Book Review-The Mountaintop School for Dogs and Other Second Chances-Ellen Cooney

I was lucky enough to receive a pre publication ARC of this heart warming book which should be out by August 5 2014. It is the story of throwaways--not just the dogs and how they all heal over time at the Mountaintop School for Dogs.

Evie, a recovering drug addict does not really know what to do with her life-she has no real ambitions and nothing ever seems to go right for her. When she sees an ad in the paper for trainees-she immediately applies. She is accepted into the program and stays at the lodge with the "Warden" who really doesn't like anyone-or so it seems. She meets another of the staff-a young boy-who was taken in by the Sanctuary.

Evie hasn't exactly told the truth on her application-she has never even owned a dog! The dogs at the Sanctuary are not the usual -these dogs have problems and can't be adoptable until those problems are fixed--or not. The first few weeks at the lodge Evie begins to meet these dogs-dogs she is going to have to train! She gets on the computer and reads everything she can. She soon realizes that each dog is different and needs different training methods and she has to develop a whole lot of patience.

When she is finally invited to come up the mountain to the sanctuary and begin her training she breathes a sigh of relief-Evie you see has little to no self confidence. She is given some dogs to train and through innovative measures does get them better trained (when they want to be) then they were before.

Everyone at the Sanctuary needs healing--all in their own time. I know you will enjoy this book except perhaps for the ways humans cause pain to animals (but not at the Sanctuary!). I definitely give this book a 5 Star rating.

About the Book: (from Amazon)

The Sanctuary. High up on the mountain, the Sanctuary is a place of refuge. It is a place where humans save dogs, who, in turn, save the humans. It is a place where the past does not exist, where hopelessness is chased away, where the future hasn’t been written, where orphans and strays can begin to imagine a new meaning for “family.”

Evie is making her way to the Sanctuary. She has lied to gain entry. She has pretended to know more than she does about dogs, but she is learning fast. Once the indomitable Mrs. Auberchon lets her pass, she will find her way. Like the racing greyhound who refuses to move, the golden retriever who returns to his job as the Sanctuary’s butler every time he’s adopted, and the Rottweiler who’s a hopeless candidate for search-and-rescue, Evie comes from a troubled past. But as they all learn, no one should stay prisoner to a life she didn’t choose.

This is the story of two women and a whole pack of dogs who, having lost their way in the world, find a place at a training school—and radical rescue center—called the Sanctuary. It is a story of strays and rescues, kidnappings and homecomings, moving on and holding on and letting go. And it is, ultimately, a moving and hilarious chronicle of the ways in which humans and canines help each other find new lives, new selves, and new hope.

Pre-order this book here

About the Author: (from Amazon)

Ellen Cooney is the author of eight novels and stories published in The New Yorker and many literary journals. She taught creative writing for over twenty-five years, most recently in the Writing Program at MIT and the Extension School at Harvard. A native of Massachusetts, she now lives on the coast of Maine. Her new novel,"The Mountaintop School For Dogs And Other Second Chances," about a young woman who impulsively decides to become a dog trainer, when she doesn't know anything about animals, will be published in August by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. To find out more, visit http://ellencooney.com/.

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