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Searching... Oakdale Library | 636.70886 GRE | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
From two-time National Book Award nominee Melissa Fay Greene comes a profound and surprising account of dogs on the front lines of rescuing both children and adults from the trenches of grief, emotional, physical, and cognitive disability, and post-traumatic stress disorder.
The Underdogs tells the story of Karen Shirk, felled at age twenty-four by a neuromuscular disease and facing life as a ventilator-dependent, immobile patient, who 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 exquisitely rendered stories of suffering children and their heartbroken families.
Written with characteristic insight, humanity, humor, and irrepressible joy, what could have been merely touching is a penetrating, compassionate exploration of larger questions: about our attachment to dogs, what constitutes a productive life, and what can be accomplished with unconditional love.
Author Notes
Melissa Fay Greene was a paralegal with Legal Services in McIntosh County, Georgia, when the events that make up her award-winning book Praying for Sheetrock (1991) took place. A recipient of the National Book Critics Circle Award, and a National Book Award finalist, Praying for Sheetrock is set in the early 1970s, when the struggle for civil rights that had been going on for years in other parts of the U.S. finally came to McIntosh County.
Greene's next book, The Temple Bombing (1996) was the winner of the 1996 Southern Book Critics Award, was named a New York Times Notable Book, and was also a National Book Award finalist. It concerns the 1958 bombing of the Temple, the oldest synagogue in Atlanta.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (5)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Expanding on an article written for the New York Times Magazine in 2012, Greene (Praying for Sheetrock) shares uplifting stories from families who have benefited from service animals provided by 4 Paws for Ability, a nonprofit dog training academy. The Ericksons were in terror over their autistic son's disappearances before acquiring Juke, a Labrador trained to track him. When a golden retriever named Chancer is placed with the Winokurs to help their emotionally unstable son, he becomes the first dog ever assigned to a child with fetal alcohol syndrome. The Millards were denied dogs by other agencies because of son Connor's tracheal tube and ventilator; then 4 Paws brought them Casey, a devoted goldendoodle who helped the six-year-old come out of his fearful shell. Green profiles 4 Paws founder Karen Shirk, who started the organization after overcoming a debilitating neuromuscular disorder with help from her German shepherd, Ben. She also outlines the organization's current training regimens, including a program with a local prison where inmates train dogs with rehabilitative benefits for all involved. For the most part these are feel-good stories about the overcoming obstacles, but there are moments of heartbreak as well, and Green relates these in unsparing detail. She astutely sums up the relationship between humans and canines: "There are... reaches of the human psyche accessible only when accompanied by dogs." Agent: David Black, David Black Literary Agency. (May) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Booklist Review
Greene (There Is No Me without You, 2006) lends her trademark empathetic voice to this engrossing inside look at the work of 4 Paws for Ability, a service-dog academy that has placed over a thousand dogs with those in need, particularly children. The stories Greene relates are devastating as she conveys the difficulties families face as they cope with severe autism, debilitating physical illness and injury, crippling anxiety and emotional conditions. She portrays parents at the ends of their ropes who feel hope, long relegated to the status of impossible dream, in the presence of these trained dogs. Greene describes the training facility, introduces its dedicated and talented staff, and presents before-and-after studies of several families. She also provides an historical overview of the relationship between dogs and humans. Acknowledging that exactly how and why these animals do so well with those who need their help remain a mystery, and asserting that no dog can make everything all better, Greene, a master at telling the most human of stories, will still leave readers smiling. And dog lovers will adore this book.--Mondor, Colleen Copyright 2016 Booklist
New York Review of Books Review
This is the story of Ohio-based 4 Paws for Ability, a nonprofit organization that gives service dogs to children with special needs. The results of its work placing magnificently trained animals (500 hours per dog) with the families who need them are inspiring. Greene shares story after story of 4 Paws dogs, many of which were adopted from shelters, helping distraught parents track their autistic children; clambering gently among the tubes of an ailing child to comfort him ; warning (often six to 18 hours in advance) of impending seizures and tantrums; warding off episodes of self-harm; and even, in the case of a dog named Ben, picking up a ringing telephone and barking into the receiver after his owner, the founder of 4 Paws, Karen Shirk, falls unconscious, thereby saving her life. Unfortunately, the narrative also attempts to squeeze in an all-encompassing social history of dogs and the human-canine bond. These parts of the book are peppered with the sorts of unsupported generalizations ("Human children act as if..."), wrongheaded asides about "rudimentary cultures" and at least one big error ("No animal evolved a repertoire for solitude") that made me wish I had a service animal within petting distance to settle my nerves. But what "The Underdogs" lacks in rigor and self-awareness it makes up for in the cry-inducing narratives of children and the dogs who sniff, nudge and tug them toward something that looks a little more like peace.
Kirkus Review
Personal stories of service dogs in action. Through personal interviews and behind-the-scenes tales, Greene (No Biking in the House without a Helmet, 2011, etc.) tells multiple narratives of service dogs that have changed lives. Most of the people these dogs help are children who are considered too disabled by many groups to be partnered with a dog. They may have severe autism, been born premature with multiple ailments, or been raised in a foreign orphanage where they were severely neglected. All of them have had considerable luck in adapting to their circumstances with specially trained dogs at their sides. These dogs are available to the children thanks to Karen Shirk, who, in her 20s, was struck down by a debilitating neuromuscular disease that left her in a wheelchair and dependent on a service dog. After connecting deeply with her own dog, she began 4 Paws for Ability. Considering the case and each child's specific needs, Shirk and her trainers match a dog to the special needs child, often with amazing results. At 4 Paws, the training is focused on the partnership between the child and the dog. As one trainer told Greene, "it's not just what does the client need. It's about how a dog can meet those needs in ways that are really fun and rewarding for the dog. Dogs love having important work to do, and being needed and involved every minute of the day. They flourish in their families." The author compassionately interweaves these personal successes with scientific facts about dogs, the bonding that occurs between a human and a dog, and the loss or grief a dog may feel if a child should die. Dog lovers, parents of special needs kids, and those who love feel-good stories will delight in these heartwarming portraits of dogs and their families. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Library Journal Review
Who hasn't felt sympathy for a family with a disabled child having a completely out-of-control public meltdown? For thousands of American families, this is a daily occurrence. Their child has severe autism; has life-threatening physical issues; is emotionally unreachable; or has fetal alcohol syndrome or other congenital problems. Adding a dog to a family with these kinds of stressors seems like the worst possible thing to do, yet in numerous cases it's positively life-altering. That is, if it's a dog from 4 Paws for Ability, a group founded in 1998 by ventilator-dependent Karen Shirk when she was denied a service animal. Shirk successfully trained a dog to help her with tasks and to assist her with respiratory flare-ups. To date, nearly 1,000 dogs have been trained to interrupt dangerous or antisocial behavior, provide mobility assistance, track children who have run off, alert to seizures, and offer safety, companionship, comfort, and nonjudgmental acceptance. Greene (Praying for Sheetrock; There Is No Me Without You: One Woman's Odyssey To Rescue Her Country's Children) details several successful case studies and movingly describes a pilot program in which prisoners help train the dogs. Verdict This emotionally provocative and engaging book will be perfect for dog lovers, parents of challenged children, and those who enjoy inspirational stories.-Susan Riley, Mamaroneck P.L., NY © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Table of Contents
Introduction | p. 1 |
Chapter 1 Juke | p. 13 |
Chapter 2 4 Paws for Ability | p. 29 |
Chapter 3 Connor | p. 57 |
Chapter 4 Karen & Piper | p. 69 |
Chapter 5 Lucy | p. 95 |
Chapter 6 Casey & Connor | p. 109 |
Chapter 7 Karen & Ben | p. 127 |
Chapter 8 Logan | p. 141 |
Chapter 9 Hero Dogs | p. 163 |
Chapter 10 Iyal | p. 185 |
Chapter 11 Shelter Dogs | p. 197 |
Chapter 12 Prison Dogs | p. 215 |
Chapter 13 Lucy & Jolly | p. 235 |
Chapter 14 Casey & Connor II | p. 251 |
Chapter 15 Logan & Juke | p. 269 |
Chapter 16 Eddie Hill & Timber & Dante & Keeper & Jiminy | p. 281 |
Chapter 17 Micah & Casey | p. 293 |
Chapter 18 Iyal & Chancer | p. 303 |
Acknowledgments | p. 321 |
Notes | p. 323 |
Photo Credits | p. 337 |
Index | p. 339 |