Toby's Story, A Dog's Purpose Puppy Tale: Will Toby Discover his Purpose? by W. Bruce Cameron* (Scholastic, 2019, 192pp PB, $6.99, with study guide questions, ages 8-12, grades 3-7, one of 10 puppy tales) Review by Skye Anderson
Toby is not your average energetic Beagle puppy because his feet itch so much he spends most of his time biting at them - it seemed to be grass or carpet that made them worse. Therefore, Toby was not your average energetic Beagle puppy.
He lived in an assisted living facility as a therapy dog and all the residents loved Toby but what Toby really wanted was a family of his own and a girl (or boy) to play with all the time. After his feet started healing, he really became a too playful beagle but he lived in an assisted living facility and beagle-ness was just too rambunctious for the residents. You can't train a beagle not to be a beagle, though.
The issue for Toby was the director of the retirement home who said Toby was too rambunctious even though all the residents loved him for perking them up and getting them outside to play fetch.
Maybe training would calm Toby down. . . .
And one of the residents had been a cross-country star but his grandson just wasn't. That is, until Toby started running with him.
But still, Toby wondered who his family was - everyone at the facility? The grandson? The therapist's daughter who tried to train the Beagle?
Another of W. Bruce Cameron's heartfelt story told in his simple, lyrical style**. . . . and perhaps the best puppy tale ever!
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*Dear Bruce, I know you love dogs and want them well-trained in your books but I wish you would, in the future, use only positive-reinforcement methods. No more of this pushing down on a pup's rump to get a sit when just raising the treat above his head will automatically teach his rump to go to the floor in a sit (laws of physics). I would be happy to tell you more ways to teach dogs and pups using only gentle training ways - you are almost there, anyway, using treats as rewards. I would also get rid of "No" since that word is not something that can be done. And two-word cues are much more difficult than singletons.
**Some of Cameron's words as told by Toby who knows so much more than mere humans do:
"But Walt didn't chase the car, for some reason. That was my first hint that humans don't always understand how to have fun. They need dogs to show them." p23
"My sister had always been part of my family, but at that moment, I understood that things had changed. She belonged to a new family now. It was a little sad but it was right too. Dogs belonged to human families. Human families needed dogs." p28
"I was starting to understand that Mona's mom had two names: Mom to Mona, and Patsy to everybody else. It was confusing, but people are like that. They hardly ever do things the simplest way." p38
"A dog was meant to be with people; I knew that deep down. That's why we left our first families. Dogs and people were supposed to be together." p123
"Walt gave me a delicious bowl of cool water. Fabulous! He handed Tyler something yellow and sweet-smelling in a glass, since humans don't like to drink out of bowls. I don't know why." p157 (lemonade)
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