The Possibility Dogs: What a Handful of "Unadoptables" Taught Me About Service, Hope, & Healing

"A moving page-turner of a memoir from an accomplished trainer who shifts from the work of search and rescue to that of psychiatric service dogs."—The Boston Globe

After a grisly search-and-rescue operation led to troubling consequences for author Susannah Charleson, she found that her relationship with Puzzle, her search dog, made a surprising contribution to her own healing. Inspired by that experience, Charleson learned to identify abandoned dogs with service potential, plucking them from shelters and training them to work with disabled human partners, to whom the dogs bring assistance, comfort, and hope.

Similar to her New York Times bestselling first book, Scent of the Missing, Charleson's The Possibility Dogs goes beyond the science that explains working canines to tell the stories of the dogs themselves. Like Merlin, a black Lab puppy who had been thrown away in a garbage bag and now stabilizes his partner's panic attacks. And service dog Jake Piper, a formerly starving pit bull mix who went from abandoned to irreplaceable. This heartwarming combination of memoir and research is sure to both inform and inspire.

"For everyone who is interested in the human animal bond, this book is essential reading. Learn how service dogs can provide emotional support for people who are in great need."—Temple Grandin, author of Animals Make us Human and Animals in Translation

"You don't have to be an animal lover to be moved by this beautifully written and impassioned account of the author's work rescuing dogs from shelters and training them to be service animals . . . This is the rare book that can change minds about the reality of animals' emotional lives."—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

© 2013 Mariner Books (Ebook): 9780547735009

Release date

Ebook: 4 June 2013