August 19, 2022 
The Edinburgh Reporter
The stand-up comedian Dave Chawner has tackled weighty subjects such as anorexia, teenage mental illness and getting circumcised at 26 for health reasons in his five previous solo shows, so a piece about dogs is something of a liberation – and it shows.In a knockabout hour, with non-PC jokes aplenty, he introduces us to Rocket and Dotty, a male and female miniature dachshund, respectively – or sausage dogs as he prefers to call them – which he and his partner, Oona, attempt to raise after finding them through borrowmydoggy.com.This includes “puppy-proofing” their flat in Streatham, south London – “there were ramps everywhere” – meeting family members, lavishing affection upon them and handling complaints about barking. “She can’t help, that – she’s northern Irish,” he says in one of many self-consciously poor-taste quips that probably won’t be winning “best joke of the Fringe” any time soon.While it is not laugh-out-loud, he seems to enjoy himself knitting it all somewhat loosely together and there are dog pics aplenty, ranging from them nestling up to other mutts, to one of a bulldog having fun on an ill-regarded puppy farm (“They breed dogs like commercial entities”, he inveighs). And there’s also, bizarrely, one of a sweating Prince Andrew that somehow made it into the mix.Chawner, 33, who is originally from Burton-on-Trent in Staffordshire, is agreeably jaunty and relaxed in a banter-rich performance; and as one might expect from the author of “Weight Expectations: One Man’s Recovery from Anorexia” he relishes playing with words.His show, though, is not just about the bubble-world of dogs and their owners. It strives to reach out beyond doggyland to our quest for acceptance and for that, at least, he deserves a bow. Wow. Click Here For Review