DreamWorks Animation are set to adapt the picture book and novel Flawed Dogs, by cartoonist Berkeley Breathed. The story follows a dachshund, Sam, that finds himself usurped from his beloved family home by a needy show dog. Finding himself on the streets, our hero must find his way back, passing through the Westminster Dog Show (the American version of Crufts) on his way.

As an animal rights campaigner, Berkeley Breathed, also known for US cartoon strip Bloom County and its subsequent spin-off Opus the Penguin, wrote the book in order to promote dog adoption. “All my stories are sparked by a nugget of truth hiding in plain sight,” Breathed says. “In this case, it’s that all animals dream… But only dogs dream of us.” Who knows what he is on about, but we’ll have to content ourselves with these enigmatic nuggets ’til 2014, when the movie comes out.

Here’s hoping anyone but Owen Wilson will take on the voice of Sam the dachshund, even though voicing dogs appears to be the only thing he can do at the minute.