This was quite the surprising read. We follow Rou aka Leo aka “the second smartest dog that ever lived” and his friends as he goes on a quest to discover where he came from. From running wild with Coyotes, to finding friends in fast food parking lots, to a circus extravaganza, Rou finds the meaning of true friendship and where exactly home is. This was such a fun read. The pacing was perfect and the writing was great. Highly recommend!

Our intrepid main character is a very special dog who starts with no memory of his past or what has happened and a badly injured leg. As he goes forward, he acquires family, friends, a name, and purpose as he has adventures and goes on a special quest related to his past. I cannot emphasize how much I loved this book! It’s fantastical in the best way and clearly written by someone who deeply loves and understands dogs. Absolutely wonderful!

I was absolutely blown away by this book. I went into it thinking it would be a cute little animal adventure, but it was so much more than that.

The story follows Leo’s incredible journey, which begins when he falls from the back of a van on a highway and is picked up, injured, by animal control. From there, Leo embarks on an epic adventure along with his ‘brother’ pug Shakespeare and numerous other animals we meet along the way, including coyotes, a tiger, an orangutan, and more. Leo quickly recognizes that he is more intellectually gifted than some of the animals around him, and this is reinforced when he is able to read and speak to humans.

The whole story really hinges on the characterization of the animals, especially as it’s written from Leo’s POV. It would be easy to make the story fun and silly as dogs often are, but the author adds layers of warmth and emotion, which give depth and nuance to the story. It’s so easy to fall in love with Leo and Shakespeare, and you quickly do, which means that you want to root for them in all the chaotic situations and scrapes they get into. You feel a rollercoaster of emotions when danger is near. The bright yellow cover might fool you into thinking this is going to be a light-hearted, happy-go-lucky story, but it actually packs an emotional punch, and in some situations, I genuinely felt discomforted (thinking of the cat & coyotes moment). The story is full of twists and turns that leave you guessing and keep you gripped to find out what will happen next, giving it a movie-like quality.

As a dog owner, I found this a joy to read. The mannerisms of Leo and the others were spot on—unsurprising, as the author is a vet with the expertise to nail these details. This is honestly one of the best books I’ve read this year and is definitely one of the strongest debuts as well.

Thank you to Will Pass and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of the Second Smartest Dog that Ever Lived in exchange for my thoughts on the book!

While the writing style was slow to grow on me, I was in love with it by Part Two. The vivid imagery that kicked off in the desert made this book so interesting to read, pivoting from a silly book about animals to a piece of beautiful abstractionism. Each Part offered a new environment for Pass to flex his prose abilities in a different environment, while bringing back characters here and there to weave a subtle through-line.

Despite the descriptive focus, there was still an engaging plot with Rou's quest remaining a driving force throughout.

I'd recommend this book to anyone interested in prose and in particular, biblical imagery.

I was drawn to this novel by the concept of a story from a dog, with human intelligence.

The first part was somewhat lighthearted. It was funny and hooked me right off.

From there, things got darker, more intense, and heartbreaking. I found myself on edge, cringing at some spots. Without giving anything away (kudos to the "I'm a dog and don't die at the end preface, it does have a positive ending. I did feel it dragged in some spots, and I had trouble trudging through. The story was compelling enough to stick with it, and I'm glad I did

I am not surprised it is so very well written, considering this was written by a veterinarian. That also explains how visceral some scenes are. There is a fair amount of violence between animals and to animals. I did not anticipate that, and despite how jarring it was, I felt it was done accurately and drives home important issues about how animals are treated in captivity for human entertainment.

Thanks to the author and publisher for the advanced copy. My opinions are my own and I was not financially compensated for my review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Victory Editing for the ARC!

This was such a smart, witty, fun book! It's told from the perspective of Rousseau, a stray dog with a vendetta against his former owner. He strikes out on a cross country trek to find his previous owner who dumped him and through his travels meets a menagerie of animals and personalities. The interactions between all the animals were hilarious and so fun to read. There were a few parts that were a little boring during their travels, but the pacing picked back up quickly. For a debut novel, this was a gem!

If you were looking for a book that combines Homeward bound, Planet of the Apes and Dumbo this is your book.

The premise of a talking dog was interesting. There were some very funny moments where the dog is learning about humans and our history. There were also some very somber points that made you think.

I was confused for much of the book and struggled to maintain interest in the middle but pushed on to get to the ending which was surprising and then cute.

I’m not sure I am recommending this to many people unless I know they are looking for a very quirky read. But those readers are out there and I hope they find this book!

I received an advanced reader copy for free from NetGalley, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

The narrater is a dog with amnesia who gets taken in by Mary and joins her gang of a cat, another dog and a Macaw.
He can somehow read texts, which I could still get into but then he starts using Mary’s laptop somehow.
Im not quite sure who this book is for, as it felt way to tense to enjoy as a dog lover, and not humorous enough to go that route. As the story had some intense moments and I just felt dread reading it I decided to DNF a third in.
I hope others get what the author was going for but I did not.

I was intrigued by the book description because it reminded me so much of Hollow Kingdom, which I absolutely adore. The book is a quirky fun journey that I zoomed through in one sitting. I really loved all the different characters, Shakespeare in particular gave me so much serotonin. What I wouldn't give to be able to read something in his POV! The story centers around Leo/Rousseau, considered one of the smartest animals in the book, but personally I don't think that the characterization of this trait was fleshed out well enough to distinguish his intellgience from his other normal animal companions. We got animals making black market deals targeting drug-addicted felines, a weiner dog resigned to his fate of slaving away in a capitalistic society, bilingual king Shakespeare, but yeah.. Leo can read. Just goes to show that intellgience can take on many different forms besides book-smart.

I will say that this is a book driven more so by it's characters than plot and I found the ending reveal average at best. Very Scooby Doo-esque type of mystery that I did feel nostalgic about. However, the final climax was extremely satisfying to read and I love a good happy ending.

(Also in good conscious I have to add that while I loved the animals' exploration of self-choice and freedom, please neuter/spay your pets especially with kitten season in full swing and leaving thousands of felines to die every year. I would also encourage looking into the benefits of indoor cats and enrichment ideas to satisfy outdoor access. Protecting our ecosystems and helping our kitties live long enough to become senior citizens is a win for everyone!)

Rating: 4.5/5

I was drawn to this novel by its synopsis. Although a little different to the majority of my reading material, I anticipated an entertaining and light-hearted read that would likely be along the lines of "The Secret Life of Pets". For the first part of this four-part story that was pretty much what I got. However, by the end of the book I could only only conclude that it was so much more than just that.

As I said, "Part One" of this story delivers pretty much what I was expecting and at this point I was finding it enjoyable and amusing. That said, I also had some niggling reservations beginning to form. Although not excessively long, this is no novella either, and I was starting to doubt whether the joke would run out of steam and become tiresome before I reached the end. I need have had no such concerns. Will Part takes the storyline to places I would never have imagined and the pathway it follows is a surprising, amusing and often touching one. There are astute social observations with insightful commentary and the anthropomorphic characters are delightfully captivating and engaging.,

Although I went into this expecting something a little reminiscent of "The Secret Life of Pets", it would probably be more accurate to compare this with the Anna Sewell classic, "Black Beauty", which was also written in the autobiographical first person of its central protagonist. Over the years, "Black Beauty" has become predominantly viewed as children's literature, which is something of a disservice. Anna Sewell intended it as an informative piece of fiction aimed primarily at adults and it certainly contains some dark and heartrending scenes and themes. In many ways the same could be said of "The Second-Smartest Dog That Ever Lived". I am sure that many younger readers will fall in love with the wonderfully endearing cast of characters, but there is ample brevity to the underlying themes to make this work for more mature audiences too. Will Pass has produced a very impressive debut that works on a variety of levels and I will certainly be looking out for more from him in the future.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for supplying an ARC in return for an honest review.

- fun book told from a dogs perspective about his journey to 'find himself' and who he truly is with making some friends and enemies along the way
- the book took a turn at the end that i didn't expect
- at first, i thought this was going to be a dr. dolittle kind of book, but that's just one part of it
- the end came quickly and i would have liked a touch more about leo's life post-adventure

- a different book that I've never read before and found i really enjoyed the experience leo/rou and his friends had along the way!
- a fun read for sure!

Part one of this book was funny,quirky and interesting. I can honestly say I have never read/come across anything like it so much so the first part I would give five stars. I loved how the pets could talk amongst themselves and how Leo explained things to the others. I felt leo and Shakespeare made a great pairing. I loved all the goings on with the pets and how Leo was able to help out at the vets. I truly wish we could communicate with animals or be able to know what's going on in their minds.
Once part one was over with I felt the story took a downhill slope and the humour and quickness were gone/lost I would go as far to say it felt like a completely different story where I didn't enjoy reading it. I feel the author had a great idea but ran out steam,what should and would of been a unique story was let down and I would of given a higher score of the story had it been more engaging.

Thanks net galley for the chance to review this book.

Wow. Just, wow. The places this story went were very unexpected, and not always enjoyable, but always captivating. If you are a pet owner, you've probably wondered what your dog was thinking or maybe even wished to have the ability to speak to them. This satisfied that wish while also leaving the curiosity of if that's really what it would be like. The personalities of every animal was written beautifully. I became attached to characters quickly and was cheering or cringing for them the entire time. This book was honestly amazing.

This was such a fun read! You can tell that the author worked as a veterinarian and his insight into animal behaviors made this a very interesting read. I really appreciated the dry and satirical view of the dog, who is our narrator. The interactions between animals was also very fun to read and I especially appreciated the poetic and haughty behaviors of the cats. Leo/Rou's view of his world as he tries to piece together what has happened meant that the reader was also limited by what he knew/understood and this created some unique tension.

One thing I struggled with during this read was the pacing. There were some parts of the novel that felt "too long." This was overall a "slower" read for me, which is okay, but I definitely felt like parts of the story were slower to get through. I realize this is a personal preference thing and not everyone will feel this way. At no point did this book feel so slow that I was not willing to continue reading.

Shakes was such a gem and I loved seeing the relationship develop between Shakes and Rou.

Thanks to NetGalley, Thiessen Press, and the author for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

A fun dog-centred adventure with quirky characters - this is a good cozy adventure read from the point of view of rescued mutt ‘Leo’.
Throughout the book, Leo meets various animals in his attempt to find out more about his past (and more about being a dog!) after being abandoned with a broken leg by his previous owner with no recollection from before he was rescued.
This book was a lot different from the books I normally read, but the title and description seemed fun! This was my first venture into animal-pov writing, and I thought it was done well with humour.

Told from Leo the Dogs’ perspective even though he doesn’t know he’s a dog initially, he’s not sure what he is, but he is very funny and the whole world around him is new. This is because he was abandoned, well half killed actually and found by the lovely Mary. Who takes him home and introduces him to other animals or he thinks their animals that he can speak to them but can’t understand why he can’t speak to Mary.
He can speak to his vet and Mary’s colleague Dr Francis, who thinks he’s going crazy.

Anyway, following on from a mysterious fire at Mary’s house, no one is quite sure how it started, but the animals get Mary and Dr Francis out, who both happened to be quite intoxicated from the night before. Leo uses the chaos and takes this opportunity to run away because he’s no longer happy being a house dog. And so Leo and Shakespeare embarks on his adventures across the country trying to find the bright light which he sees when he was in the garden which happens to be in Los Velos (Las Vegas to you and me). With his companions in tow, along the way he also decides he wants to be recognised as a coyote, because he came across one in the garden one night and after a conversation decides that they’re the original dogs and he now just wants to become one.

On his travels, following the light, he meets a pack of coyote and after being accepted as one he changes his name to Rousseau or Rou for short. Then he meets a pack of dogs and picks up Vern who (a wiener breed) is dressed like a sausage dog, an actual sausage in a bun dog costume. And along with Shakespeare the pug they embark on their quest to get to the Golden Palace to find the Rajah who nearly killed them earlier, with a snake, but didn’t succeed. And with the help of Dr Francis, who is beginning to act even more insane since meeting Leo and then being bitten by Rou, and with ANOTHER pack of dogs. They all perform some aerial dynamics and they finally gain admittance into the palace. But once inside they realise it is something else which the Rajah with and more antics ensue.

This is a very long book about the Leo’s/Rou’s very long journey and the characters they all encounter on his quest and the mischief they all get up to. During the travels he eventually decides he wants to go home and after completing his quest they do. Because the book is from Leos perspective, it shows how the now wild dogs live and survive in the wilds of America. Also, how the friends communicate and help each other along the way. It really does give off the Wizard of Oz vibes in certain places which is quite funny. But hasn’t this been made into a film or two already?

I absolutely loved the book. It was so funny, totally bonkers and so endearing and is beautifully written from the only person who could understand a Dogs’s perspective, a vet. I hope there’s another adventure featuring Leo, maybe not so long the next time.

Through the tenderness of Mary from Hoover Animal Control and TLC from veterinarian Dr. Francis, our canine narrator was able to recover from life threatening injuries after being ejected from a moving car. The mutt, with floppy ears, seemed to have heard a voice in his hazy fog, “Roger That”. Why did Roger do that to him?

“...a bewildered dog with a cone on his head…[his] right forelimb looked more like a yellow cannon than a leg…I barked. I whined…I panted…”. Mary took him home and introduced him to her animal family including a pug named Shakespeare. Shakespeare, an incessant talker, was thrilled to have a big brother. Mary named the newbie, Leo.

As Leo healed, he questioned why he had no memories of being a puppy. Noticing a basket of glossy papers , he was intrigued by the lines and squiggles. “The squiggles meant something…transforming…within my mind…I went through the squiggles over and over, repeating the meanings, in my head…I loved letters. I loved words! And I loved reading!”

Using Mary's laptop with a bitten apple on the lid, Leo saw the word “Oogle” on the screen. “Oogle knew everything! Moving the arrow with his nose, Leo searched for “Roger”. He found Roger Federer, Roger Ebert and Roger Moore. There seemed to be a plethora of Rogers.

Oogle searches explained why Leo lost facts and memories of the past, leading to a diagnosis of retrograde amnesia. “The past cannot be changed, and while your future is determined in the present, the final fabric is anyone’s guess.” “Why should man have dominion over every creeping thing…since I am an animal, I creepth upon the earth…humans think they have the right to control me. To dominate me.” Leo and bestie Shakespeare decided to run away. Theirs was a quest for freedom but it would come with a cost…”morals are a luxury of the well fed.” A quest required a new moniker…Rousseau!

Rousseau and Shakespeare were escaping captivity, however, kindness of members of the animal kingdom and contact with humans were necessary components of a care-free lifestyle. They needed to learn survival skills including hunting and foraging. “If there was no Roger, then I lost all connection with my past.” Rousseau’s dialogue with both animals and humans would determine his future as well as that of Shakespeare.

Debut novelist Will Pass has taken this reader on a very creative, fascinating journey based upon his knowledge of animals as a former veterinarian and current medical writer. The read was both humorous as well as touching. Loved the drive-thru! I look forward to future writing from the pen of Will Pass! Highly recommended.

Thank you Thiessen Press and Net Galley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

You can tell the author is a veterinarian. He knows a great deal about dogs and their behaviors, so it's only a small exaggeration to assume that dogs communicate not only with each other and other animals, but with selected humans. In this case, the narrating dog - named Leo, but eventually Rousseau - is a lot smarter than most humans and after a serious injury begins to remember who he really is. I did not expect this to be so suspenseful, but it is, and by the way a satire on human behavior. Recommended.

This book is an exciting, unusual, and daring experience for me, as it's my first ARC to review and my first book with an animal narrator. The story follows Leo, a.k.a. Rou, and a pug named Shakes as they embark on an adventure through unknown places, from the desert to the city of sins. I love how the story employs satire, making me giggle at parts and serving as a good palette cleanser for someone like me who enjoys mystery crime thrillers. The narrative focuses on the characters' experiences and encounters, making it occasionally gripping and reminiscent of watching an animated movie. However, some parts felt too long, leading to moments of boredom, and the plot felt familiar for an animal POV story. Overall, while a large chunk of the adventure bored me, I still appreciate the satire and slice-of-life elements the story offers.

This book was a crazy , quirky adventure ride right from the start of the book — where we follow a dog in his adventure for revenge for the human that tried to kill him and his own self- discovery of how he was so uniquely different from other dogs. This story has us from the suburbs to the wild dessert to down town Los Vegas ( at least that is what my mind assumed the city was ).

Since I am a dog/ animal lover I have always enjoyed anything with animal narrators — I am always narrating for my own dog too !
I was engaged with our main characters Leo/ Ru and Shakespeare on and off throughout the story — part 1 — living with Mary — was engaging and transitioning into part 2 — Part 2 in the dessert aspects were interesting and terrifying and I became more engaged again as that part of the story came to a close — Part 3 heading into the city to find the villain —I became more engaged in finding out Leo/ Ru`s origins and their travels to get into the city — but later in the story began to miss the fun banter between the dogs —but when I put it all together — I enjoyed the ride and would love just a slice of life update of Shakespeare and Leo/Ru in the future.

Thanks to Netgalley and Thiessen Press | willpassbooks.com for this ARC. This is my honest review.