Extraordinary Dogs: Stories from Search and Rescue Dogs, Comfort Dogs, and Other Canine Heroes

This rewarding follow-up to photographer Stavrinides’s Miracle Dogs, with text by Schlimm (Moonshine), profiles over 50 dogs responsible for heroic feats. People they have helped, as detailed here, include veterans recuperating from battlefield injuries, homeless shelter residents, first responders, and even children terrified of trips to the dentist’s office. Stavrinides and Schlimm introduce readers to remarkable animals such as Rocket, a Belgian Malinois/border collie mix, rescued one day before he was scheduled to be euthanized, who proved expert at searching for disaster victims, and Bo, a Korean Jindo mix rescued from being slaughtered for meat and thereafter made by his owners into a “furry, four-legged activist” against dog abuse. The book is sprinkled with sometimes bittersweet anecdotes, such as a visit by a group of comfort golden retrievers to the Sandy Hook Elementary school that coincided with a fortuitous and large shipment of stress balls. This inspiring work commendably documents how rescue and comfort dogs (and their handlers) help humans deal with trauma. Agent: Steve Troha, Folio Literary Management. (Oct.)