Ruff Love: Tales of a Therapy Dog is an inspirational tale that brings readers into the heart of developmental delays and animal-assisted therapy. In this heartwarming treasure of small miracles, reader will follow as children facing hardships learn to embrace and overcome their disabilities through interactions with a therapy dog named Hattie. This is a Marley and Me meets Working as a Therapy Dog story of a fun-loving, spirited dog embarking on adventures while working with challenging children in a preschool setting. Currently, there are several books on the market for adult audiences that focus on the how-to aspect of animal-assisted therapy. Deeply moving and sometimes humorous, Ruff Love: Tales of a Therapy Dog moves beyond the how-to and focuses on the outcomes as a therapy dog helps children learn to communicate.
This book is a unique look at how a speech-language pathologist uses a therapy dog to motivate preschoolers to communicate in everyday situations. A story within a story, Ruff Love: Tales of a Therapy Dog chronicles events in Hattie’s life from the day she was the pick of the litter to becoming a reading buddy at the local library. It combines specific stories of children with autism, speech and language delays, vision and hearing impairments, Down syndrome, and behavioral issues with the everyday activities of an ordinary dog and the special training she had in order to become a therapy dog. While therapy animals do not work for everyone, this book will focus on the children whose stories show readers the benefit of using a therapy dog.
