Sweet Senior Pups

by Kama Einhorn

Overview

Photo-packed series explores the stories and science behind animal sanctuaries. Who says you can't teach an old dog new tricks? Visit the Senior Dog Sanctuary of Maryland to meet three very special old dogs—Mino, Buffy, and Jack—who are ready and waiting to make new families very happy. Includes full-color photos, maps, and graphics throughout.

At many animal shelters, older pets are often overlooked in favor of puppies and kittens. But you'll find only dogs over the age of six at the Senior Dog Sanctuary of Maryland. Mino, Jack, and Buffy are three dog roommates at the SDS, each having a unique personality but all of them in need of a new home. For every dog at SDS, the road to release is a different one but always features rescue, recovery, rehabilitation, and ultimately release. Join Mino as he shares stories about Buffy, Jack, and the SDS staff they get ready for their forever families. Other books in the photo-packed Sanctuary Stories series include Welcome, Wombat.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781328767035
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	11/20/2018
Series:	True Tales of Rescue
Pages:	144
Product dimensions:	5.60(w) x 8.10(h) x 0.60(d)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Kama Einhorn is a Brooklyn-based writer and editor of children's media. She has a master's degree in literacy education from U.C. Berkeley and was an editor at Scholastic before becoming a creative lead at Sesame Street. Einhorn has written more than 40 books for kids, published by Scholastic, Random House, Simon & Schuster, and HarperCollins, and has also authored magazine articles, outreach materials, and web content for Nickelodeon, The New York Times Learning Network, Best Friends Animal Society, and The Humane Society of the United States. Visit her at kamaeinhorn.com.

Read an Excerpt

Old Dogs, New Lives

We’re just like you, buddy. We didn’t have homes until the sanctuary rescued us. We were having some of the worst days of our lives.
     We each have a story. Some of us were living on the street, cold, sick, and wet, eating whatever we could find. Some of us once had people who loved us, but they died or went into nursing homes and couldn’t find anyone to take us in. Sometimes we got left behind when our people moved away. Lots of us were brought to shelters that didn’t have enough room for us, and old dogs in shelters usually take a long time to get adopted, if that happens at all.
     But things got better for all of us one day when we saw a kind face, heard a soft voice, and felt a gentle hand on our fur (the people here hug us and love us up no matter how dirty, smelly, or matted we are!). For some of us, that face, voice, and touch was Val’s. For others, it was his son Greg’s or one of the many staff members or volunteers here. They sometimes drive for hours to pick us up from another shelter or home!
     Here at Senior Dog Sanctuary we get our own space, with our own toys and blankets. Those of us who share a room figure out whose spot is whose. Jack’s spot is inside a mini-doghouse made of soft, sturdy cloth. It’s a little hut, and sometimes he gets stuck in it! I like the hut, too, and Jack’s pretty good at sharing it.
     If we’re sick, we get the medicine we need. The volunteers walk us at least five times a day and let us sniff around all we want. We run in the huge play yard, make friends, and enjoy the sun. We get to know the other dogs’ smells. Most of all, we learn that there are people we can count on. Being rescued means we can finally relax.

Editorial Reviews

"A love poem to senior dogs and the animal sanctuaries that care for them."—School Library Journal —

From the Publisher

06/01/2018
Gr 2–5—Narrated by Mino, a 15-year-old blind Pomeranian that lives at the Senior Dog Sanctuary of Maryland, this title is a love poem to senior dogs and the animal sanctuaries that care for them. Mino shares his history as a lost and then rescued dog, explains how senior dogs are "sugarfaces" (their white muzzles look like they are dipped in sugar), and life at the shelter. Mino's roommates—Buffy, a 12-year-old miniature pinscher and Jack, a 14-year-old poodle—act as co-storytellers and each are given their own chapter. Mino carefully explains how to care for, feed, and love older dogs; the tone is a bit sentimental but there are enough realistic details included to pique more inquisitive readers. The text covers forever homes and even death in a entry called "Rainbow Bridge." Volunteers at the sanctuary as well as adoptive families are featured with lots of personal stories and photos. While much of this title might seem a little precious, the book incorporates a lot of salient information regarding animal health care, including food and toy suggestions as well as how to support local shelters. VERDICT Dog lovers (maybe even cat lovers) will enjoy this entry in the series.—Susan Lissim, Dwight School, New York City

School Library Journal

2018-08-27

First in a pseudo-nonfiction series about animal sanctuaries is the tale of a rescue facility for elderly dogs in Maryland.

At Senior Dog Sanctuary of Maryland, older, homeless dogs are rescued, assisted to recover their health, and then, if possible, rehabilitated enough to be placed in foster, "fospice," or forever homes to live out the remainder of their lives. (A fospice is a foster hospice setting.) The story of the sanctuary is related by a few of its residents: Dogs with varying degrees of disability describe their often tragic backgrounds, their lives at the facility and at new homes, and in one case death ("Well, here I finally am at the Rainbow Bridge"). Much of the text is set in a generous font and is relatively easy to read, but some pages that emulate Facebook feeds feature very small text and more challenging vocabulary. There are numerous photos of the always charming dogs (even when clad in cheesy costumes). Extensive backmatter includes recipes for treats for elderly animals as well as suggestions for items that sanctuaries may need to have donated. Publishing simultaneously, Welcome Wombat features the same animal-narrator format but lacks the screenshots and costumed animals. It provides detailed information about a wombat-rescue facility in Australia.

Although the information presented is of high interest and accurate, some more scientifically minded readers may be put off by the use of animal voices. (Nonfiction/fiction hybrid. 8-12)

Kirkus Reviews