Marley and Me: Life and Love with the World’s Worst Dog

Two more murders in the neighborhood and struggles to fit a growing family in a small home push the Grogans to leave West Palm Beach and settle in Boca Raton. Their new home is twice the size but lacks the charm of their first home. Jenny now works part time from home and spends the majority of her time raising the two boys.

Marley destroys the laundry room at the new house during a thunderstorm. The damage is so extensive that John considers whether Marley may qualify as certifiably psychotic: “An entire wall was gouged open, obliterated clear down to the studs. Plaster and wood chips and bent nails were everywhere. Electric wiring lay exposed. Blood smeared the floor and the walls” (170). Thunderstorms are frequent in Florida, so the Grogans visit the pet store to purchase a cage equivalent to a portable Alcatraz to contain Marley. But Marley escapes from even the strongest cage available, causing John and Jenny increasing anxiety each time they leave the house.

Marley isn’t like the typical toy-sized dogs in Boca. The Grogans bring Marley to a popular outdoor dining strip, and he can barely contain himself with so many small dogs around. John hooks Marley’s leash to a leg of the outdoor table, but Marley easily runs away with the table crashing behind him, John and Jenny chasing after his wake of destruction. The incident brings the Grogans’ outdoor family dining adventure to a quick end as Jenny casually pays the bill. John is surprised that Jenny remains so calm, “as if we often did this sort of thing, deciding on the spur of the moment that, oh, why not, it might just be fun to let Marley lead us on a little table stroll around town” (178).

John discovers a book titled No Bad Dogs that overviews various canine temperament flaws. No Bad Dogs initially gives John hope that even Marley’s flaws can be corrected under the right master. Reading the extensive list of potential canine flaws—biting, excessive barking, assaulting other dogs, eating feces—makes John grateful for Marley’s lovable nature. But John is crushed when he reaches the chapter about mentally unstable dogs and realizes that the description fits Marley perfectly. John thinks upon the expenses and inconveniences Marley causes and admits that Marley is more a worry than a joy. No Bad Dogs suggests that Marley is beyond help and should be put to sleep, but John assures Marley not to worry. Shortly later, the Grogans babysit a cat and Marley raids the kitty litter box to eat the feces, just as No Bad Dogs warned.

Patrick and Conor are growing up quickly, and John and Jenny try for a third baby. Jenny becomes pregnant again and this time has a healthy pregnancy. She gives birth to Colleen, and the Grogan family is complete. Marley is six years old, making him roughly equivalent to John’s human age. Jenny throws a surprise party for John’s 40th birthday, and John becomes more serious about his gardening hobby. Lightning strikes the Grogan home while John is gardening during a typical Florida storm, justifying Marley’s exaggerated fear of storms.

John enjoys exploring local scenes for writing inspiration. He takes Marley to one of the few local dog beaches remaining in Palm Beach County, a “small, little-known sliver of beach, where there were no signs, no restrictions, no bans on four-legged water lovers” (197). The dog beach is governed by its own rules and etiquette to preserve its open status; the beach could be closed to dogs completely if owners don’t keep their pets under control. Rules include requiring that dogs defecate in a controlled area before coming onto the beach and restricting dogs from drinking ocean water. When rules are followed by everyone at the beach, owners allow their dogs to play off-leash and enjoy the beach with more freedom than elsewhere. Marley follows the first rule, but he drinks so much salt water that he throws up and then defecates in the ocean. Other beach-goers flee in disgust. John drives Marley home from the failed beach excursion and reflects in his narration that this would be Marley’s last time setting his paws in seawater.

John stumbles upon his dream job while browsing the site of his favorite gardening magazine. He applies for the editing position with high hopes for what his journalistic expertise can bring to the somewhat behind-the-times magazine. John is hired, and the Grogans pack to move to Allentown, Pennsylvania.

The airport in Florida is a chaotic scene, with John and Jenny trying to wrangle three young children and a parade of pets. In addition to Marley, the children have frogs, a goldfish, a hermit crab, a snail, and crickets to feed the frog. The frogs get loose in the terminal while John attempts to fit Marley into his travel carrier. John gives Marley prescribed sedatives for the long plane ride, but passengers on the plane can hear Marley’s howling over the sound of the plane’s engines as they take off for Pennsylvania.