“The money is like a dog”
Nine Perfect Strangers“The money is like a dog” names the paradox at the center of Ben and Jessica’s sudden wealth: the fortune they love has become a demanding presence that disrupts their lives and bites at their relationships. The metaphor gives shape to a strain they had struggled to reconcile—being materially fortunate while fighting more about money than they had before winning it.
From Windfall to Burden
The couple’s change begins with a lottery office call confirming that the ticket Jessica’s mother had given them after a robbery had won the first-division prize: twenty-two million dollars. The revelation made them instantly wealthy, but it did not make the consequences easy to manage. Jessica later describes their new life as a stressful, glamorous job for which they had no qualifications, even while acknowledging that it was a pretty great job.
The abundance brought a new set of obligations. Relatives, old acquaintances, and even people connected through friends contacted them daily to ask for loans, help, or donations. Some framed requests as if ten thousand dollars should mean little to the couple but a great deal to them. Ben’s habitual response was to give the money, while Jessica sometimes bristled at the presumption. Their changed means did not remove conflict; it gave conflict a new subject.
The Dog Comparison
The metaphor emerges as Jessica admits that she loves being rich but wishes they could remain themselves. Ben begins by saying that the money is like a dog, then works through the comparison as Jessica listens and agrees. It is the dream dog they had always wanted, yet its needs have reorganized their days: it barks for attention, affects their ability to sleep, and has to be considered in everything they do. Its care requires walking, feeding, and worry.
The analogy turns sharply when Ben adds that this is a dog that bites. The damage is not merely the work of managing wealth: the money hurts the couple’s friends and family as well as the couple themselves. Jessica does not deny the danger or withdraw her affection. Her response—that they still love the dog—holds the attraction of wealth alongside its consequences rather than resolving the contradiction.
The Proposed Solution and Its Limits
Ben’s conclusion is that they should give the dog away because it is not the right dog for them. Jessica answers with the suggestion of a labradoodle, a lighter, playful response that does not settle their disagreement. The exchange leaves the central question open: whether the money can be kept without continuing to reshape the people and relationships around it.
The metaphor’s force comes from preserving both sides of the windfall. The money is a cherished dream and a source of persistent demands; it offers abundance while making decisions about giving, family, and identity harder. Jessica can love being rich and resent what the fortune has changed, while Ben can imagine relinquishing it. Neither the comparison nor their conversation offers a clean solution: the dog remains loved, troublesome, and capable of biting.
