Written for pre-school children, it has become a classic bedtime storybook in New Zealand and Australia,[3][4][5] and Lynley Dodd's books, including this one, dominate the children's section of the Premier New Zealand Bestsellers list.

Like most of Dodd's books, it is written in anapaestic verse, though it breaks into a more urgent trochaic form when the dogs encounter the cat.

It has sold more than 11 million copies worldwide and been translated into Mandarin, Korean, Japanese, Swedish, Russian, Slovene[8][9] – and te reo Māori.

[10] It has also been adapted into a stage play, which has been performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and the Sydney Opera House.

[11] In the 2019 TVNZ series Goodnight Kiwi, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern read Hairy Maclary from Donaldson's Dairy.