Kate Leaver’s new book Good Dog looks at the healing powers of dogs all over the world
Dogs can detect more than what we know. A new book has revealed how some can sniff out whether you have low or high blood sugar, others can do wondrous things to ward off anxiety.
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Kate Leaver has become known as something of an authority on our furry best friends, after researching and writing Good Dog, a captivating book about our pets’ extraordinary healing powers. Today she reveals a side benefit of that undertaking — the profound insights it gave her into humans as well.
You can learn a lot about a person from the way they speak about their dog.
I would know; I’ve just written 61,020 words on the subject. For my book, Good Dog, I spent months travelling to people’s homes to interview them about their beloved pups. I chose each of my interview subjects because they had a particularly extraordinary relationship with their hounds, to really make the case that the bond between human and dog is the most remarkable cross-species friendship on the planet. Every one of them was sweet and effusive about their dog. They were at ease, calm and happy because they had their best canine friends right by them.
I spoke to an 11-year-old boy named Cody about his support pug, Missy. He lives with autism, but it doesn’t trouble him quite so much as it used to, now that he has Missy. His favourite thing about her is that she looks like a loaf of bread when she lies on the floor and folds her little legs in against her barrel-like body. Perhaps his second favourite thing is that she can calm him right down when he’s distressed. His entire life has changed since his mum let him bring home Missy. Where he was so often angry and scared before, he is now sociable and confident. He is utterly dedicated to his bread-like beast and every surface in his bedroom is covered in something pug-themed: bed linen, money banks, soft toys, jumpers. The way he looked softly perturbed but still proud when Missy sat on my lap and reached her lopsided tongue up to lick me told me everything I need to know about Cody as a companion: he loves fiercely and fully. He is funny and gentle and kind – because that is what Missy allows him to be.
I spoke to a woman called Vanessa about her border terrier, Sir Jack Spratticus. He’s a much decorated award winner and Mr October in at least one dog-themed calendar. He was once presented with a prize by Geri Halliwell, aka Ginger Spice, he’ll have you know. That, and he’s given his human companion a reason to live. Vanessa lives with complex PTSD and dissociative identity disorder, which we used to refer to as multiple personality disorder. To help her, Sir Jack has learned to fetch her medication, bring her the landline phone and lay across her body to prevent anxiety attacks. Every inch of wall in her lovely apartment is covered in portraits of Sir Jack. He is her pride and joy, her reason for staying alive. The way she speaks about him, like a genuine member of her family, like a deeply valuable friend, is so moving. Her life is made tolerable by his waggly, loyal existence. He is, she says, the only living being she has truly loved and felt loved by in return.
I spoke to a teenage girl whose border collie can smell when she has high or low blood sugar. An army veteran whose dog stopped him from killing himself – twice. A blind woman who dotes on the Labrador who guides her through the world. A 23-year-old arsonist who spends time with a therapy dog in prison. A 65-year-old gentleman whose schnoodle woke him up from a coma.
Each of these people were so grateful to have their dogs. They were gentle, enthusiastic and friendly with me, just as their dogs would have wanted. They were patient and generous in telling me what a profound difference a little beast can make. How they have felt joy and relief and safety and home, since they invited these precious animals to live with them. How they have thanked their small friends for reminding them that life is worth living.
I know, so well, the blessing of having a little canine mate. My dog, Bertie, a three-year-old shih tzu, helps me get through depressive episodes. He’s helping me get through pandemic anxiety. He helps me make friends with strangers at the park – people I know only as “Phillip’s dad” or “Coco’s person” – who make me feel like I belong to a community.
Like all these other dog people, I am gentler and kinder when I’m around my dog. I’m happier and calmer. That’s what I’ve learned most aboutpeople in my research: that dogs can make us the best versions of ourselves.
Kate Leaver’s Good Dog, published by HarperCollins Australia, is out now. Drop by the Sunday Book Club group on Facebook to talk pets and pages; and check out our Book of the Month, Jeffrey Deaver’s The Goodbye Man — there’s a 30 per cent discount for Sunday Book Club readers at Booktopia with the code GOODBYE.
