The underdogs : children, dogs, and the power of unconditional love
/ Melissa Fay Greene
- First edition.
- New York : Ecco, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers , 2016
- 344 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
Karen Shirk, felled at age twenty-four by a neuromuscular disease and facing life as a ventilator-dependent, immobile patient, was turned down by every service dog agency in the country because she was "too disabled." Her nurse encouraged her to tone down the suicidal thoughts, find a puppy, and raise her own service dog. Karen did this, and Ben, a German shepherd, dragged her back into life. "How many people are stranded like I was," she wondered, "who would lead productive lives if only they had a dog?" A thousand state-of-the-art dogs later, Karen Shirk's service dog academy, 4 Paws for Ability, is restoring broken children and their families to life. Long shunned by scientists as a manmade, synthetic species, and oft-referred to as "Man's Best Friend" almost patronizingly, dogs are finally paid respectful attention by a new generation of neuroscientists and animal behaviorists. Melissa Fay Greene weaves the latest scientific discoveries about our co-evolution with dogs with Karen's story and a few stories of suffering children and their heartbroken families.
English.
9780062218513
Shirk, Karen
Service dogs Service dogs---Training Animals as aids for people with disabilities Human Relations Children and animals Pets---Social aspects