A Dog Walks into a Nursing Home
Lessons in the Good Life From an Unlikely Teacher
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4.5 • 4 Ratings
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- $13.99
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
'A joyous and moving account of how seemingly small gifts of kindness can make a profound difference. And not to the recipient alone.' - Geraldine Brooks
At loose ends with her daughter leaving home and her husband on the road, Sue Halpern decided to give herself and Pransky, her under-occupied Labradoodle, a new leash - er, lease - on life by getting the two of them certified as a therapy dog team. Smart, spirited, and instinctively compassionate, Pransky turned out to be not only a terrific therapist but an unerring moral compass. In the unlikely sounding arena of a public nursing home, she led her teammate into a series of encounters with the residents that revealed depths of warmth, humor, and insight Halpern hadn't expected. And little by little, their adventures expanded and illuminated Halpern's sense of what virtue is and does - how acts of kindness transform the giver as well as the given-to.
Funny, moving and profound, A Dog Walks into a Nursing Home is the story of how one faithful, charitable, loving and sometimes prudent mutt - showing great hope, fortitude and restraint along the way (the occasional begged or stolen treat notwithstanding) - taught a well-meaning woman the true nature and pleasures of the good life.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Halpern's (Can't Remember What I Forgot) love of life and openness to its infinite possibilities shine through in this powerful and engaging account of her time working in a Vermont nursing home. Her efforts to brighten the residents' lives were aided by a remarkable Labradoodle named Pransky "one singular, faithful, charitable, loving, and sometimes prudent dog." Confounding both her expectations and the reader's, Halpern was surprised to find that happiness was "the dominant emotion for both Pransky and me," at the nursing home where they work together as a therapy-dog team. From the outset, the book's humanity is evident, as seen in a description of an encounter with a legless man Halpern had never seen before and would never see again. Instead of simply passing by the man, who embodied her worst fears about nursing homes, Halpern, prodded by her dog, engaged him in conversation and got out of her comfort zone. Time and again, anecdotes bolster her contention that in places where "life is in the balance," it is possible to get to the essentials about human nature.
