“I Want to Kill the Dog” by Richard M. Cohen (Blue Rider Press, 125 pages, $21.95)

Rich Cohen doesn’t really want to kill the family dog. Jasper, the dog in question, belongs to Cohen’s wife, the TV star Meredith Vieira. Please understand that Cohen considers Jasper to be extremely annoying. So annoying that he decided to write a book about it.

Cohen’s previous books covered serious subjects. His memoir, “Blindsided: Lifting a Life Above Illness” detailed his personal battles with multiple sclerosis and cancer. His book “Strong at the Broken Places: Voices of Illness, a Chorus of Hope,” looked at the lives of five people who were dealing with serious health issues.

Cohen was talking to his agent about a new project, another serious book, when he had an inspiration to write something light and humorous instead, a book about how Jasper the dog drives him batty. Cohen wrote it in just a few months.

His provocative book title is clearly in jest. Meredith encouraged him to write it. The cover bears her sarcastic blurb: “Drivel. When Master Cohen vanishes some night, Jasper will have a quiet smile on his face and will probably never bark again.”

This is Cohen’s attempt to tell his side of the story. He realizes he can never win but he wants to let us know that “Jasper is a loud little doggie, with an ear-splitting bark that explodes with clocklike precision. To make matters worse, the animal’s personality matches the noise. Jasper can be just plain mean, at least to me. Jasper has an inflated sense of authority that goes unchallenged. I gave up long ago.”

The author makes it clear that they have a wonderful marriage and that his wife’s only flaw relates to her love for living creatures. Cohen has issues with “a culture that celebrates the pet pedestal, where lazy animals vegetate as owners pop grapes into their always-open mouths. Spare me please.”

Their family has had other dogs over the years and Cohen didn’t mind them. They were going through what Cohen considered to be a blissful dog free period when “an adorable puppy” came into their lives. That would be Jasper. Cohen was not happy: “our no-dog treaty had been abrogated.”

There were early warning signs: “Even as a puppy, there was a hideous shrillness to his tiny bark.” It seems that Jasper was born to bark: “Jasper’s bark is big now. Bigger than he is. I wish I could describe the horrible noise that passes for a bark… and this dog barks the way I breathe. Constantly.”

Jasper is fiercely loyal to Meredith: “When I hear the dog running down the stairs, it means Meredith is not far behind. The animal is like a Secret Service agent. He functions as a self-appointed bodyguard. When anyone approaches Meredith with open arms, poised to kiss her on the cheek, Jasper snarls and lunges.”

Lately Cohen has been making the rounds of the talk shows. The other day he appeared with Meredith on “The Today Show.” They talked about the book. During the entire interview Jasper snoozed away next to Meredith on the couch. He never stirred or made a sound even when they said his name. Jasper’s such a little angel.