Marley & Me: Life’s Lessons Learned through a Loopy Labrador
By Heather Gaghan
“In the gray of dawn, I found the shovel in the garage and walked down to where the lawn meets the woods. There, beneath a wild cherry tree, I began to dig. The earth was loose and blessedly unfrozen, and the work went fast. It was odd being out in the backyard without Marley, the Labrador retriever who for 13 years made it his business to be tight by my side for every excursion out the door, whether to pick a tomato, pull a weed, or fetch the mail. And now here I was alone, digging his hole.”

So begins the tribute to the world’s worst, yet most loyal and lovable dog. It’s also the inspiration for a wonderful book, Marley & Me that chronicles the tales of a goofy Labrador retriever and how he shaped the lives of the Grogan family. Marley had been the subject of more than one of John Grogan’s columns in the Philadelphia Inquirer, so a proper farewell seemed natural as many of his readers had come to connect with the tales of the writer and his four-legged best friend.

It is this connection between people and their dogs—how each comes to influence and shape the life of the other—that is at the core of Grogan’s heartfelt tribute to Marley, a dog he realized “intuitively grasped what it meant to be man’s best friend.”

The book started out as a story about Marley, but Grogan soon found he could not tell the story of his Lab without telling the story of his own life’s journey with his wife Jenny and their children. “Eventually, I realized my book was not so much a ‘dog book’ as the story of a family in the making and the bigger-than-life animal that helped shaped it.”

“In the gray of dawn, I found the shovel in the garage and walked down to where the lawn meets the woods. There, beneath a wild cherry tree, I began to dig. The earth was loose and blessedly unfrozen, and the work went fast. It was odd being out in the backyard without Marley, the Labrador retriever who for 13 years made it his business to be tight by my side for every excursion out the door, whether to pick a tomato, pull a weed, or fetch the mail. And now here I was alone, digging his hole.”

So begins the tribute to the world’s worst, yet most loyal and lovable dog. It’s also the inspiration for a wonderful book, Marley & Me that chronicles the tales of a goofy Labrador retriever and how he shaped the lives of the Grogan family. Marley had been the subject of more than one of John Grogan’s columns in the Philadelphia Inquirer, so a proper farewell seemed natural as many of his readers had come to connect with the tales of the writer and his four-legged best friend.

It is this connection between people and their dogs—how each comes to influence and shape the life of the other—that is at the core of Grogan’s heartfelt tribute to Marley, a dog he realized “intuitively grasped what it meant to be man’s best friend.”

The book started out as a story about Marley, but Grogan soon found he could not tell the story of his Lab without telling the story of his own life’s journey with his wife Jenny and their children. “Eventually, I realized my book was not so much a ‘dog book’ as the story of a family in the making and the bigger-than-life animal that helped shaped it.”

John and Jenny were enjoying getting to know their new puppy. He certainly had more than enough energy to spare and was growing at a surprising rate. He was a mere 21 pounds when they brought him home and within weeks he had hulked up to 50 pounds. His paws, head, and especially his tail were enormous—clearing everything in its happily wagging path. He enjoyed life to the fullest and the happier he got the more it showed. And being a true retriever, whenever he had something in his mouth regardless of its shape or size, he would wiggle all over the place, earning him the nickname “Mr. Wiggles” as it wasn’t just his tail that wagged, but his whole body in unison, giving him the look of a slinky. It had also become obvious poker was not his game. When he had something to hide, his whole body would wiggle with his rear end grooving to its own beat. This came to be his signature move—the Marley Mambo.

John and Jenny realized Marley moved to his own beat—wherever they went. So taking a walk was not quite what you’d call a stroll. “Marley strolled like a runaway locomotive.” As a passerby once remarked to John, Marley sure seemed to love life. His Lab sure did and John knew his puppy’s time had come for a little tough love. Marley was true to his breed with his boundless energy, but it was time for a little training and a lot of obedience school. However, it was soon clear Marley wasn’t quite ready for straightforward instructions when the teacher was taken on one of his infamous ‘strolls’—in front of the whole class! Both master and beast were graciously kicked out of obedience school after only two lessons.

Marley may not have taken to formal instruction, but his innate sense of unconditional joy had an amazing effect on Jenny. Her transformation through John’s eyes was beautiful—from inadvertent plant killer (not all of us have green thumbs) to a natural-born nurturer. Marley and his antics had helped Jenny find her inner Mommy. After a couple months with Marley the newlyweds were ready to give parenthood a try, and after some time they were expecting and sharing the news—a little too soon. Ten weeks into the pregnancy, at a scheduled ultrasound, every new parent’s fear came true—there was something wrong with the baby.

The miscarriage was devastating to John and Jenny. When they arrived home, John placed Jenny on the couch to rest, and when he came back seconds later, was shocked to find Marely had placed his large, anvil-sized head gently in Jenny’s lap and whimpered his condolences while Jenny stroked his head. Their crazy Lab knew his mistress was in distress and did what only a dog can do—give love unconditionally. It was exactly what Jenny needed to let go of her grief. During their second pregnancy, there were also complications, and Marley, once again sat vigil during Jenny’s three months of bed rest. He was constantly by her side, whether lying next to the bed or nuzzling her neck while she read a book. The loyalty of the Lab breed was in full effect.

The Grogans eventually had three very healthy babies: Patrick, Connor, and Colleen. Marley was a gentle giant with them all. He would let them crawl and poke and pull and climb, all the while sitting still as a statue without a care in the world. Marley enjoyed the babies for another reason: diapers. The phenomena of dogs and diapers wasn’t lost on Marley. He lived up to his Rastafarian roots as he was often observed entering a “Pampers-induced” state whenever he’d playfully snap at their diapers.

Marley grew to be the protector of his family and of his neighborhood. When gut-wrenching screams filled the early morning air, both John and Marley were up and out the door to help. When they realized it was a young girl who had been stabbed, John consoled her while waiting for the ambulance. While Marley became the protector Jenny always sensed was instinct in their goofy dog. Tears came to his eyes as John witnessed the physical transformation of his dog from runaway locomotive to fighter-at-the-ready.

And the surprises kept coming. After John successfully and miraculously trained Marley to sit, stay, down, and heel to avoid Jenny giving him the official boot out the door after her second pregnancy, the call came for Marley to audition for a movie role. Yes, Mr. Wiggles was going to get his 15 minutes of fame in a movie called The Last Home Run. The character of the family pet called for a big, dumb, and loopy dog. After one audition the director knew he had his dog. John and Jenny couldn’t believe it. Their dog was going to be in a full-length feature film. They were ecstatic. The movie quickly went to DVD, but Marley’s two minute cameo was priceless.

The family eventually moved from their cozy home in south Florida to Boca Raton. The Grogan family’s time in Boca was a fun one and no one enjoyed their new home’s special addition more than Marley. As John remembers in the book, “No one loved the backyard pool more than our water dog, that proud descendant of fisherman’s retrievers plying the ocean swells off the coast of Newfoundland.” However, small breeds ruled the café-lined streets of Boca, and the local weather with its infamous thunderstorms, were taking their toll on Marley. He had never liked bad weather. Thunderstorms in particular caused Marley to go into anxiety-laden fits that over the years had required more than a handful of trips to the hardware store.

So when John had a job offer in Pennsylvania, he and Jenny thought it was a good time for a change for the whole family. Their kids had never seen snow, and John had found a pastoral paradise, complete with house on the hill and enough land for an aging yet still rambunctious Labrador to run his figure eights.

The family eventually moved from their cozy home in south Florida to Boca Raton. The Grogan family’s time in Boca was a fun one and no one enjoyed their new home’s special addition more than Marley. As John remembers in the book, “No one loved the backyard pool more than our water dog, that proud descendant of fisherman’s retrievers plying the ocean swells off the coast of Newfoundland.” However, small breeds ruled the café-lined streets of Boca, and the local weather with its infamous thunderstorms, were taking their toll on Marley. He had never liked bad weather. Thunderstorms in particular caused Marley to go into anxiety-laden fits that over the years had required more than a handful of trips to the hardware store.

So when John had a job offer in Pennsylvania, he and Jenny thought it was a good time for a change for the whole family. Their kids had never seen snow, and John had found a pastoral paradise, complete with house on the hill and enough land for an aging yet still rambunctious Labrador to run his figure eights.

After Marley passed away, John realized that his best friend had also been an unconventional but very influential mentor. “Many of the qualities that come so effortlessly to dogs: loyalty, devotion, selflessness, unflagging optimism, unqualified love, can be elusive to humans.” He taught John what most of us who own dogs come to learn—dogs force us to focus on what’s really important in life: long walks, big kisses, good food, a nice comfy place to sleep, a nice family to spend time with, and at least one best friend who loves you no matter what. In many cases, dogs are the threads that weave families together. “[But] Marley came into our lives right at that special juncture when we were attempting to meld two individual lives into one shared relationship. Marley, in all his goofy glory, became inextricably woven into the fabric of what became us.”

Marley & Me is a beautiful and hilarious testament to the strong and well woven threads that connect dogs and the owners who are lucky enough to share part of life’s journey with them. Thanks Marley, for showing us how it’s done.

To read more about Marley and John Grogan please visit www.marleyandme.com.

Click here to go back to Lab of the Month