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* TropeyComeHome: A man abducts Breaker's father [=McCreery=] from Bess's home. [[spoiler:Benny has [[DreamingOfThingsToCome dreams about finding [=McCreery=] in a particular area of the forest]], and he eventually does. [=McCreery=] is exhausted, with bloody sores on his foot pads. The thief is caught months later when he tries to steal from Hannah. He has a puppy mill and was trying to add quality to his stock.]]
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* LikeParentLikeSpouse: Bess's son David becomes attracted to Dr. Kate, the therapist at Benny's special school. When Bess meets Kate, she understands why, because both women have dedicated their lives to their work.
-->'''Bess''': My kennel, your school. The kind of women people don't think have real lives.
-->'''Bess''': My kennel, your school. The kind of women people don't think have real lives.
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* StarbucksSkinScale: David compares Benny's therapist Dr. Kate's skin to café au lait.
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* StarbucksSkinScale: David compares Benny's therapist Dr. Kate's skin to café au lait.
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* GroinAttack: During training, Breaker gets too excited and pounces on Benny's groin.
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* MealTicket: Benny's mom reads about his and Breaker's dog show successes in the paper and immediately sues for custody so she can get rich off him. She even suggests that he trade Breaker for a Pomeranian that would look better on TV. Benny has spent so much time wishing his mom would want him, but now that she does, he realizes that she is fundamentally self-interested and incapable of having the relationship with him that he wants.
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* DaddyDidntShow:
** Benny lives with his dad and his stepmom Sonya. He badly misses his mom, but she's always missing their visits. Sometimes she has an excuse, like the sales clerk taking too long to check her credit card.
** When Bess's son David was growing up, Bess was MarriedToTheJob, making him feel like she loved dogs more than she loved him. He even entered junior showmanship, despite having little interest in dog shows, in a failed attempt at getting Bess's attention. He and Bess have a better relationship now that he's an adult.
** Benny lives with his dad and his stepmom Sonya. He badly misses his mom, but she's always missing their visits. Sometimes she has an excuse, like the sales clerk taking too long to check her credit card.
** When Bess's son David was growing up, Bess was MarriedToTheJob, making him feel like she loved dogs more than she loved him. He even entered junior showmanship, despite having little interest in dog shows, in a failed attempt at getting Bess's attention. He and Bess have a better relationship now that he's an adult.
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* DaddyDidntShow:
**DaddyDidntShow: Benny lives with his dad and his stepmom Sonya. He badly misses his mom, but she's always missing their visits. Sometimes she has an excuse, like the sales clerk taking too long to check her credit card.
** When Bess's son David was growing up, Bess was MarriedToTheJob, making him feel like she loved dogs more than she loved him. He even entered junior showmanship, despite having little interest in dog shows, in a failed attempt at getting Bess's attention. He and Bess have a better relationship now that he's an adult.card.
**
** When Bess's son David was growing up, Bess was MarriedToTheJob, making him feel like she loved dogs more than she loved him. He even entered junior showmanship, despite having little interest in dog shows, in a failed attempt at getting Bess's attention. He and Bess have a better relationship now that he's an adult.
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* MarriedToTheJob: Bess admits that she's MaternallyChallenged. When her son David was growing up, she spent more time breeding and showing dogs than she spent with him. He was so desperate for attention from her that he entered junior showmanship, despite having no interest in dog shows and hating every minute of it. He and Bess have a better relationship now that he's an adult.
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* DaddyDidntShow: Benny lives with his dad and his stepmom Sonya. He badly misses his mom, but she's always missing their visits. Sometimes she has an excuse, like the sales clerk taking too long to check her credit card.
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* DaddyDidntShow: DaddyDidntShow:
** Benny lives with his dad and his stepmom Sonya. He badly misses his mom, but she's always missing their visits. Sometimes she has an excuse, like the sales clerk taking too long to check her creditcard.card.
** When Bess's son David was growing up, Bess was MarriedToTheJob, making him feel like she loved dogs more than she loved him. He even entered junior showmanship, despite having little interest in dog shows, in a failed attempt at getting Bess's attention. He and Bess have a better relationship now that he's an adult.
** Benny lives with his dad and his stepmom Sonya. He badly misses his mom, but she's always missing their visits. Sometimes she has an excuse, like the sales clerk taking too long to check her credit
** When Bess's son David was growing up, Bess was MarriedToTheJob, making him feel like she loved dogs more than she loved him. He even entered junior showmanship, despite having little interest in dog shows, in a failed attempt at getting Bess's attention. He and Bess have a better relationship now that he's an adult.
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* OnlyMostlyDead: Breaker's mother Susie starts to give birth while outside. Breaker is born first, and lies in the snow for some time before Bess's son David finds him and, thinking he's dead, wraps him in a newspaper and takes him inside. When David unwraps him, he and Bess are surprised to find that he's still breathing. Bess tucks him inside her shirt until he's warmed up.
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* OnlyMostlyDead: Breaker's mother Susie starts to give birth while outside. Breaker is born first, and lies in the snow for some time before Bess's son David finds him and, thinking he's dead, wraps him in a newspaper and takes him inside. When David unwraps him, he and Bess are surprised to find that he's still breathing. Bess tucks him inside her shirt until he's warmed up.
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* TomatoSkunkStinkCure: After Breaker has a run-in with a skunk, Bess and Benny wash him in tomato juice. Bess says that if it doesn't work, they'll have to shave him, but luckily for them it does.
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* FamilyThemeNaming: Bess sells Breaker's five littermates to Hannah Washington, another breeder, who gives at least three of them food-related names: Chicory, Licorice, and Crumpet.
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* OnlyMostlyDead: Breaker's mother Susie starts to give birth while outside. Breaker is born first, and lies in the snow for some time before David finds him and, thinking he's dead, wraps him in a newspaper and takes him inside. When David unwraps him, he and Bess are surprised to find that he's still breathing. Bess tucks him inside her shirt until he's warmed up.
* StarbucksSkinScale: David compares Dr. Kate's skin to café au lait.
* StarbucksSkinScale: David compares Dr. Kate's skin to café au lait.
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* NoAnimalsAllowed: Benny's dad and stepmom won't let him have a dog, and his dad particularly hates poodles, so Breaker lives with Bess, and Benny takes care of him and trains him after school.
* OnlyMostlyDead: Breaker's mother Susie starts to give birth while outside. Breaker is born first, and lies in the snow for some time before Bess's son David finds him and, thinking he's dead, wraps him in a newspaper and takes him inside. When David unwraps him, he and Bess are surprised to find that he's still breathing. Bess tucks him inside her shirt until he's warmed up.
* StarbucksSkinScale: David compares Benny's therapist Dr. Kate's skin to café aulait.lait.
* WellDoneSonGuy: Benny is convinced that if he and Breaker win Westminster, his mom will finally stop ignoring him. In the past he's come up with various other plans to win her approval, like getting a black belt in karate, winning a skateboard championship, and earning a basketball trophy, all of which ended when it became clear that Benny had no aptitude for any of those things.
* OnlyMostlyDead: Breaker's mother Susie starts to give birth while outside. Breaker is born first, and lies in the snow for some time before Bess's son David finds him and, thinking he's dead, wraps him in a newspaper and takes him inside. When David unwraps him, he and Bess are surprised to find that he's still breathing. Bess tucks him inside her shirt until he's warmed up.
* StarbucksSkinScale: David compares Benny's therapist Dr. Kate's skin to café au
* WellDoneSonGuy: Benny is convinced that if he and Breaker win Westminster, his mom will finally stop ignoring him. In the past he's come up with various other plans to win her approval, like getting a black belt in karate, winning a skateboard championship, and earning a basketball trophy, all of which ended when it became clear that Benny had no aptitude for any of those things.
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[[quoteright:309:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/almost_perfect_2014.jpg]]
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''Almost Perfect'' is a novel by Diane Daniels Manning.
Benny Neusner is a fourteen-year-old with learning disabilities who wants a dog. Bess Rutledge is a seventy-year-old recently retired Standard Poodle breeder who lets Benny have the pick of her last litter. Benny names his new puppy Breaker and sets out to train him to enter the Westminster Dog Show.
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!!''Almost Perfect'' contains examples of:
* DaddyDidntShow: Benny lives with his dad and his stepmom Sonya. He badly misses his mom, but she's always missing their visits. Sometimes she has an excuse, like the sales clerk taking too long to check her credit card.
* OnlyMostlyDead: Breaker's mother Susie starts to give birth while outside. Breaker is born first, and lies in the snow for some time before David finds him and, thinking he's dead, wraps him in a newspaper and takes him inside. When David unwraps him, he and Bess are surprised to find that he's still breathing. Bess tucks him inside her shirt until he's warmed up.
* StarbucksSkinScale: David compares Dr. Kate's skin to café au lait.
----
Benny Neusner is a fourteen-year-old with learning disabilities who wants a dog. Bess Rutledge is a seventy-year-old recently retired Standard Poodle breeder who lets Benny have the pick of her last litter. Benny names his new puppy Breaker and sets out to train him to enter the Westminster Dog Show.
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!!''Almost Perfect'' contains examples of:
* DaddyDidntShow: Benny lives with his dad and his stepmom Sonya. He badly misses his mom, but she's always missing their visits. Sometimes she has an excuse, like the sales clerk taking too long to check her credit card.
* OnlyMostlyDead: Breaker's mother Susie starts to give birth while outside. Breaker is born first, and lies in the snow for some time before David finds him and, thinking he's dead, wraps him in a newspaper and takes him inside. When David unwraps him, he and Bess are surprised to find that he's still breathing. Bess tucks him inside her shirt until he's warmed up.
* StarbucksSkinScale: David compares Dr. Kate's skin to café au lait.
----
