A little editing could have tightened up some repetition in This Dog and it occasionally feels lazy. When he writes about Beacon, the therapy dog that helped the women’s gymnastics team prepare for the 2024 Summer Olympics, it seems odd not to mention that the dog was not allowed to accompany them to Paris, and for Friedman to 'imagine' Simone Biles and Suni Lee’s feelings about Beacon. Why not ask them? ... Quibbles aside, the book is for humans what a chew toy is for a pooch: If you love dogs, I bet you’ll go back to it, again and again, for the great stories about our canine pals ... Friedman skips nimbly from dog-related topic to dog-related topic. Some are serious: how dogs have helped care for soldiers with PTSD, how dog breeding has increased health problems for dogs such as basset hounds ... Mostly, though, This Dog Will Change Your Life is a collection of charming stories.
Friedman’s yarns rely more on anecdote than science...but those anecdotes are both entertaining and instructive ... A pleasure for fans of Canis lupus familiaris.
