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Cathryn Michon's Reviews > I'm Still Here: A Dog's Purpose Forever
I'm Still Here: A Dog's Purpose Forever
by
by
Well now that there are so many reviews of this, the first book I've written in 20 years, I guess it's OK to add my own 5 star rating. As the dog mom of a senior dog, I truly wrote the book I needed to read.
15 years ago when my then boyfriend, now husband first told me, on a car ride, the story that became A Dog's Purpose, I knew it was destined to be a classic. I knew that book would help others, as it helped me, to truly understand that our relationship with our dog's souls are eternal.
But I also came to know that if you want to comfort a friend, or yourself, on the loss of their dog, you don't give them a copy of A Dog's Purpose right away. It's just...too much when you're in the early stages of grieving.
Finally, my husband asked me to just go ahead and write a graphic companion gift book to the original novel. He knew that I wrote free verse poetry just for fun, and really thought that free verse poetry from the point of view of an angel dog who wants you to know that they are still here, but are also over the rainbow bridge, would be just the balm that hurting human souls needed upon losing their fur babies.
As a film director, the idea of doing a graphic book was very exciting to me. And when it came to casting the dog who would play the angel dog, I looked no further than my own senior dog Tucker, whose handsome face you see right on the cover of this book. Oh sure, he's missing a few teeth, and under that blond fur he's got some lumps and bumps, but honestly, he's the Brad Pitt of dogs to me, he just gets more handsome the older he gets.
And it turns out he loves modeling! He gets paid in tiny slivers of cheese, and now it's his favorite thing in the whole world to do. As you can see from these paintings, he very much understands the command, "eyes to camera, Tucker!"
I storyboarded this book like a film, taking thousands of reference photos of both Tucker and other dogs. It was very important to me that the dogs in the book be all sizes, ages, breeds, mutts, and even differently-abled. Luckily, we live in a very dog-friendly area, so creating the images that were then translated into paintings was pure joy for me. I'm mostly a visual storyteller, so I'm thrilled that people are responding to the visual story of the book as much as they are responding to the words.
As my angel dog narrator says, "all dog souls are different, but they are all good."
The most important message of my book is that dogs souls are eternal, just as ours are, and we meet again.
But also important is the message that at the end of their lives, dogs really want to know that we will always have a dog. I'm so glad I opened my heart to Tucker, and when he crosses the bridge, I promise him, and you, that I will get another dog. Tucker can't imagine me without a dog, and now I can't imagine me without a dog. Guiding us with their love is a dog's purpose, forever!
15 years ago when my then boyfriend, now husband first told me, on a car ride, the story that became A Dog's Purpose, I knew it was destined to be a classic. I knew that book would help others, as it helped me, to truly understand that our relationship with our dog's souls are eternal.
But I also came to know that if you want to comfort a friend, or yourself, on the loss of their dog, you don't give them a copy of A Dog's Purpose right away. It's just...too much when you're in the early stages of grieving.
Finally, my husband asked me to just go ahead and write a graphic companion gift book to the original novel. He knew that I wrote free verse poetry just for fun, and really thought that free verse poetry from the point of view of an angel dog who wants you to know that they are still here, but are also over the rainbow bridge, would be just the balm that hurting human souls needed upon losing their fur babies.
As a film director, the idea of doing a graphic book was very exciting to me. And when it came to casting the dog who would play the angel dog, I looked no further than my own senior dog Tucker, whose handsome face you see right on the cover of this book. Oh sure, he's missing a few teeth, and under that blond fur he's got some lumps and bumps, but honestly, he's the Brad Pitt of dogs to me, he just gets more handsome the older he gets.
And it turns out he loves modeling! He gets paid in tiny slivers of cheese, and now it's his favorite thing in the whole world to do. As you can see from these paintings, he very much understands the command, "eyes to camera, Tucker!"
I storyboarded this book like a film, taking thousands of reference photos of both Tucker and other dogs. It was very important to me that the dogs in the book be all sizes, ages, breeds, mutts, and even differently-abled. Luckily, we live in a very dog-friendly area, so creating the images that were then translated into paintings was pure joy for me. I'm mostly a visual storyteller, so I'm thrilled that people are responding to the visual story of the book as much as they are responding to the words.
As my angel dog narrator says, "all dog souls are different, but they are all good."
The most important message of my book is that dogs souls are eternal, just as ours are, and we meet again.
But also important is the message that at the end of their lives, dogs really want to know that we will always have a dog. I'm so glad I opened my heart to Tucker, and when he crosses the bridge, I promise him, and you, that I will get another dog. Tucker can't imagine me without a dog, and now I can't imagine me without a dog. Guiding us with their love is a dog's purpose, forever!
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I'm Still Here.
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Reading Progress
Finished Reading
August 4, 2024
– Shelved
