A Dog’s Purpose

A Dog’s Purpose  

by W. Bruce Cameron

A Dog’s Purpose, A Novel for Humans is unlike any dog novel I’ve read.  The story recounts multiple lives that a single dog experiences.  His reincarnations include life as a beloved family pet, a puppy in a breeder’s kennel, a service dog, and a feral puppy in a ramshackle rescue. 

The dog’s experience as a beloved family member, loyal to his loving boy, is portrayed as his favorite lifetime.  Beyond a dog’s “purpose,” the book serves to remind us how we should treat our fellow creatures.  The pup as service dog has a great purpose, but misses affection; as a feral puppy he is scared and in danger; in the poorly-run rescue he is somewhat neglected and subject to the aggression of other dogs; and as the breeder’s pup he is a commodity. 

The book is heartwarming and also very sad.  It leaves us wanting to do right by our canine friends, and also hoping that if dogs really do have more than one lifetime on earth that they will experience time with a loving boy or girl, the memories of which warm even the coldest night.