THE HEALING POWER OF DOGS

SHARON SAKSON 

“I am highly impressed…Paws and Effect is a great book for all dog lovers!!”

—Temple Grandin, author of Animals in Translation

Fantastic interview by New York City writer Gini Sikes in the magazine Natural Awakenings. Read it online, it’s great!

Dogs have always helped humans and changed our lives for the better—by herding sheep, guarding our homes, and giving us unconditional love—but our dogs may save our lives as well. PAWS & EFFECT (Spiegel & Grau/Random House Trade Paperback June 2009) provides individual accounts of beloved pets that have supported their families, in miraculous ways, through periods of ill health or emotional upset; and it reviews the science that lends credence to claims of dogs’ healing power.

            Did you know that dogs are better at detecting ovarian, lung, bladder, prostate or skin cancer than any currently known medical device, better than x-rays, laboratory blood work, MRIs, biopsies, sputum technology, CAT scans, PET scans, fiber optic scopes, mammograms, pap smears or second opinions? Or that dogs can sense an oncoming epileptic seizure or hypoglycemic episode and warn their human friend before they take place? That an organization called X-CPR is carrying on the work of ancient Aztecs in promoting the use of small, hairless Mexican dogs to relieve the pain of arthritis and fibromyalgia?

            Author Sharon Sakson’s investigation took her to academic institutions, veterinarians’ offices, dog breeders, charitable organizations, and even the military—wherein she discovered documentation for what so many of us already understand: that the loving presence of a dog can avert, and transport us through, grave illness, whether physical or psychological. More importantly, her investigation took her deep into the hearts and lives of dogs and their owners.

                    

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

SHARON SAKSON is a journalist and American Kennel Club dog show judge. Her other books  are: Paws to Protect: Dogs Saving Lives and Restoring Hope; Brussels Griffons: A Complete Pet Owner’s Manual and co-authored, with Neil Plakcy, Paws and Reflect: A Special Bond between Man and Dog. She is a breeder of champion Whippets and Brussels Griffons. Sharon lives in Princeton, New Jersey.