What is the name off his best dog?

The first dog to matter to Paulsen is Snowball. "I was just seven years old," he recalls, when he went with his parents and his father's bodyguard to a village. "The village we were visiting raised dogs for food." He decides to save one of them, and his mother buys one for him. Life in the Philippines is hard on him: "I was only seven and found myself dropped into a world that was in many ways insane," remarking that "I evolved into being Filipino." This story sets forth another important idea in My Life in Dog Years—Paulsen's psychological dependence on his pets. Snowball and he are inseparable, and he learns how to discern odors and how to look for food. Her death is a very sad moment; it is a great loss for a boy with little human contact, and Paulsen claims, "I miss her as much as if she'd just died yesterday."