"You Had Me at Woof" is the story of Julie Klam and the lessons she has learned from dogs. Starting the book as a 30-year-old single woman living alone in New York City, Julie never dreams of becoming known as a "dog person". After meeting Otto, her first dog, and getting involved with Boston Terrier rescue, Julie opens up to the world and learns some pretty important lessons. This book follows Julie's journey from a secluded, lonely woman to a wife, mother, and "dog person", and it all happens because of her dogs.

After a long friendship with her first dog Otto, Julie suffered a horrible loss. "It was unexpected and devastating. ... When I realized he was gone, I was despondent, breathless, and broken. There was such an immense black hole within me that I worried it would hurt my unborn child. ... I just wanted to get him again"(35-36). From the words like "devastating", "despondent", and "broken", one can tell that Otto meant a lot to Julie. He was her first "child", and he helped her come out of her shell and learn to care for someone other than herself, which lead to her eventual marriage and childbirth. This was a huge step for Julie, who had previously been alone and self-sufficient. To befriend someone else and love them as much as she did Otto was the first phase in her journey towards becoming the person she ends the book as.

The author uses the deaths of her many dogs to reflect on the time she had with them and share what they taught her. These anecdotes, like the following one, show her inner conflict and growth. "A very wise dog woman once told me that dogs find owners, not the other way around. They pick you and they choose to stay with you. In that way, they are also giving you the end of their life. The deeper the bond, the harder it is to say goodbye. I know I'd rather have any amount of time with a dog I love and suffer thee mourning than not have that time at all"(130). The "deep bond" the author refers to is the one between her and her beloved dogs. In this specific instance, it references Moses, the dog that had most recently died, but it is accurate for all of her dogs, especially Otto.

Moses, as part of proving that deeper bonds are harder to part with, showed Julie to appreciate the time she has with someone, because she never knows when it might end. Moses died in a car accident not terribly long after Julie began fostering him, and she had hardly had enough time to appreciate him. The tone in this passage, though solemn, reveals that bad things can be learned from, as well as the good.

The final chapter of the book serves as a nice summary of Julie's growth and learning. "From Otto, who showed me I could be in a reciprocal nurturing relationship, to Dahlia, who proved that life continues to surprise. . .each dog in my life has brought me something or taught me a lesson that improved the quality of my life. I am richer in every way because of the dogs I've known"(224). This quote embodies Julie's entire growth. She is "richer in every way"; so many new people and pets have entered her life and changed it for the better. Her social, physical, and emotional states have been enriched due to her relationships with Otto, Dahlia, and all the others, as she states in the quote. The tone in this section is very positive, and reminiscent of the good times Julie had with the dogs that changed her life.

Julie's growth and learning reveal the power of the human-dog relationship. As seen throughout the book, dogs can totally change a person and open up a whole new world of possibilities, as they did for Julie. I would recommend "You Had Me at Woof" to any dog lover who is willing to laugh, cry, and maybe learn a thing or two about life from some furry friends.