Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days is the 4th book in the Wimpy Kid Series written by Jeff Kinney. It was released on October 12, 2009 in the US and October 13, 2009 in Canada.

In the book, many characters have made some significant changes. Rowley has abandoned his interest in video games, and has matured, although still significantly more immature than regular kids around his age. Susan now despises Greg's interest in video games, Manny no longer calls Greg "Bubby" or "Ploopy", and Frank doesn't take any interest in making Greg do activities that involve sports.

Plot
The story begins with Greg Heffley and Rowley Jefferson at the latter's country club, but within a few weeks, Rowley's dad becomes sick of Greg's constructive criticism about the quality of service of the club, and bans him from entering the club for eternity. The beach trip that they've planned is also canceled due to lack of money, so Greg resorts to going to the town pool.

Later, Greg and Rowley have a sleepover together, and watch a horror movie obtained from Greg's older brother, Rodrick. After the movie, Greg and Rowley become scared of a muddy hand that might strangle them, which was in the movie. Unfortunately for Greg, his mom finds out about the movie and starts a reading club in which he is the only participant after several weeks. The reading program, however, is put to a stop when Mr. Jefferson arrives with a $83 bill that Greg and Rowley spent on drinks at the country club, and he asks the two to pay it off. Greg, at first hand attempts to pay back the bill by mowing lawns, and their first customer is Mrs. Canfield. Greg and Rowley end up in some difficulties in operating, in ways such as the gasoline spilling over. Before the two boys start, Greg states that Rowley should clear it for him, whilst Greg starts working on his so-called "business plan". Rowley however, gets quickly annoyed at the idea, and states that Greg should help him clear the lawn too. Greg tries to find a chance to manipulate Rowley, but then Rowley, unable to tolerate Greg's way of working, decides to leave. Greg clears the lawn individually, although he struggles over the areas covered in dog poo. Greg finishes the clearing of the lawn, but Mrs. Canfield finds the service "lousy" and refuses to pay Greg, and Greg gets even frustrated that Mrs. Canfield won't even drive him home. Greg, tries to find other ways to pay that the bill, and tries to contact Rowley about them, but isn't at home.

After Greg's fight, Greg's mother quickly gets to know about the conflict and attempts to make Greg happy. This, however does not please Greg, as his mother tries to make Greg happy in ways such as inviting Fregley over, a person Greg isn't fond of and that his mom is encouraging father-to-son bonding, something that displeases Greg even more. For Greg's birthday, all of his relatives come over. Unfortunately, his mom confiscates Greg's birthday money to pay off the $83 bill for Rowley's father. Greg is also frustrated that his relatives have not given him a single gift that he wanted. Greg also gets a "Ladybug" cell phone but it is far from what he expected, as he views the Ladybug cellphone as junk and that it is not a real cellphone. Greg goes to the next room to cut the cake, but becomes even more disappointed when Uncle Joe's dog eats his cake, thus ruining his birthday. After Greg's birthday, Greg's mother allows Rodrick and Greg to each get a fish for a pet, which Greg initially believes that his mother wanted to make him feel a bit better after Uncle Joe's dog ate Greg's cake. Greg picks out an angelfish and Rodrick decides on a fish labeled as "aggressive." Manny picks out fish food, but eats half the container. When the family goes to the water park, Greg discovers that Rodrick's fish has eaten his a few days later.

The next day is Father's Day, so the Heffleys visit Leisure Towers to spend the day with Greg's grandfather, so that Greg wouldn't feel bad about his dead fish. There, Grandpa tells of how his dog ran away to a butterfly farm. Greg's grandfather reveals that he had actually run the dog over while parking his car in the Garage, when he thought it was Frank's skateboard. Greg's father takes off in extreme disgust, and then buys a dog. Manny, Rodrick and Greg try to give the dog a legitimate name, but Susan names the dog "Sweetheart" and shortens to "Sweetie.", much to the boys dismay. Even though Greg wanted a dog for a long time, he quickly becomes annoyed at Sweetie, who drools on his pillow, sleeps on his bed, interrupts his time in the bathroom and won't stop barking at the Television. Later on, Greg enters a conflict at the Town Pool with Manny in the changing rooms, tries to woo Heather Hills, but his chance to impress Heather fails.

After the situation at the Pool, Mr. and Mrs. Jefferson invite Greg to go to the beach with them, unaware of the tense relationship between Greg and Rowley. Greg, however is not used to how close the Jeffersons are to each other, in ways such as sharing one ice cream cone, reading books, and playing charades, and especially, he is even upset with how he has to spend a week without a computer or any video games and having to spend time at a log cabin. Greg tries to find ways to escape the Jeffersons, by secretly writing an e-mail to his mother, but this backfires as the e-mail account turns out to be Mr. Jefferson's. Later on, the Jefferson's take the boys to the boardwalk, where Greg goes on the Cranium Shaker, and goes to experience his personal freedom. Even though Greg has been long friends with Rowley, he quickly becomes gobsmacked at Rowley, who now sees Rowley as spoiled character. Before the Jefferson's and Greg are about to leave, Greg decides to spend more time at the boardwalk, and asks Mr. Jefferson for $20; Mr. Jefferson is only willing to give him $1 due to his mistrust in Greg. Greg then shows Rowley the top score at the arcade that he set a few years ago in an attempt to prove to him that he needs to earn things himself rather than be given them. However, Greg realizes that the next person below him was unable to beat his score, and through his nickname as "is an idiot," essentially defaces Greg to anyone that sees the screen. Greg attempts to unplug the video game system, but gives up when he finds out that high scores are not erased in this manner. To spend his one dollar, he plays a boardwalk trick to "make the cash last longer," although it backfires in his face; Mr. Jefferson gets angry at the fact that Greg and Rowley did not meet back at the car in time and sends the two kids to bed early as a punishment. Greg saw Rowley was disappointed, and attempts to lighten the mood by giving Rowley a static shock. Rowley gets him back, and due to Greg's view on other people "one-upping" him, he grabs Rowley's boppy balloon and lets it rip onto Rowley's arm. Rowley screams, which draws his parents' attention. Rowley's parents decide that Greg should not be around Rowley any longer and forces him to go home two days early.

Frank is mad at Greg for wasting four hours due to the long car drive, though Greg's mom says that the event was just "horseplay" and that Rowley and Greg are still friends, devoid of the fact that their friendship is slowly slipping. Susan convinces Frank to take Greg to a baseball game, even though Greg is unaware of this. His father tries to keep it a secret, but Greg overhears his father talking about getting rid of someone, and Greg believes that his father is trying to "ship" Greg off to somewhere. Rodrick tells Greg that his father is going to sell him, as he shows him clues in his father's planner, that by August 20, he will be sold. Greg, however, notices that the handwriting is Rodrick's, but is uncertain whether this is actually going to happen as Greg knows his dad is very unpredictable. He calls the police using his Ladybug when he deduces that his dad is taking him to an orphanage; he realizes that his father was actually talking about giving Sweetie away to Grandma, and was going to take Greg to a baseball game. Due to a long talk with the police, Frank is no longer in the mood to watch a baseball game, since he becomes extremely disgusted with Greg's actions and takes Greg home without a word.

The book comes to a close with Greg's video game "championship." Greg, in one last attempt to idiotically manipulate Rowley, calls him and tells him to come to the championship, promising that there will be prizes. Rowley is initially reluctant, as he still believes that Greg is a manipulator of electricity, and refuses to go unless Greg does not use his electric powers against him. Greg "promises" not to use them and he and Rowley camp out in front of the Game Hut. Greg decided to scare Rowley by pretending that his chocolate-covered hand was the Muddy Hand. Greg doesn't expect Rowley to be awake, but immediately realizes his mistake when Rowley foolishly hammers the "muddy hand," ruining Greg's thumb and his ability to play video games. Greg ends up losing pathetically due to his injury, and Rowley walks away with the alternative grand prize of a "giant box of chocolate-covered raisins."

The book ends with Greg stating that his summer would have been better had he stayed in the house, and also claims that Rowley was never seen by him since Rowley beat Greg in the competition, and his father hasn't spoken to him yet since Greg almost got him arrested. Despite Greg's father being mad at Greg, they find a common ground through mutual dislike for a newspaper comic strip, where their relations improve. Greg realizing that summer is over when he sees a photo album titled "Best Summer Ever!" It is a horrible record of that summer, but Greg writes that the person who had taken the pictures told the story.

Trivia

 * Even though Greg receives a "Ladybug" cellphone in this book, he reveals he didn't bring it to school in The Ugly Truth. This implies Frank may have confiscated it due to the fact Greg nearly had him arrested due to calling the police, lost it at some point, is not allowed to bring it to school, simply left it to avoid being humiliated or forgot about it.