A review by liralen
The Possibility Dogs: What a Handful of "Unadoptables" Taught Me about Service, Hope, and Healing by

4.0

I hope Charleson writes more books. I ended up with this and [b:Scent of the Missing|6927061|Scent of the Missing Love and Partnership with a Search-and-Rescue Dog|Susannah Charleson|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1347731114s/6927061.jpg|7157024] because I needed something to keep me occupied at work, and in both cases I found myself far more engaged and invested than I would have expected. Charleson does a wonderful job of detailing both the uses and benefits of emotional support dogs and the work that goes into training them. I was particularly interested in the tests Charleson puts all her dogs through to see how many of them, if any, would be good at this sort of the work. It's pretty fascinating, since the dogs respond so differently, and there are so many different things to test for: if someone drops a book in the next room, how will the dog react (e.g., calmly, hysterically, not at all)? What if somebody collapses? Or, on the simplest end: will the dog come if called?

I'm (still) not a dog person and can't imagine doing this kind of work, but it's great to read about.