"My mother told me about the good old days of long ago, which she'd heard about from her own mother and grandmother, when our ancestors were rootless, roaming mongrels known as the St. John's water dogs. That was before some Lord High Mucky-muck across the ocean got fancy on us and started calling us Labrador retrievers. When we were the old water dogs, she said, we developed our famous, justly admired webbed toes to help us swim out in the oceans and ponds and rivers and rescue people all the time . . ."
This is the heartwarming and hilarious memoir of Durf, a yellow Lab who thinks he is the boss of two cats. In fact, he's pretty sure he's the boss of the humans he lives with, too. Durf often dreams of performing heroic and awe-inspiring feats to prove to his family once and for all that he truly is the top dog in these parts. His faithful companions, a blue Persian male cat and a female tabby, can't possibly understand what it's like to be destined for greatness like Durf. They try to keep him grounded for his own good, but Durf knows in his noble dog's heart that his greatest adventures are just around the corner.
Inspired by true events, this is the consummate novel for dog and cat lovers alike. The True Confessions of a Badly Misunderstood Dog is Bill Rowe's ninth book. Two of his books, Danny Williams: The War With Ottawa and The Premiers Joey and Frank: Greed, Power, and Lust, have appeared on the Globe and Mail bestsellers lists.

Born in Newfoundland, Bill Rowe graduated in English from Memorial University and attended Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar, obtaining an Honours M.A. in law.Elected five times to the House of Assembly, Rowe served as a minister in the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador and as leader of the Official Opposition. He practised law in St. John’s for many years and has been a long-time public affairs commentator, appearing regularly on national and local television, as well as hosting a daily radio call-in show on VOCM and writing weekly newspaper columns.Rowe has written nine books: Clapp’s Rock, a bestselling novel published by McClelland & Stewart and serialized on CBC national radio; The Temptation of Victor Galanti, a second novel published by McClelland & Stewart; a volume of essays on politics and public affairs published by Jesperson Press of St. John’s; the critically acclaimed political memoir Danny Williams: The War With Ottawa, which appeared on the Globe and Mail’s bestsellers list in 2010; Danny Williams, Please Come Back, a collection of newspaper articles covering social, political, and economic issues; Rosie O’Dell, a critically acclaimed crime novel published by Pennywell Books, a literary imprint of Flanker Press; The Premiers Joey and Frank, which was a Globe and Mail bestseller in 2013, and which the Hill Times selected as one of the Best 100 Books in Politics, Public Policy, and History in 2013; The Monster of Twenty Mile Pond, the much-loved novel of a legendary monster who engulfed the lives of two teenaged girls; and now The True Confessions of a Badly Misunderstood Dog, a fictionalized account of the frantic years when a Labrador retriever and two cats lived with the author’s family.Rowe is a member of the Writers’ Union of Canada and has served on the executive of the Writers’ Alliance of Newfoundland and Labrador. He is married to Penelope Ayre Rowe CM of St. John’s. They have a son, Dorian, a daughter, Toby, and three grandchildren, Rowan, Elizabeth, and Phoebe.

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