Book: I’m Not Single, I Have a Dog: Dating Tales From The Bark Side

Susan Hartzler’s candid and funny memoir about dating, heartbreak, independence, and the dogs who helped her realize that a fulfilling life doesn’t require a romantic partner.

What if being single isn’t something to fix?

That question lies at the heart of Susan Hartzler’s I’m Not Single, I Have a Dog: Dating Tales From The Bark Side, a candid and often funny memoir now available as an audiobook on Audible.

Published by McFarland, the book follows Hartzler through decades of dating, relationships, heartbreak, and an equally memorable cast of dogs. Along the way, she begins to question a belief many women have been taught: that finding the right romantic partner is necessary to make a life complete.

“I spent years thinking the right man was supposed to complete the picture,” she says. “Eventually, I realized I already had a life I loved. My dogs weren’t a substitute for family. They were family.”

Dating Tales, Dogs and a Different Kind of Happily Ever After

The story begins with Blondie, the pound mutt Hartzler adopted after a breakup at 29. What began as a search for companionship became something much bigger. Through subsequent relationships, breakups, losses, and personal crises, her dogs remained a constant presence.

There is plenty of humor along the way. With chapter titles such as “Speed Dating at the Veterinary Hospital,” “Think Pawsitive,” “Barking Up the Wrong Tree,” and “No Fleabag Please,” Hartzler finds comedy in a dating history that didn't always seem funny while she was living it.

But the dogs aren't simply there for comic relief. Among the memorable dogs who share Hartzler’s story are Baldwin, the Puli who became her first therapy dog, and Bliss, whose acting career included appearances on television shows such as Scandal and CSI.

Through the relationships that worked and those that did not, the dogs remained. They offered stability during heartbreak, gave Hartzler a sense of purpose, and eventually helped her rethink what makes a family.

Kirkus Reviews also recognized that emotional honesty, describing the memoir as an “affecting, canine-heavy account of disappointment and self-discovery.” The review noted Hartzler's candid examination of relationships and the important role dogs played during difficult periods in her life.

Despite its title, I’m Not Single, I Have a Dog isn't an argument against falling in love or having a romantic relationship. Instead, it challenges the assumption that being uncoupled means being incomplete.

And that's where the book becomes about more than dating. It asks readers to consider who gets to define what a fulfilling life is. Is there only one version of happily ever after? Or can love, connection, family, and purpose take forms we didn't imagine when we were younger?

For Hartzler, dogs became an important part of the answer.

Now You Can Listen to the Story

The newly released unabridged audiobook runs about nine hours and offers readers another way to experience Hartzler’s dating misadventures, humor, and deeply personal stories.

Narrated by Katie Piccirillo, the audiobook presents Hartzler's stories and the dogs who shaped them to listeners in a new format.

Hartzler is also the author of The Peace Puppy: A Memoir of Caregiving and Canine Solace and Teaming Up with Therapy Dogs: Skills to Build Healing Partnerships. A former television news producer and public relations executive, she has spent years working with therapy dogs and writing about the human-animal bond.

She is also the creator of BlissDog, a Substack publication exploring dogs, healing, relationships, and the extraordinary ways animals shape human lives.

For anyone who has ever had a dog stay by their side through a breakup, a loss, or a major life change, I’m Not Single, I Have a Dog offers a familiar truth: Sometimes happily ever after doesn't look anything like the picture we started with. And sometimes there's a dog in the picture.

The book is available on Amazon, McFarland Publishing, and Audible. For more info about author Susan Hartzler, visit: https://susanhartzler.com/