Good Dog Carl

There is this wonderful little children's book called, Good Dog Carl.




In this book, Good Dog Carl, a mother leaves home to go out to run some errands as her big dopey Rotweiler named Carl pulls a diaper baby out of the crib and goes for an adventure about the house. Carl is messing up anything/ everything and having an all around good time doing so many things that he should not, putting the baby back down for a nap with just enough time to tidy things up just as the mother of the child gets home. Now....I have never spoken to the author of this book, but if you pay attention to the final pages you will see that when the mother of child gets home she is greeted at the fence by a little terrier. After noticing the terrier out front I went back and read the book over one more time. After the second reading (and every reading since) I came to realize that Carl is not the family dog, but rather a metaphor for the husband and father. This man, like most men, is not as neat or as tidy and often allows the child to do a few things that maybe 'mom' might frown upon. In Good Dog Carl, the the dog represents the husband/father and does all of this stuff which may not be approved up only to rush and clean up before his wife gets home from her errands about town.