Steven Kotler

A look at the cult and culture of the dog-rescue movement in America based on the personal experience of the owners of Rancho de Chihuahua dog sanctuary in New Mexico.

Dog Rescue and the Meaning of Life

A Small Furry Prayer

Kourtney

I was recommended this book on Amazon when I was buying the book about what happened to the dogs in Michael Vick's horrible case. I had put both books on my shelf until I knew there would be a day where I could cry myself senseless and not have to worry about anyone seeing my puffy eyes. I pulled this book off of the shelf on a whim and decided to give it a go.

The stories that Steven Kotler tells about the actual dog rescue and how it started was great. I volunteer at a no-kill shelter, so I could relate to a lot about what he was talking about. I have 2 rescue dogs of my own and know about the personality problems and trying to deduce what the dogs need to show them that this is a safe place to live. Those parts were great and were what led me to rate this book at 2 stars. What I didn't like where the breaks in the story. I thought, based on the summary, that this would be a story about Steven's life with maybe some examples of other dog rescues. Instead, there was a LOT of research mixed in about psychological and scientific experiments that were conducted to come up with how dogs behave. I don't care about that. If I wanted to read about scientific research I would go hang out on Lexxus Nexxus. I was looking for something from the heart, not something to pad out a few essays to make it a book. Not to mention that right when I was getting into a story BAM there were 5 pages of boring research. I was having to flip through to find out what happened to the dogs (almost as though the end of the story was just an afterthought). Maybe next time Steven can co-author a book with his wife so we the readers can experience the emotions of what a true dog rescuer feels, and not just a retelling of some experiments from yesteryear.

A Small Furry Prayer Dog Rescue and the Meaning of Life

Reviews