这本书从醒来进入崭新的一天的幸福感开始，接着探讨了我们的感受和经历之间的各种关系和对比。这些对比在书页的左右两边精美呈现，横跨几张长长的折叠插页。初次做某件事的紧张搭配做事中途的幸福感；割伤之辱对比结痂的幸福感；无所事事的无聊对比什么都不用做的幸福感；一个人的孤独与对比大家在一起的快乐，这些页面都在激励读者思考日常生活中的活动和经历，以及它们所带来的感受。它们还引导我们思考幸福的实质，以及幸福的可能性成分。

Starting from the happiness of waking up into a brand-new day, the book goes on to explore the kinds of relationships and contrasts that play out between our feelings and experiences. These contrasts play out beautifully across the page from left to right, and across a couple of long gatefold pages. Whether it's the nervousness of a beginning paired with the happiness of a middle; the indignity of a cut against the happiness of a scab; the boredom of nothing to do contrasted with the happiness of nothing to do; or the divide of mine against the happiness of our, these pages challenge the reader to think about daily activities and experiences and the feelings they conjure. They also lead us to think about the substance of our happiness, and what the ingredients of it might be. Written with subtlety and nuance and illustrated in pencil, pen and watercolor with great tenderness, The Happiness of a Dog with a Ball in its Mouth is a gentle, fun, and philosophical read, with which one can start and end the day.