{"product_id":"the-underdogs-children-dogs-and-the-power-of-unconditional-love-0062218514","title":"The Underdogs: Children, Dogs, and the Power of Unconditional Love","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eISBN:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0062218514\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/strong\u003e Greene, Melissa Fay\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCondition:\u003c\/strong\u003e New\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFrom two-time National Book Award nominee Melissa Fay Greene comes a profound and surprising account of dogs on the front lines of rescuing both children and adults from the trenches of grief, emotional, physical, and cognitive disability, and post-traumatic stress disorder.The Underdogs tells the story of Karen Shirk, felled at age twenty-four by a neuromuscular disease and facing life as a ventilator-dependent, immobile patient, who was turned down by every service dog agency in the country because she was too disabled. Her nurse encouraged her to tone down the suicidal thoughts, find a puppy, and raise her own service dog. Karen did this, and Ben, a German shepherd, dragged her back into life. How many people are stranded like I was, she wondered, who would lead productive lives if only they had a dog?A thousand state-of-the-art dogs later, Karen Shirks service dog academy, 4 Paws for Ability, is restoring broken children and their families to life. Long shunned by scientists as a manmade, synthetic species, and oft- referred to as Mans Best Friend almost patronizingly, dogs are finally paid respectful attention by a new generation of neuroscientists and animal behaviorists. Melissa Fay Greene weaves the latest scientific discoveries about our co-evolution with dogs with Karens story and a few exquisitely rendered stories of suffering children and their heartbroken families.Written with characteristic insight, humanity, humor, and irrepressible joy, what could have been merely touching is a penetrating, compassionate exploration of larger questions: about our attachment to dogs, what constitutes a productive life, and what can be accomplished with unconditional love.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Mia Karts","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51526936396064,"sku":"NEW0062218514","price":25.66,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0980\/7426\/3840\/files\/51jMwBwmU5L.jpg?v=1777224580","url":"https:\/\/miakarts.com\/products\/the-underdogs-children-dogs-and-the-power-of-unconditional-love-0062218514","provider":"Miakarts Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}