High on Caffeine

"Show Dog," an observation essay by Susan Orlean tells about the life of Biff, a dog that competes in various shows as a career. Biff is a four year old boxer with a large reputation. Biff is known as the Best Boxer and Best Working Dog. Biff is also a stud, a dog that breeds with other dogs to create more of one breed. The essay tells about Biff's activities and describes how important competing is, and how competing is more than just pleasure to Biff. The essay also talks about Biff's favorite foods, how he travels, and what he does when he's not competing. Susan also takes time to allow the reader to meet Biff's owners, William and Tina Truesdale, and Biff's handler, Kimberly Pastella. The Truesdales and Kimberly don't seem to mind the hectic schedule that revolves around Biff. They enjoy everything that Biff does.

As a reader, I really didn't prefer reading this essay, but it was effective as an observation essay. The writer was effective because she described everything to the fullest extent she could. Whether she described a dog or a person, she described the object from head to toe. When she described Biff, the writer says "Biff has a short, tight coat of fox-colored fur, white feet and ankles, and a patch of white on his chest roughly the shape of Maine," and when describing Mrs. Truesdale, comparing her neck to one of ballerina shows the writer was very attentive. She didn't miss anything on any object, and was consistent with her imagery throughout the whole writing. Also, I was surprised with how much information she shared. The writer informed readers about the dog shows, the categories and titles, what dogs belong to the Working Dogs category, and the history of boxer dogs. I was surprised because it actually taught me something I didn't know.

I don't think I enjoyed this writing as much as I possibly could've was because it seemed as if you had to be an animal lover or pet owner to understand some of the writing. I feel like the Truesdales