A Dog Like Daisy by Kristin O’Donnell Tubb – a Review

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Description:
Max meets A Dog Called Homeless in this sweet and poignant middle grade novel told from the humorous, thoughtful perspective of a rescued pit bull as she trains to be a service dog for an injured veteran and his family.

Daisy has only ten weeks to prove her usefulness or else be sent back to the pound. Yet if she goes back, who will protect Colonel Victor from his PTSD attacks? Or save the littler human, Micah, from those infernal ear muzzles he calls earphones? What if no one ever adopts her again?

Determined to become the elite protector the colonel needs, Daisy vows to ace the service dog test. She’ll accept the ridiculous leash and learn to sit, heel, shake, even do your business, Daisy when told to. But Daisy must first learn how to face her own fears from the past or risk losing the family she’s so desperate to guard—again.

Review:

A Dog Like Daisy by Kristine O’Donnell Tubb is a story told in the perspective of a rescue dog.  This book is marked for middle grade, but do not let this stop you from reading this book, as I totally loved it.  I did not know what to expect when I decided to read this, and I am so glad I did.  I loved Daisy, a rescued two year old pit bull, who is being trained to be a service dog.  The entire book is in the POV of Daisy, and it was so well written by Kristin O’Donnell Tubb.

We meet Daisy immediately when she is in the pound.  When three humans, walk in looking at all the dogs, one of them looks at her and says she is the one; but the other two are not too keen on the choice. Victor, a veteran who had PTSD, is the one who sees a bond with Daisy, who also recognizes that this man is the one she needs to protect.  Micah is Victor’s son, and he wanted a puppy; the other man, Alex is a trainer for service dogs. Alex tries to convince Victor that they only have 10 weeks to train Daisy and she might not be a good fit, but Victor is adamant about our sweet Miss Daisy.

When they arrive home, Daisy meets Annie the wife, and their baby, as well as seeing more of Micah, who really doesn’t want him.  What follows is a beautiful heartwarming, and intense at times story of Daisy determined to learn everything to be a good service dog, as well as to protect Victor from his horrible bouts with PTSD.  The story shows the family’s struggles with Victor’s nightmares, which is dangerous, scary and out of control at times.  All this is through the eyes of Daisy, who begins to see the signs quickly when Victor is ready to go off. 

Another nice part of the story is Micah trying to understand his father, and at times jealous that Daisy seems to be getting closer to his father.  But it is sweet and emotional when Micah realizes later on how special Daisy was.

A Dog Like Daisy was to my surprise a wonderful touching and delightful story, as we follow Daisy throughout and listen to her thoughts.  Thank you, Kristin O’Donnell Tubb for this amazing story.  I loved every moment of it. So very well done.

Reviewed by Barb

Copy provided by Publisher

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