A Dog Walks Into a Nursing Home: Lessons in the Good Life from an Unlikely Teacher

Be the first to write a review

Overview

A layabout mutt turned therapy dog leads her owner to a new understanding of the good life.

At loose ends with her daughter leaving home and her husband on the road, Sue Halpern decided to give herself and Pransky, her under-occupied Labradoodle, a new leash—er, lease—on life by getting the two of them certified as a therapy dog team. Smart, spirited, and instinctively compassionate, Pransky turned out to be not only a terrific therapist but an unerring moral compass. In the ...

See more details below
Hardcover
$15.85
BN.com price
(Save 41%)$26.95 List Price
Pick Up In Store

Pick Up In Store

Reserve and pick up in 60 minutes at your local store

Other sellers (Hardcover)
  • All (26) from $11.86   
  • New (18) from $13.45   
  • Used (8) from $11.86   
A Dog Walks Into a Nursing Home: Lessons in the Good Life from an Unlikely Teacher

Available on NOOK devices and apps  
  • Nook Devices
  • NOOK HD/HD+ Tablet
  • NOOK
  • NOOK Color
  • NOOK Tablet
  • Tablet/Phone
  • NOOK for Windows 8 Tablet
  • NOOK for iOS
  • NOOK for Android
  • NOOK Kids for iPad
  • PC/Mac
  • NOOK for Windows 8
  • NOOK for PC
  • NOOK for Mac
  • NOOK Study

Want a NOOK? Explore Now

NOOK Book (eBook)
$12.99
BN.com price

More About This Book

Overview

A layabout mutt turned therapy dog leads her owner to a new understanding of the good life.

At loose ends with her daughter leaving home and her husband on the road, Sue Halpern decided to give herself and Pransky, her under-occupied Labradoodle, a new leash—er, lease—on life by getting the two of them certified as a therapy dog team. Smart, spirited, and instinctively compassionate, Pransky turned out to be not only a terrific therapist but an unerring moral compass. In the unlikely sounding arena of a public nursing home, she led her teammate into a series of encounters with the residents that revealed depths of warmth, humor, and insight Halpern hadn’t expected. And little by little, their adventures expanded and illuminated Halpern’s sense of what virtue is and does—how acts of kindness transform the giver as well as the given-to.

Funny, moving, and profound, A Dog Walks into a Nursing Home is the story of how one faithful, charitable, loving, and sometimes prudent mutt—showing great hope, fortitude, and restraint along the way (the occasional begged or stolen treat notwithstanding)—taught a well-meaning woman the true nature and pleasures of the good life.

Read More Show Less

Editorial Reviews

From Barnes & Noble

In addition to having one of the most fetching titles of the month, Sue Halpern's A Dog Walks into a Nursing Home recreates the stories of multiple personal transformations. It all began when Halperin's daughter Sophie went off to the college. With her husband (writer/activist Bill McKibben) already away much of the time, Sue and her Labradoodle Pransky felt understandably forlorn. It did not take Sue long to come up with a timely solution: She and her four-legged friend would win certification as a therapy dog team. Once they went work at a public nursing home, the real fun began. With the acumen of a natural writer, Halpern (Four Wings and a Prayer; Can't Remember What I Forgot) describes how Pransky and elderly people at the home formed relationships of touching rapport. Heart tugs and sweet smiles.

Publishers Weekly
Halpern’s (Can’t Remember What I Forgot) love of life and openness to its infinite possibilities shine through in this powerful and engaging account of her time working in a Vermont nursing home. Her efforts to brighten the residents’ lives were aided by a remarkable Labradoodle named Pransky—“one singular, faithful, charitable, loving, and sometimes prudent dog.” Confounding both her expectations and the reader’s, Halpern was surprised to find that happiness was “the dominant emotion for both Pransky and me,” at the nursing home where they work together as a therapy-dog team. From the outset, the book’s humanity is evident, as seen in a description of an encounter with a legless man Halpern had never seen before and would never see again. Instead of simply passing by the man, who embodied her worst fears about nursing homes, Halpern, prodded by her dog, engaged him in conversation and got out of her comfort zone. Time and again, anecdotes bolster her contention that in places where “life is in the balance,” it is possible to get to the essentials about human nature. Agent: Kim Witherspoon, Inkwell Management. (May)
author of Animals in Translation and Animals Make Us Human - Temple Grandin
"A therapy dog opens many doors of deeper human communication. All people interesting in improving the lives of others should read this insightful book."
author of Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend and The Orchid Thief - Susan Orlean
"Affectionate and deeply affecting, written with a light hand and a keen eye, this is a wonderful story of great things—namely, love, life, human kindness, and dogs."
Pulitzer Prize-winning author of March, People of the Book, and Caleb's Crossing - Geraldine Brooks
"A joyous and moving account of how seemingly small gifts of kindness can make a profound difference. And not to the recipient alone."
author of One Hundred Names for Love - Diane Ackerman
"This is a gem of a book, a beautiful, wise, and big-hearted story about companionship and the true nature of virtue."
author of Refuge and When Women Were Birds - Terry Tempest Williams
"A book about a dog that is ultimately a book about humanity? a beautiful, honest, joyful accounting of what matters."
Kirkus Reviews
Reflections on a rest home for the elderly. When faced with the beginnings of empty-nest syndrome, Halpern (I Can't Remember What I Forgot, 2008, etc.) decided to invest time in others as a way to fill her day. She and her dog, Pransky, became a certified human–dog therapy team, working at the local nursing home. She expected to meet and "learn something about old people, and about the therapeutic value of animals in a medical setting, and about myself in that setting, which was alien and not a little scary." With Pransky at her side acting as an icebreaker, Halpern experienced the seven virtues of life: "love, hope, faith, prudence, justice, fortitude [and] restraint." Witty and compassionate, the author introduces readers to the lives of many of the residents, providing insight into the last stages of a person's life. These people were farmers, counselors, teachers, museum curators, and they "had lives--rich, rewarding, interesting, challenging, complicated lives." The residents showed Halpern that death is not something to be feared but accepted with dignity despite failing mental and physical health. Over time, the author realized that "hanging out…[was] as satisfying as anything else we could have been doing between ten and noon on Tuesdays, and, most of the time, more so." Through her enlightening observations of this particular nursing home, readers will take away the knowledge that we are each given one life and we had best not squander how we live it. Endearing thoughts on aging and companionship.
Read More Show Less

Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9781594487200
  • Publisher: Penguin Group (USA)
  • Publication date: 5/16/2013
  • Pages: 320
  • Sales rank: 978
  • Product dimensions: 5.86 (w) x 8.34 (h) x 1.12 (d)

Meet the Author

Sue Halpern is the author of five previous books. Her writing has appeared in The New York Review of Books, The New York Times Magazine, Time, The New Yorker, Parade, Rolling Stone, and Glamour, among others. She has been a Rhodes Scholar and a Guggenheim Fellow and is a scholar in residence at Middlebury College. She lives with her husband, the writer Bill McKibben, and Pransky in Ripton, Vermont.

Read More Show Less

Customer Reviews

Be the first to write a review
( 0 )
Rating Distribution

5 Star

(0)

4 Star

(0)

3 Star

(0)

2 Star

(0)

1 Star

(0)

Your Rating:

Review Guidelines
Add Recommendations
Your Name: Create a Pen Name or

Barnes & Noble.com Review Rules

Our reader reviews allow you to share your comments on titles you liked, or didn't, with others. By submitting an online review, you are representing to Barnes & Noble.com that all information contained in your review is original and accurate in all respects, and that the submission of such content by you and the posting of such content by Barnes & Noble.com does not and will not violate the rights of any third party. Please follow the rules below to help ensure that your review can be posted.

Reviews by Our Customers Under the Age of 13

We highly value and respect everyone's opinion concerning the titles we offer. However, we cannot allow persons under the age of 13 to have accounts at BN.com or to post customer reviews. Please see our Terms of Use for more details.

What to exclude from your review:

Please do not write about reviews, commentary, or information posted on the product page. If you see any errors in the information on the product page, please send us an email.

Reviews should not contain any of the following:

  • - HTML tags, profanity, obscenities, vulgarities, or comments that defame anyone
  • - Time-sensitive information such as tour dates, signings, lectures, etc.
  • - Single-word reviews. Other people will read your review to discover why you liked or didn't like the title. Be descriptive.
  • - Comments focusing on the author or that may ruin the ending for others
  • - Phone numbers, addresses, URLs
  • - Pricing and availability information or alternative ordering information
  • - Advertisements or commercial solicitation

Reminder:

  • - By submitting a review, you grant to Barnes & Noble.com and its sublicensees the royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable right and license to use the review in accordance with the Barnes & Noble.com Terms of Use.
  • - Barnes & Noble.com reserves the right not to post any review -- particularly those that do not follow the terms and conditions of these Rules. Barnes & Noble.com also reserves the right to remove any review at any time without notice.
  • - See Terms of Use for other conditions and disclaimers.
Search for Products You'd Like to Recommend

Recommend other products that relate to your review. Just search for them below and share!

Create a Pen Name

Your Pen Name is your unique identity on BN.com. It will appear on the reviews you write and other website activities. Your Pen Name cannot be edited, changed or deleted once submitted.

 
Your Pen Name can be any combination of alphanumeric characters (plus - and _), and must be at least two characters long.

Continue Anonymously
    If you find inappropriate content, please report it to Barnes & Noble
    Why is this product inappropriate?
    Comments (optional)