Moments with Baxter: Comfort and Love from the Worlds' Best Therapy Dog, by Melissa Joseph (Greenleaf Book Group LLC, 2009, 224pp HB, $24.95) Review by Skye Anderson
14-year-old Dog* Starts a New Job
Baxter is a funny-looking dog who will steal your heart away: I dare you to read this book without shedding a tear or two. On every page!
In his book, Moments with Baxter, 18-year-old Baxter looks back on his still-continuing therapy dog career, and the families he has loved who love him back.
Dr. Love
Baxter looks like a cross between a stuffed teddy bear and, well, something else, with the cutest little bear ears. He is actually a golden chow (golden retriever mixed with chow chow) with teddy bear ears. And his face is simply magic: golden blond with stand-up ears always ready to listen. Small enough to fit on the bed with the hospice patients he visits and cuddles with - if they want to. And they do. And they talk to Baxter who listens attentively and returns petting with gentle kisses.
Learn how Baxter became a therapy dog, almost by mistake, before you read the 36 'moments' depicted in words and plenty of photos. And I dare you to read more than a few stories in one seating without the tears flowing. So, don't read this book on the subway or in the doctor's office or any other public place unless you want stares and offers of kleenex.
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Hospice volunteer Melissa Joseph has included helpful information in the back like just what therapy dog training consists of and the characteristics a therapy dog must have (p 211). She emphasizes the human-dog team aspect of the 'job.'
The author has written in short sentences that are calming and just the antidote for families.
"He looks deeply into each person's eyes and creates a light in the room that. . . will glow long after we depart." (p. 81)
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* ". . . older dogs need . . . something to do, or they will sleep more than they will live." (p 213) ". . . he lives to love," (p. 236)
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