Bad Dog, Martin Kihn
Bad Dog, Martin Kihn
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Bad Dog
A Love Story

Author: Martin Kihn

Narrator: David Drummond

Unabridged: 6 hr 8 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 04/03/2012


Synopsis

Meet Hola. She’s a nightmare, but it’s not her fault if she tackles strangers and chews on furniture, or if she runs after buses and fried chicken containers and drug dealers. No one ever told her not to. Worse yet, she scares her family. Hola may be the most beautiful Bernese mountain dog in the world, but she’s never been trained—at least, not by anyone who knew what he was doing. 
 
Hola’s supposed master, Marty, is a high-functioning alcoholic. A TV writer turned management consultant, Marty’s in debt and out of shape; he’s about to lose his job, and one day he emerges from a haze of peach-flavored vodka to find he’s on the verge of losing his wife, Gloria, too, if he can’t get his life—and his dog—under control.
 
 Desperately trying to save his marriage, Marty throws himself headlong into the world of competitive dog training. Unfortunately, he knows even less than Hola, the only dog ever to be expelled from her puppy preschool twice. Somehow, together, they need to get through the American Kennel Club’s rigorous Canine Good Citizen test. Of course, Hola first needs to learn how to sit. It won’t be easy. It certainly won’t be pretty. But maybe, just maybe, there will be cheesecake.

About Martin Kihn

Martin Kihn is senior vice president, strategy, for Salesforce Marketing Cloud. Previously, he spent five years as a leading Gartner analyst covering marketing, advertising, and data.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Darcia on April 01, 2011

Rather than a true animal tale, this book is more a story of Martin Kihn's battle with alcoholism, his life falling apart, then the process of putting it back together. In the midst of this, he and his wife buy Hola, a Bernese mountain dog. Kihn's inexperience as a dog owner, combined with the termi......more

Goodreads review by Rick on July 28, 2011

I loved this book because it's about redemption, humility and getting a handle on one's place in the world. The framework of all this is the training of a lovable, possibly untrainable Bernese Mountain dog named Hola. Hola's training is the road back to life for her alcoholic, wife-separated owner,......more

Goodreads review by Carol on April 03, 2011

Have you seen the TV shows about how training dogs helps prisoners gain a sense of self-worth, responsibility and joy? This book, Bad Dog by Martin Kihn shows how developing a routine of training and unconditional love have helped him pull away from the abyss of alcoholism. It is not so much a story......more

Goodreads review by Sharon on May 11, 2011

Martin Kihn is a cat person -- and an alcoholic. When his wife, Gloria, convinces him to get a dog, they bring home Hola -- a Bernese mountain dog. Hola runs amok for a great deal of the book ... which seems to match up with Kihn's life. As he enters recovery, and Gloria leaves him, Kihn decides it's......more

Goodreads review by Nancy on May 25, 2016

A memoir of a high-functioning alcoholic who loses just about everything he holds dear except one out-of-control Bernese Mountain dog named Hola. This is his story of reclaiming his life (and maybe even his wife) by becoming involved with competitive dog training. Trying every method known, Marty wor......more