“Teresa J. Rhyne is the best kind of person, a dog person. In this beautiful, honestly told memoir, she leads us through an adventure that will inspire any dog lover. A life-affirming read, or as any dog would say if they could speak, ‘a real treat!’” — W. Bruce Cameron, #1 New York Times and #1 USA Today bestselling author of A Dog’s Purpose.
By Zazie Todd PhD
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This month, the Animal Book Club is reading Poppy in the Wild: A Lost Dog, Fifteen Hundred Acres of Wilderness, and the Dogged Determination that Brought Her Home by Teresa J. Rhyne.
From the publisher,
“After losing her beloved beagle Daphne to lymphoma, author Teresa Rhyne launches herself into fostering other dogs in need, including Poppy, a small, frightened beagle rescued from the China dog meat trade. The elation of rescue quickly turns to hysteria when Poppy breaks free from a potential adopter during a torrential thunderstorm and disappears into a rugged, mountainous, 1,500 acre wilderness park, bordered by a busy road.
In the quest to find Poppy, Teresa will work with rescue specialists, volunteers, psychics, a Native American who communes with owls, helpful neighbors, decidedly unhelpful strangers, a howling woman, the police, crushing dead ends, glimmers of hope, and her own emotional and physical limits as she sits in the wind and rain in the wilderness park for hours each dusk and dawn with bags of roasted chicken and her dirty socks, the human lure for a terrified beagle and packs of less terrified coyotes.
Meanwhile, Poppy encounters heavy rains, a homeless encampment, the Sheriff and his wife, a series of strangers, speeding traffic, hawks, and, ultimately, a world of people willing to do anything to protect rather than harm her. Through an unexpected late night encounter, Poppy is finally caught. After her time in the wild, a surprisingly transformed Poppy reunites with Teresa. Now newly confident and brave Poppy is ready to be welcomed into her forever home.”
The book club is open to subscribers to my free Companion Animal Psychology newsletter. You’ll get the details as part of your welcome emails.
Poppy in the Wild is available from all good bookstores and my Amazon store.
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