The Dog Who Wouldn't Be - Farley Mowat

That dog was called Mutt, bought as a puppy for a few cents at the front door when the author was a child; and Mutt and Farley became the greatest of friends.  His father felt that Mutt could be trained to be a good "bird  dog" - i.e. retrieving ducks etc. once shot - but it was not Mr Mowat the elder who trained Mutt, it was Mutt who taught himself!

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Writtten and published originally in the 1950s, the book is set in Canada in the early 1930s and will describe people and things, that are not only not around now, but that are long forgotten - until you read this little gem.  The car had a name - and a dickey seat.  What's a dicky seat?  Instead of the boot/trunk, was a seat, which when you opened the boot/trunk, opened out so that the back of the opening became the back of the seat.  Mutt loved the dicky seat and when it was obvious that dust and grit were no good for his eyes, Farley's Dad bought him motorcycle goggles (and Mutt loved to wear them!)  Then there was the Summer boat journey that Mutt joined; the skunk who ate the winter-stored apples; the owls that had the run of the house, and many other tales of the boy and his dog.  Of course, boys grow up and Farley Mowat went on to be an admired Canadian writer, who described his land and it's peoples and animals in a multiplicity of ways.  Great little read at just under 200 pages, and do have a couple of tissues up your sleeve for the last chapter.