We really don't deserve dogs.

The title of the final chapter pretty much sums it up, "Dogs Are Love: Plain and Simple". It's a heartfelt, lovely tribute to our furry friends. Be prepared, however, for both laughter and tears. Every dog in our lives teaches us something and, sadly, that includes about loss.

The focus of the book, however, is what the author learned about herself and, in a sense, human nature in general from her own experience. It details her learning curve with Emmett, with his separation anxiety, Lucas, who was basically afraid of everything, and Scooter, later renamed Cooper, who made the author and her husband failed fosters despite his housebreaking challenges. Trust me, they have a lot of company in that category of people who volunteered to care for a dog until a suitable home is found only to fall in love with the dog and adopt it themselves. Each dog, while ultimately loving, had their own personalities and quirks and it was a at times to work through their issues with them. Kudos for the author for persisting. She learned something about dogs from each encounter, not to mention herself and others. There is quite a bit of easy to digest research and science shared but it was the personal experience and growth of the author that kept me reading.

Although I took pages of notes as I read, I'm opting to simply say that this is a book all dog lovers should read. Trust me, reading this with my own now senior dog at my feet, this wasn't an easy read at times but it was a thoughtful, loving one. The pain of loss is well worth the joy of knowing and sharing their life, however brief in comparison to our own. Dogs live in the moment and don't overthink, they simply live. There's something to be said for that.

Bottom line, well worth the time it'll take to read. It's actually an easy read but I tended to spread out my sessions with it to both savor the content and think, really think, about what my own dog means to me. Thanks to #PostHillPress for making this early copy available to me. It wasn't always a "fun" read but it was a great read with my own furry friend curled up somewhere beside me. I'm going to check out a few of the references given at the back, too, I think, as time permits.

For the Love of Dog - Maggie Marton

I learnt a few things about dogs while reading this. What a great book, informative, emotional and well written. Thank you for the opportunity to read this book. ❤️

For the Love of Dog: How dogs Think and the Unbreakable Bond That Connects Us
Maggie Marton
Most people can be divided into one of three groups: a cat person, a dog person, or neither. I happen to be a dog person. Over the years I have had numerous dogs from Skippy a Cocker Spaniel, Rusty a small terrier, Katie a Yorkie, Buddy a German Shepherd, Elvis a Yorkie, Whitley a Malti-Poo, to Emmie a Morkie and I loved them all. Dogs and humans have a special relationship.
Author Maggie Marton offers a beautiful tribute to Man’s Best Friend.
Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

Let me begin by saying I love my dogs; they are more than pets, more family than my actual human family. So I get that she also loves her dogs. However, this read more like a high school paper on the evolution of dogs, cobbled together from the internet while alternating personal antedoctes. I expected more from an NYT published writer. While the facts were mildly interesting, the summary led me to believe I was getting the science behind human/dog bonding or the history of how dogs were domesticated. Either of those topics would have been good reads and pleasantly supported by the dry memoir parts

Apparently the dog dies in the book.
No thank you. I wanted a cute dog book.
Thank you for the warning though but I also feel like a lot of readers do not want the dog to die!! Dogs are best friends.

Thank you for letting me sample this one but keeping the dog alive is best.

Thank you for the eARC. I appreciate the opportunity to leave honest feedback voluntarily.