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Diana Wells's intriguing exploration into the rewards of
relationships--both the canine and human varieties--begins when she
reluctantly starts seeing a psychologist, Beth, during a difficult
time in her life. With no insurance to pay for counseling, a barter
is arranged in which the client becomes part-time caretaker to the
therapist's dog, Luggs, a sweet, clumsy black Labrador retriever.
As Wells examines her past--her peripatetic childhood, her
eccentric family, her grief over the deaths of loved ones--Luggs
provides a bridge between therapist and patient. Dog lover by
nature, historian by trade, Wells finds herself curious about the
connections that dogs and humans have shared for centuries--and
what these bonds tell us about our own psyches.
Wells observes that training a dog has much in common with the
therapeutic techniques her psychologist employs. Looking into
recent experiments that have proved dogs better at interpreting
human behavior than chimps or wolves, Wells explores the subtleties
of her own relationship with dogs. Increasingly she finds herself
agreeing with Diogenes, the original Greek cynic (the word cynic
comes from the greek kuon, meaning "dog"), who said that unless we
think like dogs, happiness will elude us.
Wells analyzes what we name our dogs, how we breed them, how we've
explored the wilderness with them, the kinds of literature we write
about them, why we love them, and, most important, what we can
learn from them.
When an unexpected illness befalls Beth, Luggs comforts the two
women, and his devotion helps Wells come to accept that
relationships--despite the possibility of hurt and pain--are what
life is all about.
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