The Underdogs audiobook

Review of the audio. I picked this up as an Audible deal, and I saw the high rating, the cute cover, that it was about dogs, and I went for it. It turned out that the book was about children and adults with disabilities and the service dogs who love them. Not only that, it was also filled with facts about the evolution of dogs and the much-debated "do dogs think/reason" and "do dogs have emotions." If you already love a dog, I bet you know the answer. 😊 This is not your typical dog story. It is laden with scientific facts about dogs. It's also heavy on the founding of the service dog organization. But at the heart of the book are the stories of children and families impacted by significant disabilities- and how the service dog became a family member, too. In addition, there is a story about the service dog training that occurs in the prison system, and how inmates experience love and compassion with these dogs who will later go on to be service dogs. It's heartwarming. Overall, The Underdogs included several topics near and dear to my heart, and I'm grateful I stumbled upon this book.

Truly a most remarkable book. There are a few books that I wish every human being could read, and this is one of them. After reading this, you just can't help but understand that dogs are one of the greatest gifts we humans have the privilege of sharing our lives with. The way so many are mistreated in the world is utterly incomprehensible to me, and after reading this, and gaining a deeper understanding our history of walking this earth with our canine friends, the bonds we form with them, and the unique and inexplicable way they can heal and save us - all I am left with is the certainty that to not treasure every dog on this planet, is us, stealing from ourselves one of the greatest opportunities for love, healing and friendship. This book is so utterly inspiring, informative, and beautiful - it's hard to imagine how we have failed to utilise these loyal and devoted friends in so many more ways. There are so many lives that could be enhanced with therapy dogs!!! This is the future of medicine. Forget the drugs - love really might be the answer, and it seems to me that one of the most special and nurturing loves we humans need comes wrapped up in a package with four legs and fur.

First I want to get the only negative out of the way. It feels disjointed at times. There are at least 3 parts to the book, story of people in need of a dog to rescue them, the story of the organization 4 Paws for Ability, and history and psychology of dogs and their affect on people. You would like to have even more of the first, maybe more of the 2nd, and maybe less of the third to help it flow better.With that being said, I am still enthusiastically giving it 5 stars and putting it in my category for 100 best and favorite dog books. I can't imagine anything as heart breaking as a child with severe physical and or development challenges. To greatly improve those kinds of challenges is something to celebrate and definitely support. After the founder of 4 Paws for Ability went through a severe challenge in her life and was saved by a dog, her story and that of the organization is very inspirational. The psychology aspect all comes together to help you understand what is learned in the process of dogs helping the people with the challenges. I like learning about psychology of dogs. I think people can appreciate the way the book seems to give lots of details on that history, but you need some patience to get through segments when you are wanting to urgently find help for the people described in the previous part of the chapter. Included in the book is some aspects related to Papillon dogs. I had read in a book by Dr. Stanley Coren they were in his top 10 smartest dogs, but it didn't make a dent in my mental map until I read about how they are one of the dogs used in this book.I also like the way the book uses the example of Lassie from the speech somewhere in the beginning of the book to the insights in a comparison in the end. " A big dog knows his boy is in trouble and races to get help. Haven't we heard that story before? Lassie. Lassie did that! Every day, every episode, Lassie ran to get help for Timmy and his "catastrophe-prone family.""...."Experts rolled their eyes. "Needless to say, no dog is like Lassie," wrote Dr. Beck. "Even Lassie is not like Lassie."...."Many of Lassie's rescues of Timmy were improbable, he says, the skyscraper-leaping feats of superhero narratives. But some elements of the Lassie Myth, seen in a new light, appear a bit more realistic today."My few words on this book can't do it justice, so hope you read the book for yourself. I highly recommend it.

I've never read anything by Melissa Fay Greene that I haven't loved. I started with "There is No me Without You," the story of Haregewoin Teferra, who took in AIDS orphans in Ethiopia (still one of my all-time favorites), and then I read "No Biking in the House Without a Helmet," where Greene wrote about her own family, grown through birth and adoption. I laughed out loud too many times to count. I related to her passion for adoption just as much as I related to her occasional need to hide in the closet from the children that resulted from that passion for adoption. I cheered on all of her children, but especially those from hard places. Mostly I just wanted to join them for dinner at the big table in their house (as long as it was takeout). Now, in "The Underdogs" Greene takes on the subject of service dogs for children, introducing us first to the children and their very tired families, and then to the dogs that change their lives. Knowing that stories of special needs children can veer toward overly sentimental and knowing that stories of dogs almost ALWAYS veer toward overly sentimental, if you combine the two, it could be hard to take. But Greene reins it back with humor and a dose of reality. After listing off headlines of canine heroics like: "Tiny Dog Rescues Girl from Attempted Abduction" and "Dog Tries to Save Dying Fish", she says, "Such stories surround us, breathlessly shared by one and all. More COMMON occurrences--Owner Falls Down Stairs, Dog Keeps Napping--or Family Wakes Up Their Sleeping Rescue Dog and Carries Him Out of House to Escape Fire--go unreported." But even with the humor, I'll admit I cried big tears more than once while reading "The Underdogs". Knowing of the tragic loss of Greene's own 20 year-old son, an amazing young man I loved through "There is No Biking in the House Without a Helmet," I was especially touched when in the section on dog grief, and if dogs feel sad when a dog companion dies, Greene says, "Though I have not personally witnessed displays of desolate searching among the dogs in our household, I have often fantasized the leaps and yelps of joy that would ensue if a certain beloved deceased dog (or young man) were suddenly to return to our yard--as if the absence had been temporary and the reports of death greatly exaggerated, and now dogs and boys alike could get back to the business of running in circles, wrestling, and laughing." Indeed.

As a mother of a son with autism that recieved one of the life changing dogs that 4 Paws provides I was amazed at how well she described the feelings and the impacts on family life that we go through. It was intense for me and I had to put the book down on occasion as the emotions were overpowering. It is so important for others to understand the struggle and also the unique qualities of our children and how these dogs transformed all of our lives. She nailed it. In addition to Karen's inspiring story she also describes the miracle that these service dogs and the 4 Paws organization provide for so many. The book is also beautiful and informative at the same time which I believe is no small feat. So much history of dogs is interspersed with the story and really helps the reader to appreciate these wonderful creatures. Anyone who loves dogs will fall in love with this book for sure!

I dragged my way through the history of man and dogs, and stopped reading at a little over half way through the book. At that point I probably would have given the book three stars. I decided to finish reading the book, and I loved the last half of the book. A woman in a wheel chair could not get a service dog, so she decided to train one for herself. That story line was great. Then the story of getting prisoners to help train the dogs was a wonderful idea, which helped train more dogs for children who really needed them, and the prisoners were also helped. I loved the stories about the children and the families who received dogs, and the differences it make in all of their lives. The second half of the book rates five stars, so that made the whole book a four star book for me.

Dog StoryThis a is an astounding book. It tells wonderful stories about disabled children came their support dogs. The author also covers th research being done in the fields of animal intelligence and emotions. The book is very rewarding for the animal lover.

I am an intermediate dog lover.Because of a dog allergy I'm unable to bury my head in a dog's fur. But I'd love to!!!This book was thrilling for me to read and I'd recommend to everyone! The dogs' effect on the children is absolute magic.

My dog owning, dog loving daughter gave me this book as a "light, Trump era book." Wonderful book. Karen Shirk at 25 had become passive, immobile and depressed after developing a neuromuscular disease as an adult. She had a tracheotomy to help her breath at times. Her assistant suggested she get a service dog. Rejected repeatedly because of her trach she was goaded to train her own dog. She got a dog, hired a trainer and began living again. She now runs "4 Paws for Ability" which trains about 100 dogs a year for autistic kids, kids with trachs, kids on oxegen, veterans etc. The book tells the incredible stories of kids with terrible disabilities and families torn apart by them being "saved" by the love of a service dog who might chase down a kid who escapes and runs away from his house to jump in pools repeatedly, or to warn parents and literally lie on a kid who who has screaming fits calming him down, or to bring a kid so frightened of the world that his is isolated at home (along with his mom) back out into the world. Never did I imagine the help a well trained dog could give a child and his family. It blends these stories with scientific information about dogs. Animal behaviorists had studied seagulls, chimps, geese and lions but until relatively recently none studied dogs as they were thought to be an artificially created my man. It was also thought that thinking, reasoning and emotions were only felt by humans. Research has shown that dogs and other animals have many of the abilities that were thought to be only human. I had a course in college from Jane Goodall reading her book "In the Shadow of Man" and felt not so much that chimps were similar to humans but that humans were similar to chimps. Interesting, heartwarming book.

If you love dogs this is a must read, I read it in one sitting, loved it!Karen Shirk was 24 when she developed a neuromuscular disease that left her dependent on a ventilator and a wheelchair. Her nurse recommended a service dog to assist her and they then discovered that no agency was prepared to "waste" a dog on someone who depended on a ventilator.Her nurse then suggested that Karen adopt a dog and train it herself, Ben, her German Shepherd got her out of bed and back to life. Karen discovered that there were thousands of people being turned away and that not one agency trained service dogs for children. She decided that she would train 4 or 5 a year herself, not realising the impact and demand of her dogs.4 Paws for Ability was born and 1000 dogs later the benefits have been astounding. The story also follows kids who have received one of Karen's dogs, from a children with severe autism or reactive attachment disorder to a child suffering from Fetal Alcohol syndrome - a first again in the service dog industry.The author also delves into the origin of dogs, the DNA that shows up in certain breeds and all the theories surrounding dogs behaviour and abilities. Highly recommended.