Theatre / A Dog's Life

A Dog's Life is a one-act play by Pam Valentine. It follows a day in the life of four dogs in a pound when a human comes looking to adopt. The dogs are an old mongrel named Ben, a German Shepherd named Fritz, an incredibly overweight poodle named Fifi, and a hyperactive puppy named Ginger.

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This play provides examples of:

• Berserk Button: Fifi's is her weight, Fritz's is babies, and Ben's is insulting his human.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Ben is a genuinely gentle soul... right up until you press the Berserk Button detailed above.
• Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: While Ben and Fritz are discussing their pasts:
  Fifi: I fell in love with a greyhound once.
  Fritz: What has that got to do with anything?
  Fifi: Nothing.
• Brick Joke:
  Ginger: How many humans have you had, Fritz?
  Fritz: Seven. Or is it eight?
  some time later...
  Ginger: What's fuzz? Is it food? Is it? Is it?
  Fritz: Nine! I have had nine humans.
• Cerebus Syndrome: Hoo, boy...
• Child Hater: Fritz. It's played for laughs.
• Decoy Protagonist: The focus of the story is on Ben, not Ginger.
• Deadpan Snarker: Mostly Fritz, but Ben also gets in a few digs.
• Dog Stereotype: Somewhat.
  • Fifi the poodle is very French and quite spoiled, but rarely snooty about it except where Fritz is concerned.
  • Fritz the German shepherd is neither heroic nor particularly skilled, and is actually something of a Jerkass for most of the play.
  • Ben the mongrel is Street Smart, Book Dumb, and functionally the Team Dad.
  • Ginger the puppy is very sweet, but completely hyperactive.
• Dramedy
• I'm Cold... So Cold...: Ben's last words are along these lines, with a fair bit less Narm than is usually present.
  It's gone very... cold, hasn't it? I can't remember ever feeling this cold...
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Fritz. He can be downright nasty, but he's had a pretty hard life. At the end, he comforts the dying Ben and offers him some of his uneaten biscuit.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Ben, after biting the human who came to adopt a dog because the warden pressed his Berserk Button.
• Naïve Newcomer: Ginger.
• Nice Guy: Ben.
• No Name Given: The humans are not named.
• Running Gag: What's a gag? Is it food? Is it? Is it?
• Suicide by Cop: Ben biting the visitor is functionally this, given that it causes the Warden to schedule him to be put down even sooner.
• This Is My Human: This is how the dogs refer to their owners, although the humans are still clearly in charge.
• The Tramp: Ben's master was one. Referring to him as such in front of Ben, however, is a spectacularly bad idea.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Fritz and Fifi have something like this going on.