The One and Only Bob

Bob’s guilt over not helping his sister when they were abandoned puppies has been plaguing him; this partly explains his difficulty embracing the comforts of his new life with Julia and her family. Bob feared that, due to his lack of intervention, Boss may have lived a brutally hard life or even died. This makes him feel undeserving of his safe and happy home.

He resolves his feelings of guilt by coming to find Boss despite the dangerous storm, and by saving Rowdy, Boss’s puppy, from the flood water. When Bob hears Boss’s barking coming from the shelter, it’s an opportunity to finally help rather than abandon her. Vivid imagery conveys Bob’s fear and peril while navigating through the stormy city: “[W]ater rushes past like a raging river,” and “the sun’s been swallowed up by black clouds” (237). The terror of the stormy city mirrors the terror that Bob felt on the side of the highway in Part 1. Both situations appear terrifying to Bob, almost apocalyptic. This similarity is important symbolically. In those first chapters, Bob was too spooked and ran away before helping Boss. He remorsefully reflects on this memory as he makes his way to the animal shelter in Part 3. This time, Bob perseveres despite his fear and, in doing so, proves to himself that he is not “a coward.”

Bob completes his transition from cowardly and coddled lap dog to brave hero when he must save Rowdy the puppy from the jaws of Kimu the wolf. Bob had fearfully noticed Kimu on the way into the park before the storm, and then noticed with terror after the storm that his enclosure had been destroyed. When Bob sees Kimu outside his destroyed enclosure in Part 2, he crouches “meekly” and submissively, terrified that Kimu will eat him. In Bob’s mind, Kimu is the archetype of a wild animal, with “paws the size of hamburger buns,” “lethal claws,” and “chilling, dangerous eyes” (165).

In Part 3, Bob pursues Kimu despite his fear that Kimu could easily kill both him and Rowdy. Bob must channel the “wolf part” of himself, which recalls his days living as a stray when he privately thought of himself as “Bob the beast” (310). Kimu looks at Bob with surprise after Bob bites him and growls ferociously, as if he is seeing Bob “for the first time” (311). Kimu’s retreat illustrates his newfound respect for Bob—which helps Bob respect himself; Bob proves to himself that he is not merely a pampered lap dog who has become “soft around the edges” and that he still has some of his “cunning and streetwise” ways (55).

In resolving his insecurities about himself, Bob repairs his relationship with Snickers. The stress of the rising water in the shelter prompts Snickers to be honest about her feelings and profess her love for Bob. Snickers is the epitome of human coddling, with her matching outfits, shoes, and bows. Bob’s disgust with her reflects his own insecurity, as was evident when he was upset with Nutwit, Minnie, and Moo's observation that the two dogs were not so dissimilar. Bob’s braving the storm proves that he still has the street smarts and cunning that he prided himself on as a stray, and this allows him to let go of some of his resentment for Snickers’s lifestyle and wardrobe. This in turn allows him to admit to Snickers that he thinks that she is “pretty swell.” The interaction foreshadows romance.

Bob’s experiences in the storm also allow him to finally forgive the cruelty of his first owner. Bob is still affected by the trauma of his abandonment as a puppy; while he loves his new family, he keeps a part of himself from them, refusing to be completely obedient and obliging. Bob tells Boss “through clenched jaws” that he will “never forgive those people for what they did to us” (255). Unexpectedly, it is Boss who urges Bob to forgive their first owners. She reasons that she has done “lots of bad stuff” (255) in her own life and that there was no point in holding onto anger. Bob is shocked that Boss can forgive, given her difficult life after their abandonment.

Later, after he’s saved Rowdy, Bob reflects on all the people he saw that day: “police and rescue workers, the park employees, the staff at the shelter, the folks at the donut shop opening their door to a strange collection of animals” (315). Based on the memory of all these kind people risking their lives to help other humans and animals, Bob reassures Rowdy that humans will come to save them. This shows significant trust from Bob, who was previously consistently skeptical of humans. His decision (inspired by Boss’s sage outlook) to forgive his first owner allows him to fully trust the humans in his life. It is symbolic that Bob happily gets into the car with his human family when they arrive: Previously, cars reminded Bob of his traumatic puppyhood and abandonment, and he would not be persuaded to enter one—even with treats. The change symbolizes Bob’s recovery from the trauma of his puppyhood, and his learning to fully trust and love again.