Saturday, August 27, 2016

Elle's Story: A Dog's Purpose Novel by W. Bruce Cameron

8 and Up 
This book stars Ellie, a very special dog with a very important purpose. From puppyhood, Ellie has been trained as a search-and-rescue dog. She can track down a lost child in a forest or an injured victim under a fallen building. She finds people. She saves them. It’s what she was meant to do.

When I found this book at the library and saw that sweet little dog’s face, I knew I just had to read this book.

You might remember reading about special service dogs in my past post ‘What the Dog Said’ by Randi Reisfeld. But Ellie helps people in a different way. Instead of being trained to help someone in a wheelchair, she’s trained to track down missing and injured people.

Dogs are amazing creatures and you can teach them to do so many different things. The most amazing thing about Ellie is how focused she is. When she’s searching for someone, there are all sorts of distractions around her; food smells, kids, other people’s smells, but she always stays on track.

It’s so well written that I really believed these were the thoughts of a dog. Throughout the book, Ellie seems to be able to sense how other people are feeling, whether sad, happy, frustrated or afraid. I think dogs are able to sense how humans are feeling because my dog Dude always seems to know when I’m sad.

1 comment:

  1. This sounds like a great book. I agree that dogs can sense people's emotions. Sherman was especially good at knowing when I was sad.

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