The highs and lows, joy and heartache of owning a dog are told in this beautifully written story of life in and around a dog park.

'The book of the year. THE book on dogs. And people.' Andrew Dickens, Newstalk ZB

MIKE WHITE has had dogs most of his life, including a giveaway mongrel when he was a teenager, a puppy who was going to be drowned, and his current huntaway, Cooper, who features throughout How to Walk a Dog. They've been wonderful mates, loyal company and frequently disobedient. Some have broken his bones; all have broken his heart when they've gone. White is one of New Zealand's best-known journalists and a senior writer at North & South magazine, where he has won more than 20 national media awards, including the Wolfson Fellowship to Cambridge University. In 2013 he wrote the best-selling true crime book Who Killed Scott Guy? He lives in Wellington with his partner, Nikki, and they walk Cooper along the coast, through the bush and at the city's dog parks.

SHARON MURDOCH is an award-winning cartoonist, and the first woman to regularly produce political cartoons for New Zealand mainstream media. She also draws the cartoon cat Munro, who accompanies the daily crossword in Fairfax newspapers, and has produced a book of cartoons about him called Munro: a cat, a mouse, a crossword clue.

Introduction 1. The names we give them 2. The people we meet with them 3. The places we walk them 4. The dogs we meet with them 5. The ways we train them 6. The heartache they cause us 7. The ways we play with them 8. The ways they shame us 9. The jobs we give them 10. The ways we say goodbye to them