Customer Reviews

Champion Dog

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Because we lived so far from a town or neighbors, summers were isolated for me as a child. The farm kept us busy and there was little entertainment. My parents, however, believed in books and gave me this book the summer I was seven years old. For the first time, I realized that a book could take you places you'd never go, enable you to experience things you'd never actually experience, and cause you to feel real emotion for people and things that do not exist.

This book started me on a career of reading. I've read thousands since I read this one, but none has impacted me more.

I received my original copy of Champion Dog Prince Tom more than 50 years ago as a member of the Weekly Reader Book Club, and was delighted to find it for our grandchildren to enjoy.

Prince Tom was a golden Cocker Spaniel, the runt of the litter, with no expectation of being anything more than a nice house pet, by everyone, that is, except his owner. This is the story of his devotion to learning and obedience which won him many titles, but the most surprising was "National Field Trial Champion for 1956." And, best of all, this story is true.

This is one of those stories that stays with you long after you've forgotten many of things you've read more recently. A great story to share with a child or to read again to recall your own days as a young reader.

I read this book more than forty years ago, and I still remember it. It was one of my favorite books. It made me want to have a well-trained dog in my life. I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves animals.

Similar to another poster, I got this book as a child, probably when it first published. I still remember it and it is the reason that "the burghdog" is always a Cocker Spaniel! This is a great story for kids and I suppose I am proof that it is well written, memorable, and creates a positive image in a child's mind.

Like the similar book The Dog in My Life: Thumper of Walden, this is a story about an extraordinary dog: a Cocker Spaniel called Prince Tom who becomes a trick dog, a television star, an obedience trial champion, and finally the first American dog to win the national field dog trials. Although many of Prince's exploits seem too good to be true, the real enjoyment of the book comes from the fact that it's all true. Even though the dog was born and the book published in the 1950s, this story is still as fresh today as it was many years ago, relating the experiences and triumphs of the one-in-a-million Prince Tom III.

Born the runt of the litter and the only yellow spaniel amongst seven black brothers and sisters, the dog that would soon be known as Prince Tom did not seem to have a very promising future. However, the yellow puppy is given to Tom Clute as a birthday present, who soon begins to see potential in the pup's enthusiasm for learning tricks and skills. Naming him after a puppy that he had as a child, Tom realizes just how special Prince is after he sees him join in a children's game of leapfrog - all on his own volition.

Although Prince is given very little training (with Tom preferring to talk to him as a human being rather than giving him commands) he picks up on various exercises with ease, stunning everyone he comes across in competitions and hunting trials with his small size, his intelligence, and his enthusiasm for whatever task is presented to him. In the best chapter, trainers are struggling to command their reluctant dogs into retrieving ducks from a pond - Tom on the other hand, is more worried about keeping Prince *out* of the water!

Along with Tom and Prince, the son of one of Tom's friends is involved in the story too - a young boy called Nathan who becomes Prince's biggest fan, keeping a long strip of paper in his room that is slowly filled up with all of Prince's titles. Prince's games with Nathan and his siblings also make up several of the most amusing chapters, as when Nathan's pet turtle goes missing - no prizes for guessing who finds it.

If this story wasn't completely true, (and partially written by Tom Clute himself) then Prince would be derided as the worse Gary-Stu of a dog ever to be put into print! However, the fact that Prince was a real dog makes both him and this book remarkable, serving as a great example of what a special dog and his owner can do when each respects and cares for the other.

The prose is sparse and smooth, alternating between a human and a dog's point of view, and also worth noting is that the print itself is a light brown colour as opposed to black (because Prince Tom was brown? I'm not sure entirely sure about this stylistic detail, though it certainly does nothing to detract from the story). A short but rich story on a dog that everybody would like to have owned, I read "Champion Dog: Prince Tom," when I was very young (it was one of my mother's old books) and it has stayed with me ever since. The real Prince is no doubt long dead by now, but the story of his life, the records he broke, and the titles he won are remembered forever.

I had read this book as a child and actually came on here to find it again when my original copy went missing. It's a true feel good story that is written so anyone can read and enjoy it.