Love Heels: Tales from Canine Companions for Independence Book

Dogs have, by nature, qualities that we all would do well to strive for: unshakable loyalty, a devotion to service, an infectious exuberance for life. And their example often does bring out the best in us as well. You'll see these virtues shine in humans and dogs alike in this delightful and deeply meaningful look at the Canine Companions for Independence (CCI), a nonprofit organization devoted to providing well-trained, lovable service dogs to assist people with disabilities.

The stories author Patricia Dibsie tells of these dogs, the people who raise and train them, and those they ultimately help will move you to both laughter and tears, and deepen your appreciation of what love-in both human and canine form-can accomplish. You'll meet a whole pack of CCI's stars as you read about every stage in their development, from the antics of puppyhood and the foibles of training to the fulfillments of their service years. And you'll almost be able to feel the wet kisses in page after page of marvelous pictures that will set many a heart and tail thumping with happiness.

Each chapter focuses on a different human-canine partnership and the remarkable relationships that develop. You'll smile as you learn who was really to blame when eight-month-old trainee Blanche ate the rent money slipped under the door. You'll share the happiness of Mary's parents as the big golden retriever Tattinger-"Tatty" to his friends-helps bring the little girl further out of her shell of autism into the land of language and laughter. And you'll probably feel the same mixture of pain and appreciation and the deepest kind of love as Tom when he turns for strength one more time to Weaver, his faithful companion of eleven years, as they say their final goodbye.

From beginning to end, these are stories of a special bond with the deepest of roots. As best-selling author Dean Koontz, a big fan and supporter of CCI, puts it in the foreword, "Each dog seems to know that it is fulfilling a role that had been the destiny of its kind since the morning of creation." The fulfillment of that destiny makes for a marvelous experience on every page of Love Heels, one you'll remember every time you see that look of unconditional love in a dog's big warm eyes.