and exercise, but truly coulda done without the pings of attraction coming at every turn, and the play-by-play of dating.
Now onto the Not-So-Bravo: Eric narrates this himself, and while his obvious love for Peety and his enthusiasm for the positivity that entered his life through embracing changes shine through, the main of the narrative is, uhm, halting at best, awkward at worst. This is a story that is, p’raps, better read than listened to, and as a lover of audiobooks, that ALWAYS bemuses me to no end. I mean, whazza: I’m thinking Reading is better than Listening?! >GASP<
One final thing that pretty much sums up what you’re in for when you give Walking with Peety a look-see. Generally, when one looks at a particular story, other books of the same ilk are offered as: If You Enjoyed This, You Might Enjoy These. I looked at those, and only ONE story out of 20 pages of offerings was about a special Human/Animal bond; the rest were about diet and exercise. So there’s that.
All in all, a fairly decent way to start the New Year—after all, ‘tis the (Oh soooo limited!) season where we all consider making positive changes in our lives, and this story meets that criteria, no doubt about that.
Just? Expect a lot of Motivational Speaker type of writing, and do expect a rather halting and plodding delivery. I’m glad I listened to it, but I’m glad it’s off my To Be Listened To List.
…just sayin’…
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