Breaking the Chain: The Guard Dog Story

I'm a fan of this strip, but I don't think I've read enough over time to have gotten the full impact of the story of Guard Dog. This book encapsulates the story, including the why, and is so charming and well told. Beautiful. And then to add resources to help real animals in the same situation, just thank you. Read it.

I followed the story of Guard Dog in the Oregonian daily. I was one of thousands of readers of the Mutts comic strip who begged the author to please free the dog. The story unfolded slowly with a wonderful ending. But it also brought to light the cruelty of some humans to their animals. This book contains the backstory of this seven-week adventure along with added comments and information.I bought two of these - one for me, one to loan to friends :-)

Incredible story of perseverance cruelty & empathy

For decades I’ve loved reading Patrick McDonnell’s Mutts comics and books. But Guard Dog always made me sad and I wished he was free. Finally last year, Guard Dog’s path to freedom and LOVE began. This book needs to be yours to read and treasure - and share with others if you can so that the story of the plight of chained dogs all over the world can come to light more. Yes it’s a comic, but this story is relevant to animal welfare today. And this book will tug at your heartstrings, I guarantee. I seriously am SO HAPPY that I lived to see the day SPARKY got that horrible chain off of his neck and found his forever home with the little girl who loved him all along. Buy this book!!

wonderful text before the pictures. great book; bought one for a present

While this will give you a hard bound copy of the comic strips that so many people were transfixed by, it is much more. There is information of how Guard Dog came to be, commentary by other people, Patrick gives a narration of the layout of the story and factors that played into this but also his feelings, work, and factors that played into the timeline. Then there was Doozy and then the strips.At the end there are true stories of freed guard dogs.Having the strips all together takes me back to the time when so many of us were reading them on Facebook, sharing them with each other, and commenting-the community that this gave us. So many of us commenting that we were crying, calling out for the chain to be removed, or Doozy's mom to say they would keep him, and then the tears of joy.I bought the book to have the strips all in one place. It gave me much more.

I loved this story n it massages our emotions big time!

I've been a huge fan of this series for so long, and like so many followed the journey of Guard Dog and Doozy. As the latest events in Guard Dog's life unfolded, I tuned in every day, and cried and rejoiced along with thousands of others at the plight of chained dogs everywhere. I was thrilled when all of his story was put into a single book and bought it immediately.It's a comic strip but so much more. Patrick McDonnell does an incredible job of creating stories about animals in tough times (like this one, and his shelter stories) but also in happy moments, and helps spotlight the joy animals bring into our lives.

I really enjoyed reading "Breaking the Chain: The Guard Dog Story". I read the "MUTTS" comic and this story line brings home the fact that there are pets who are abandoned by their so-called owners because the so-called owners do not care what happens to those poor pets and the Guard Dog was one lucky pet to be rescued in time and finding a loving forever home. Hopefully, this book will help more pets find their loving forever homes and put a stop to pet abandonment.

I’ve always been a fan of Patrick McDonnell’s Mutts comics and books, but this one is by far the best I’ve ever read from Mutts. It’s so gently written, but yet still makes readers aware of the emotions a chained animal must be going through. I shed tears of happiness for Guard Dog at the end and felt so glad he found his happy ending. Highly recommend reading this book/comic strip as it will make you feel happy and aware that animals have emotions, too.

It's wonderful to have the guard dog story brought together in one volume. Yay Mutts!