The Book:
The Dog I Loved by Susan Wilson
Published November 12th 2019 by St. Martin’s Press
Date read: April 6, 2021
The Characters:
Rosie
Meghan
Buy it on Bookshop.org | Amazon
The Plot (from Goodreads):
After spending years in prison for a crime she didn’t intend to commit, Rose Collins is suddenly free. Someone who knows about the good work she has done—training therapy dogs while serving time—has arranged for her early release. This mysterious benefactor has even set her up with a job in the coastal Massachusetts community of Gloucester, on the edge of Dogtown, a place of legend and, for the first time since Rosie’s whole world came crashing down, hope. There she works to rebuild her life with the help of Shadow, a stray dog who appears one rainy night and refuses to leave Rose’s side.
Meghan Custer is a wheelchair-bound war veteran who used to be hopeless, too. Living at home with her devoted but stifling parents felt a lot like being in prison, in fact. But ever since she was matched with a service dog named Shark, who was trained in a puppy-to-prisoner rehabilitation program, Meghan has a brand new outlook. Finally, she can live on her own. Go to work. And maybe, with Shark by her side, even find love again.
Two strong women on a journey toward independence whose paths collide in extraordinary ways. Two dogs who somehow manage to save them both. A tale of survival and a testament to the human spirit, The Dog I Loved is an emotional and inspiring novel that no reader will soon forget.
The Ending:
Meghan was Rosie’s mysterious benefactor. Rosie did not go back to prison, and got a dog of her own. Shark and Megan worked perfectly together, and Meghan began dating another veteran with PTSD and a service dog called Spike.
The Review:
Now that I’m done crying about how we don’t deserve dogs, I can write my review…
Let me just start by saying: make sure you read this book at home, around people you don’t mind bawling your eyes out in front of. I cried just telling Pat the premise: a story about a wrongfully accused inmate who trains service dogs, and a wounded war vet who receives the first dog she trains. There are also chapters from the POV of the various dogs, which really made me sob (even when the dogs were happy).
Okay, maybe I’m just a wuss and anything with animals makes me cry. The book itself wasn’t sad, I just get irrationally emotional when thinking about how much I love Charlie!
I really enjoyed both Meghan and Rosie’s stories, especially as they both worked to regain trust and independence from different points of view. I loved that they were able to lean on each other through these different but profound transitions in their lives.
The author really nailed the relationships between the humans and their animals. I loved her descriptions of how the dogs picked up on their owners’ emotions, and what they did to help cheer them up.
Overall, this is a beautiful, heartwarming tale about how pets can make us feel less alone, and I definitely recommend it to any animal lover.
TW: Animal abuse and physical abuse in some brief scenes describing Rosie’s past.
