- Board Books
- Ages 1–4
- Animals
Doggies
Part of the Sandra Boynton universeOpen the collection
A wonderfully noisy counting board book in which dogs bark, yap, yip and howl their way from one to ten. Perfect for toddlers who love dogs, sounds, repetition and making grown-ups perform increasingly silly noises.
- Best for1–4
- FormatBoard
- Length16 pp
- Read aloud~3 min
The vibe
What it’s like.
Style
- Repetitive
- Onomatopoeic
- Conversational
- Comedic
Tone
- Funny
- Silly
- Warm
- Gentle
Themes
Experience meters
What’s it about?
The story.
Doggies is one of Sandra Boynton's strongest participation books because it combines counting with the irresistible toddler pleasure of making noises. Each dog adds a new sound, from simple woofs to increasingly elaborate barks, yaps and howls, creating a read-aloud that gets funnier and more chaotic as it goes. The concept is simple, but the performance value is enormous: children can count, listen, copy, anticipate and join in. Boynton's dog illustrations are characterful without being cluttered, and the book's compact board format makes it well suited to repeat handling. Doggies fills a slightly different role from Moo, Baa, La La La!: less pattern-breaking absurdity, more cumulative sound play and counting. It is an excellent early-years pick for noisy readers, dog lovers and reluctant toddlers who prefer doing to sitting quietly.
Fit check
Right for your child?
Where it lands by age
- 1
- 3
- 5
- 7
- 9
- 11
- 13
- Best fit · 1–4
- Read aloud · 0–5
- Independent · 2–5
Prose load
Light
Visual support
Very high
Reluctant-reader friendly
Very
Read-aloud quality
Excellent
Works well for
- Reading aloud
- Gift-buying
- Reluctant readers
Nothing in the book is likely to concern most parents. Safe to recommend without preview.
Bedtime suitability
3 / 5 · Workable
Sensitive-child
5 / 5 · Good fit
Graphic intensity
1 / 5 · None
Best for
- Dogs
- Counting
- Animal sounds
- Noisy read aloud
- Toddlers
Avoid if
- Wants quiet bedtime
- Wants story arc
- Older than 5
Particularly good for children who are…
- Reluctant reader
- Struggling with reading
- Starting nursery or preschool
In the classroom
How it works in school.
A noisy, funny Boynton counting board book — made for barking along and reading aloud with the very youngest.
A book children love that happens to support school — never a stand-in for the texts a class is taught with. Reviewed for the classroom · June 2026.
Why it lands
Why they love it.
Why kids love it
The specific delight is the noise escalation — ten dogs each barking in their own ridiculous way, the read-aloud impossible without committing to each bark, the performance getting louder and sillier through the count. The Boynton board book for the toddler who likes making grown-ups make funny sounds.
- Animal companions
- Trickery and cleverness
Why parents love it
The Boynton counting-and-noises board book — cumulative sound play giving adults a workout, characterful cartoony dogs, compact format for repeat handling. Different role from Moo, Baa, La La La!: more sound-and-count than pattern-break. Reliable noisy-reader pick.
- Shared humour
- Quick to read
- Nostalgia
About the author & illustrator
Sandra Boynton.
If you liked this
Three ways out of this book.
If you liked this, try…
Lateral matches. Same shelf, different texture.
Come into this from…
Easier or preparing reads — perfect lead-ins.
Where to go next…
Escalation reads — a step up in scale, silliness, or stakes.
Buy or borrow
Pick up a copy.
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- Waterstones ↗
- Amazon UK ↗
- Hive ↗
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