Doggies: A Counting and Barking Book

by Sandra Boynton

Count - and bark - with a fun pack of pups in this Sandra Boynton classic.

Serious silliness for all ages. Artist Sandra Boynton is back and better than ever with completely redrawn versions of her multi-million selling board books. These whimsical and hilarious books, featuring nontraditional texts and her famous animal characters, have been printed on thick board pages, and are sure to educate and entertain children of all ages.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Dogs, Animals, Counting, Fiction, Number

16 pages, Board book

First published October 11, 1984

About the author

Sandra Keith Boynton is an American humorist, songwriter, director, music producer, children's author, and illustrator. Boynton has written and illustrated over eighty-five books for children and seven general audience books, as well as over four thousand greeting cards, and seven music albums. She has also designed calendars, wallpaper, bedding, stationery, paper goods, clothing, jewelry, and plush toys for various companies.

Reviews

[Patrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

It might seem odd to review a book that has 10 pages and less than 20 words in it. But when you're dealing with books for very little kids, that's the landscape you're dealing with.

Barely 15 minutes ago, my littlest boy brought this book up to me and said, "Read daddy! Read!"

That's the baby version of a 5-star review.

What really makes this book good, is that it's one of the very first books you can read to your kid. It will catch and hold their attention *long* before they can follow anything with plot or words. This just has dogs making different barking noises.

Both my boys loved this book, and Cutie went through a period where there was nothing in the world funnier than one of the dogs going "Yip yip yip."

He would laugh and laugh whenever I said that. Huge helpless baby chortles. Why? Who knows. And who cares, really? We were having a great time reading a book together. And that's what really matters.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

My son loves this book. We usually read it before bedtime. After 5 minutes of barking (Arf Arf Arf, Aroof Aroof) and howling (Awoooooooooooooooh) and laughing at each other, Mommy comes in and tells us to settle down because it's time for bed. This usually results in crying (by me), the occasional tantrum (guilty again), and lots of pouting (you guessed it).

[Lila DeLozier · Rating 5 out of 5]

A charming twist on my favorite book, Moo Baa Lalala. Sandra Boynton has done it again.

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book before to my older son, but reading it tonight to my younger son I forgot how much fun it is to read. Plus, my younger son was very engaged and mimicked all the dogs barking, which my older son never really did. However, the other night I heard my older son 'read' it to his little brother, which was cute, funny and heartwarming!

[Sandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

My kids love it, but it stresses me out to read it!

[Marieke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun. More when The Lil Dude can enjoy books more. Right now books are objects for tummy time and practice for mom being silly, especially this one. Gotta work on my barks!

[The Celtic Rebel (Richard) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very cute and simple learning book that children love even as early as 6 months old. Wonderful illustrations and lots of opportunities to laugh and bond with your child while they are learning. My son loved and now my grandsons do too.

[Gina · Rating 3 out of 5]

I reiterate my first review! Cute and short learning book.

First review
My family has had this book for as long as I can remember (in fact, our version was published in 1984) and since I'm the youngest and the biggest dog connoisseur, it fell into my custody, so I figured it should have a rating from me. It's cute, short, and obviously I have fond memories.

[Rory Bopp · Rating 5 out of 5]

First book read to daughter. Love this author and her writing style. Allowed for some fun voice changes and narrations. Also got to involve our dog in the reading.

[John Charles Myers · Rating 2 out of 5]

Repetitive - mom gets tired by the end and, therefore, lazy with the voices.

[Ronan Crutchfield]

This book is sooooo fun! I laughed and laughed at all the doggie noises

[Simon Wehner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Who knew there were so many types of barks?! I sure didn't but I'm so intrigued now. My new favorite to practice is number 9 - the howl. Too bad my mom said she's tired of reading this..

[booklady · Rating 4 out of 5]

My granddaughter loved this book. I wasn't quite so crazy about it, but since it did include counting and numbers, there was value beyond the silliness.

As reader, you have to bark, woof, bow wow and make other doggie noises a set number of times for each dog as the number of dogs go up. My favorite numbers were #6 (six silent dogs!) and #9 for nine dogs howling at the moon. Ten wasn't so bad either since you only had to make the dog sound once and you got to make a cat sound at the very end.

Not my favorite children's book, but I think most young children will enjoy this ... and after all, who are children's books for?

[JamSam · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is amazing. With each reading, new hilarity ensues. The initial read I literally spent 20 minutes working on my A-ooooooh versus actually saying each individual A & O. Later I reveled in learning to "Shhhhhh" amidst the quiet dogs. Most recently I have found it hysterical to call this book, Duckies. Does it ever stop giving!?

[Jade · Rating 4 out of 5]

Note: this is not my review but the review of my daughter who can't have her own goodreads but does love herself a book! Therefore I will be writing them for her. She is currently 6 months old.

Enjoyed this book tremendously, possibly because mom is very good at making various dog noises, a skill she didn't even realize she had. Would read again, maybe 400 times.

[LL · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simple, cute illustrations, lots of opportunities to make funny noises that will make your baby giggle. Holds my 6-month old's attention wonderfully well.

[Mystic · Rating 4 out of 5]

With barely enough words to fill a 5 minute conversation this book does more than other kids books do in an entire series! My nephew absolutely adores this book and he's a surprisingly picky reader. After him shoving it in my face for the umpteenth time I gave it the standard once over and found it surprisingly well written and drawn. Excellent art style and lovingly drawn visuals make it a pleasure to read. I find it sweat and honestly I like it.

[Aja · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book so much that I felt compelled to write a 5 star review. A friend from church gave it to us as a gift a few days ago. It’s so simple, yet I think it’s the first book my one year old twins sat through the entire time without running away or ripping it out of my hands. And every time I’ve read it both of them are giggling the whole time. I think it’s safe to say that’s a 5 star endorsement from them. I’ve also caught them picking this book up and chuckling to themselves. There’s a billion children’s books out there, but this silly one is in my opinion worth owning.

[Xavier · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a great book for very young kids to learn their numbers. The pages go through adding a dog to each page and each dog makes a dog noise that corresponds to the number 1-bark, 2-arfs….the numeric value is also displayed. It may not be 100% clear to a young child what they are counting, but a little fun with a care giver may take care of that issue.

The images are adorable and fitting for this style of book.

While I like the book, I would not say it is my favorite number book.

[Tara Leitz · Rating 5 out of 5]

5/5⭐️ Such a cute book. Read this while babysitting and will definitely buy in the future when we have kids.

Baby LOVED the doggie barking parts—also enjoyed pointing to the doggies as I made the noises. A very cute, simple counting book.

[Alexandra Martellaro · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book gets giggles from my one-year-old all the way through every single time. It gets five stars.

[Rod Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

Doggies! Count them. Help them bark. Help them howl. Bark extra hard at that unwelcome last page visitor! Grrrrrrr.

[Becky · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite Boynton books, as it’s been consistently a first book that my kids visibly enjoyed. (Especially “Nine dogs on a moonlit night.”)

[Loretta · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ohhh this one is so much fun to perform

Woof

Arf arf

Nnn… nnn… nnn…

[Kelly Palmer · Rating 4 out of 5]

We love a dog book

[Shane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Most excellent

[Libby · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sandra Boynton is the GOAT

[Jude Velazquez · Rating 5 out of 5]

All I can say is “Bow wow wow wow wow.”

[Chinook · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not my favourite Boynton but the girls like it well enough.

[Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

A baby book actually written FOR babies. Thank you Sandra Boynton for truly knowing your audience!