The Catawba Fictioneers: Brad Watson's "Last Days of the Dog-Men"

Brad Watson's Last Days of the Dog-Men is a collection of short stories that tell the tale of man's best friend. Using dogs in different ways, Watson creates an enjoyable collection that engages the reader and keeps them reading until the very end.

“Seeing Eye”

Brad Watson’s short story “Seeing Eye” works well without working like the typical short story. There is an unusually small amount of present action involved in the story. In fact, there is very little action, period, and this lack of action is actually what makes the story work well. The story mainly engages the reader’s senses and focuses on the details of the moment rather than what is going to happen in and after that moment.

The most gratifying part of Watson’s use of the senses is feeling as though the experience is being observed through the Seeing Eye dog’s eyes. While the story is written in third person, it moves so close to the dog as a character that it sometimes feels as though it is first person through his eyes. This brings both a unique and intriguing aspect to the story. Watson writes with such detail in these sections that the reader can almost see and smell the scene through the dog’s eyes. While there is no way for Watson to have lived the life of a dog, the detail he provides makes it seem almost plausible.

Since the story focuses mostly on these details, there are no real high action moments during the story. While that may seem to make the story tedious, it does quite the opposite. The story manages to remain calm and quiet, but never boring. Overall, it is a beautiful story that engages the reader without a high event or surprise ending.

“A Blessing”

A short story that grips the reader and tugs at the heartstrings, “A Blessing” uses suspense and a human’s innate love for dogs to keep the reader’s attention. While the story starts a little slow, Watson makes it worth the effort to make it to the high events. When the couple arrives at their destination, the story picks up.

Once the story is in full motion, the high events seem to come every page. While they do not really occur that often and don’t last long, the high events are truly in your face, making them resonate in such a way that it feels as though they last much longer than they do.

Watson again pays attention to the little things and depicts the events and surroundings in such a way that allows the reader to see and feel the moment. The details also play into the hands of the high events, making them that much more shocking. The details also cause the reader to grieve at the death of one of the dogs, as it is possible to feed off the characters’ reactions and fall in the love with the troubled dog before it is killed.

The ending leaves a little to be desired, but the high events and details allow it to be an overall enjoyable reading experience.

“Agnes of Bob”

While the reader can once again see Watson’s attention to detail in this short story, the details are lost within a work that strays from Watson’s normally tight writing. There are moments where the reader is transported to the time and place of the story, but for the most part, the story tends to drag on with unnecessary details.

There are many parts of the story that appear irrelevant to the overall plot, making it a challenge to keep reading. Another dissatisfying aspect is the fact that Bob, the dog, does not play as large of a role in this story as I would have liked. The main character, Agnes, goes off without the dog many times, leaving the reader to wonder what his purpose is in the overall story.

Also, the reader does not have a chance to connect to either the dog or the humans in the story, which leaves something to be wanted. There is nothing more satisfying than leaving a story feeling as though you have connected to the characters; unfortunately, this cannot be said for “Agnes of Bob.” While the ending is satisfying and beautiful, it doesn’t seem worth it to trudge through the long, detailed moments that don’t appear to connect anything together.

BRAD WATSON