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A
book for animal lovers is The Puppy That Came
for Christmas, by Megan Rix. Do not let the
title fool you since just the last few chapters include
Christmas, while the rest of the book takes the reader
on an emotional roller coaster ride as Ms. Rix discusses
how she and her husband, Ian, became Helper Dog puppy
parents.
The
author honestly and compassionately recalls how she
and her husband found out that they had an infertility
problem, shortly after deciding they wanted to have
a child. After enduring the torturous road of
schedules, constantly taking temperatures, blood tests,
and doctor visits; they decide to become involved with
a group that trains puppies to help people with disabilities;
thus becoming puppy parents for a six-month stint.
These puppy parents nurture and train their dogs so
they can become a full-fledged helper dog. She
found out that her emptiness caused by not being able
to conceive was replaced by the mutual love between
owner and dog, “I started being a foster dog parent
not knowing anything about dogs.”
Megan
discussed how there appears to be two types of dog owners:
a “one” dog person and a person who after
losing their dog for whatever reason must fill the void
of not having a dog to come home to. She noted,
“A house with no dog would be a miserable, miserable
house. It never means you did not love the dog
lost, but each dog has a different personality.
I had four Golden Retrievers in my life. The first
two dogs, Emma and Freddy were puppies we were raising
to become helper dogs. Emma is a sweet, good girl,
who always wants to please and tries to do her best.
Freddy is a bombastic little boy that is very possessive.
Traffy is my little lovely girl who is my companion
and protector. Then there is the youngest, Bella
who is ball crazy and when we saw her at the breeder’s
she was swinging from an ornament on the Christmas tree.”
Having
to give up Emma and Freddy after six months, Ian and
Megan realized it was too hard and decided that they
would become puppy parents for themselves, “a
forever puppy.” The book goes into a lot of detail
how these puppy parents had grown to love the puppies
and the empty feeling they had when it was time to give
them up. They knew deep in their heart it was
the correct thing to do, but that did not make it any
easier. “The dog becomes your life.
It was very, very hard to give them up. What did
help, as I say in the book, is to keep in touch with
the people who became the dog’s new parents, the
physically disabled. In fact, Emma was the flower
girl in her dog’s partner’s wedding.”
What
the author wants people to get out of the book is how
the puppies filled the void of not being able to have
a baby. She decided to expand on her weekly newspaper
articles about each of her dogs and allow the reader
to understand what it was like for a puppy growing up.
Two
powerful quotes from the book, “(each dog) does
a 1000 times more things for me than I could ever do
for (them),” and “Every puppy was so different,
so vulnerable, so in need of loving: how could we not
love them entirely?” She explained that
having a dog to love and care for could lift a person’s
spirits since “they are a bundle of love.
Every person should be able to cuddle up to a dog, waking
up with that furry, kind face. You end up thinking
about caring for more than yourself.”
This
is no more evident than when she talked about Traffy’s
current situation. Since the book ended with Traffy
as a puppy she brought her readers up to speed by telling
how Traffy, now five years old, had a growth the size
of a baby. She had two major operations and now
has a tube inserted that works like a catheter, which
Megan drains three times a day. “I put a
t-shirt on her to stop her from licking it and to keep
it clean. Even though we really love the sea,
we will not go since she cannot go in the seawater,
having the possibility of the tube corroding. I want
everyone to know Traffy is full of energy now.”
The
book also shows how dogs can help take care of people.
There is a touching story of how one of the puppy parent
dog helpers developed cancer and the dog seemed to sense
it. This dog could not adjust to being away from
her and ran away numerous times to try to get back to
the original puppy parent. Not to spoil the story the
reader can discover what transpired.
Megan
Rix’s next projects will be a three book fictional
series about World War II dogs. The Great
Escape, currently out, is about how dogs had to
be abandoned and left behind during the Nazi bombings
of London. Victory Dogs is about
two puppies that become heroes during the Nazi blitz.
The last in the series is about parachute dogs in WWII.
The
Puppy That Came for Christmas allows
the reader to experience a gamut of emotions with the
author. It shows how dogs can help to enrich people’s
lives and make them happy. Anyone who wants a
book showing how dogs give unrequited love should definitely
read this book. |
