Need something to read this holiday weekend?
I finished reading a PAWSOME book this week! If you love puppies (and who doesn’t?) you will love this book. Let the Dogs Speak! Puppies in Training Tell the Story of Canine Companions for Independence® by Marianne McKiernan was a complete delight to read. I’ll be honest, I had my doubts when I started the book. For some reason, I just wasn’t completely sold on it. About 10 pages in, I couldn’t put it down.
Unfortunately, my review isn’t going to be as thorough as I had hoped. That just means you all have to read it for yourselves! If you have ever had an adolescent dog, you know how lovely they can be. My husband stopped home to grab some lunch and sent me this picture.
Sigh.
My book, Nick’s book, and all of my notes were shredded.
Thank, Atka. You’re so much help.
I will say, it was a longer day than usual for him. But even this is a new low! I’m still not sure how he got these two books without even shifting any of the other books on the bookshelf. Thankfully, I had already finished reading the book. Don’t worry, I ordered a new copy so I would still have one 🙂 After reading the book, I feel like Marianne McKiernan would get a chuckle out of this.
Back to the book.
Marianne McKiernan and her husband John have been raising puppies for Canine Companions for Independence since October 2001. Since then they have raised eight pups! Plus, they have family dogs and cats as well. I want to hang out at their house! Marianne was looking for a way to help attract more attention to CCI so she started “The Dog Blog”. It was so successful she decided to edit it and turn it into a heartfelt book. On top of everything she already does, Marianne is also a three time Emmy award-winning producer. She is pawsome!
What really helped to tie the book together were the adorable illustrations created by Penny Blankenship. People that have such wonderful artistic abilities make me so jealous 😉
Let the Dogs Speak! is told through the point of view of four CCI puppies: Hudson, Parker, Ross, and Mars. They definitely made the book stand out from anything else I have read. They are witty, sweet, and absolutely heart-warming. The puppies take you through the ups and downs of raising service dogs and let you in on trying aspects of their lives. As silly as this sounds, I feel like I have a better understanding of my dogs now. It gave me a new way of thinking.
I have always contemplated raising a service dog one day, but after reading this book I am dead set on it. I think Nick is getting annoyed with me talking nonstop about it 😉 My biggest worry about puppy raising was having to give the puppy up after 16-18 months. I get attached so easily and was afraid I would melt every time. The puppies discuss how hard it is for their puppy raisers to give them back to CCI, but the feeling of seeing your pup change another person’s life changes your own life. I feel like the book shows you the good, the bad, and the ugly of puppy raising, but it’s worth every second.
After finishing the book, I immediately went to the CCI website to find out specific requirements of puppy raising. Don’t be surprised if you do the same after reading! I haven’t even told you the most amazing part about this book. Marianne McKiernan donates 100% of her author royalties to Canine Companions for Independence. It really doesn’t get more dedicated than that.
I HIGHLY recommend this book to absolutely everyone. It is the perfect and most delightful summer read.
My poor, poor book. Can’t wait to receive my new one! It will be stored on a higher bookshelf 😉
Can’t wait to get your paws on Let the Dogs Speak!? Order your very own copy here! (Kindle and print forms available)
This blog hop is hosted by Ruckus the Eskie and Love is Being Owned by a Husky!
Thanks for the great review on the book. It was a joy to illustrate it, and I can see from your pictures that your pup enjoyed it as well!
I loved the illustrations as well! I apologize for not adding that in the review. I knew I was forgetting something. Once I have computer access today I will update that 🙂
That’s very nice of you, but honestly, it was Marianne’s wonderful and compelling writing, that inspired the illustrations, I’m just happy you enjoyed it (and honored to have my work chewed) 🙂
I think if this book was done by people who don’t own dogs, honored would not be the adjective of choice!
Penny is entirely too modest. Check out her work on http://northwapiti.blogspot.com/ which is how I came to find her!
Heading there now. Thanks!
Adolescent puppies are like teenage children and the best we can hope is that we all come through it. Just when we think the dogs are trained, rebellion happens. Sadly that is the time so many of them come into shelters. But better days are always ahead.
Have a dog friendly 4th from The Poodle (and dog) blog
I see so many dogs between 6 months and a year and a half come into the shelter. The owners always state an issue that could be fixed with exercise, training, and age. Someone once told me, “when your dog makes you want to rip your hair out, you know they’ve hit adolescence”. Thankfully, my husband and I have a good understanding of doggie adolescence and can keep a good sense of humor about it 🙂
Somebody has been VERY busy! When Bentley was a pup, he chose one of my son’s yearbooks for a taste test. I wondered the same thing; how did he get that single book out without wrecking the shelf? A mischievous miracle! haha
They’re pretty sneaky! At least our books can be replaced. Hopefully, your soon didn’t lose to many memories! Silly pups 😉
That book sounds like one I would love! I just love reading about animals, and anything to do with them! And BOLOLOLOL!!!!!! The dog ate your book! that is sort of like “the dog ate my homework”BOL! Sorry for laughing, but it’s ironic that the pup ate a book about pups! haha!
ღ husky hugz ღ frum our pack at Love is being owned by a husky!
I could not believe it. Such a stinker. He’s lucky he’s cute! 😉
Kelsie, thank you for the glowing review! The photos absolutely cracked me up, because nothing like that has ever happened at my house. *Blatant Lie* SNORT. I am delighted that you enjoyed the book and especially that you are considering becoming a puppy raiser!! It’s all part of my cunning plan, you know….
I actually debated a lot about whether to include that Atka ate the book. I felt so bad and kept blubbering to my husband that I didn’t get any pictures of it before Atka shredded it. Finally, he looked at me and said, “Kelsie. You said she has raised eight service dogs. Plus her own dogs… One of them being a giant breed. I think she gets it!” Once I finally got over the guilt of letting the book get destroyed, I was able to agree that you would find it funny!
I did, I did find it hilarious! And just to make you even MORE enthused about raising a puppy, here’s a link to the DogBlog introducing our 10th puppy, Preston: http://www.thedenverchannel.com/lifestyle/pets/jebs-dogblog-introducing-preston
Preston’s 19-day old photo alone will make you want to sign up immediately. Seriously, I melt every time I look at his photo. He arrives in Denver July 25th. THREE WEEKS.
Oh my gosh, he is adorable!!
Aw oh no! Looks like the dog also enjoyed the book, but maybe not in the way it was meant to be enjoyed =/
My thoughts exactly.
What a wonderful review. Thanks for sharing this to help raise awareness of Canine Companions for Independence. Volunteering as a puppy raiser is at once fun, frustrating, and rewarding. I wish you the best as you look into this for yourself. I’ve been at it since 2008 when I finally stopped wondering how I could possibly “give up the dog” and just gave it a try.
We’re now raising puppy #5.
Oh, and by the way, my dog Micron understands your dog’s taste for fine literature. As a littermate of the amazing Mars, Micron was invited to write a blurb on the back cover of Marianne’s book. Give it a look and you’ll see what I mean, lol.
Oh my gosh, I don’t know how I didn’t make the connection between the quote on the back of the book and Mars’ littermate! I love hearing people that have had similar reservations about puppy raising. After reading the book, I absolutely cannot wait. Right now, we’re waiting to find out where the Air Force is sending us. If we move to a good location, I’m taking advantage of the opportunity.
Awesome! Marianne and I got to know each other when we were raising our M littermates, even though we are several states apart from each other. She’s an incredible woman and I’m proud to be in her circle.
Did you know I share adventures in puppy raising too? Lots o’photos and a bit of humor. The website is linked in my name above. Hope our stories might motivate you ever more as you consider volunteer puppy raising. Take care and blessings to you!
Donna and I are dogs-in-law, having raised litter mates. Her blog is hilarious, informative and thoughtful; so good, in fact, that I stole one entry for the book. Plus, she takes wonderful photos. Check it out at http://www.donnasword.com/. Now you HAVE to raise a puppy.
Thank you for pointing me in the direction of her blog! I am so excited to see everyone’s puppy progress in real time.
BOL sneaky Atka!!! 🙂 This book looks wonderful! I just finished reading Dean Koontz’s A Big Little Life, and it had a lot of great info about CCI and made me want to know more. You should definitely look into reading that book too if you want to raise a service dog. It’s more about Koontz’s experience with one specific retriever, but it was a really sweet read. Have a great 4th!
Chelsea, we puppy raisers LOVE Dean Koontz. Our SW regional campus (where we turn in our pups) is named the Dean, Gerda and Trixie Koontz Campus in their honor because of all the money they’ve donated (over $3 million to date, I believe). I was honored to meet Dean and give him a copy of my book at the November 2013 Graduation! He and Gerda and Anna (their current CCI release dog) showed up to give CCI a check for $750,000. Anna got into the checkbook, Dean explained. (-:
Lol I think your dogs were speaking loud and clear:-)
I think so too!
I’ve always wanted to be a puppy raiser, looks like I need to read that book.
I would definitely recommend it! I learned way more from the book than I did from searching the CCI website. It was fantastic getting an inside look at the experience.
Oh boy, can I relate to the destruction. You should check out my blog and posts about Hurricaine Cairo. She is by far the most destructive pup I have ever had. Gah!
I will definitely hop on over to check it out! Glad I’m not the only one dealing with a destructive pup 😉
Ok that’s pretty cute that he ate the book! I know I shouldn’t laugh. As a pup Norbert ate quite a few books. Our smaller dogs chewed them but just couldn’t do enough damge. Each time of course I know its my fault and not the dogs
retro rover
I always tell mine that they’re lucky they’re cute 😉 I need to do a better job of dog proofing apparently!
We call Diesel, Diesel the Destroyer! I know what you are going through! It looks like the pup liked the book as well!
What a wonderful story. One reason I don’t think we will ever foster is the attachment issue. I just don’t see us being able to surrender. I have to know my weaknesses.
I’ve experienced the difficulty of letting a dog go (we had a dog with is for three days on the way to a rescue), but I haven’t experienced what it is like to truly change someone’s life with the dog you’ve raised. I can’t even imagine how rewarding if would be!
Oh I can so relate. I can’t even count the things Delilah has destroyed in the 7 years we’ve had her!
I’ve never considered raising a service dog, however I do want to foster at some point, I am concerned though about that attachment thing though. 🙂
I hope when you do start that puppy raising that you share it.
I have considered fostering as we’ll. I would recommend reading this book if you are worried about the attachment. That is my biggest fear about fostering/puppy raising. I mean, we housed a foster dog for three days on his way to a reuse and I lost it when he left. It was hard, but I know he had an amazing life ahead of him and I’m kept up to date on how he’s doing 🙂
those photos were a flashback to Libby’s adolescence (she had a particular liking for my laptop, I went through a few laptops during her younger years, Romeo ate sheetrock in his adolescence so nothing was safe for awhile) I am happy to report both outgrew their rebellion, boredom, and anxiety when mommy was gone and became model dogs (other than an occasional stealthy operation to grab something yummy off the island when we are not looking…usually a steak)
I love that this book is about service dogs from their point of view, I will be ordering this ASAP. We are considering getting on a waiting list for a service dog (mobility) I think that this book should be part of required reading for future partners of these amazing pups.
Oh my goodness. Thankfully, we’ve never experienced anything that bad! I should probably knock on wood now…
Our doggies are all older but when one of them was little, we came back to find he had chewed through a door. Only a small part on the bottom corner but enough he could go through. Needless to say we weren’t very happy but hey, what can you do. This book sounds fun for sure.
Oh no! Thankfully, we haven’t experienced anything that bad. I would definitely recommend reading it 🙂
That is a great idea to write a book about service dog, through the eyes of the dogs. Good find and review.
I think your dog spoke about his review of this book lol The question is, did he dislike it & that’s why it is now in shreds or did he love it so much that he wanted to eat it?
That is an excellent question. Let’s hope it’s the latter 😉
That is pretty funny. Apparently the dogs didn’t agree with the book 🙂 I am so glad to be done with this stage!
Oh no! This is funny! Little doggers! 😀
Sounds like a book I should read! My first Cardigan Corgi, who I had before I knew about crate training, took out some of his energy on my bookcase one time. The book he chose to totally destroy? My 1920 copy of Black Beauty that was filled with beautiful hand colored illustrations by NC Wyeth. ARRRGGGHHHH!
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Oh no! How do they always manage to find the important ones?
Oh, oh… (giggle) Great review though!
Oh, dear, another item(s) has bitten the dust. Jan is missing the body of a letter she didn’t get to answer before Marcus ate it. He left the outer shell.