Dog Lovers, Don't Miss These Terrific Books!

I read two wonderful books about dogs lately, the best I have come across in years. The first is The Possibility Dogs: what a handful of "unadoptables" taught me about service, hope and healing by Susannah Charleson. The very first chapter made me tear up several times reading about the deep connection between an injured firefighter and the dog that helps him with his Post Traumatic stress disorder. The book revolves around the author's search though jam packed shelters for dogs that have the abilities necessary to become an assistance dog, in particular a psychiatric service dog. Will a starved and abandoned pit bull puppy be a worthy candidate? Charleson's previous book about training a Golden Retriever puppy to become a Search and Rescue dog, Scent of the Missing, is also an excellent read. This book left me wondering if people are rescuing dogs, or are dogs rescuing us? 

The second book is Dogtripping: 25 Rescues, 11 Volunteers, and 3 RVs on Our Canine Cross-Country Adventure by David Rosenfelt. Yes, that Rosenfelt, the mystery author. Apparently he and his wife were so enamored of their first Golden Retriever, (well really, who could blame them?) that they started rescuing Goldens from crowded Los Angeles shelters. His wife is such a soft touch that she starting bringing home any dog that was soon to be euthanized, regardless of its breed. This led to the Rosenfelt's having 26 dogs in a typical suburban house, a situation the neighbors were not pleased about. They decided to build a house in the wilds of Maine where they and their 26 dogs could live undisturbed. This led to an epic voyage across the country in the aforementioned RVs. There is plenty of humor in the book, and stories of the move are interspersed with short chapters describing the dogs, and their stories. It was hard to set this one down!