Recent Reads: A Dog Walks Into a Nursing Home

A Dog Walks Into a Nursing Home: Lessons in the Good Life from an Unlikely Teacher
by Sue Halpern
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Based on the description of this book, I was expecting lots of stories about a therapy dog working in a nursing home. Since I am the Activity Director in a county nursing home, I was really looking forward to reading this. Instead, the author intersperses dog stories with lots of research & commentary on philosophy, statistics, religion, etc.

I did enjoy the dog stories. Especially touching was the story of how she had a resident walk her dog in her wheelchair... it really is these little "normal" things that mean the most to residents. I also enjoyed the section that talked about how animals seem to sense approaching death, and specifically how her dog instinctively laid with a dying woman and provided comfort.

By the end, I was skimming though the research/commentary sections and just reading the dog stories. I wish there had been more of those and less focus on theories, research, and statistics.

Disclosure: I received a free copy of this book in return for posting my honest review online at Amazon via the Amazon Vine program.

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