Coffee with a canine: Sharron Kahn Luttrell & Bear

Featured at Coffee with a Canine: Sharron Kahn Luttrell and Bear.

The author, on her weekends with Bear:

Bear [is] a golden retriever puppy who is in training to be a service dog through the nonprofit, NEADS/Dogs for Deaf and Disabled Americans. Bear lives in a medium security prison during the week, where he is being trained by an inmate. I’m a volunteer weekend puppy raiser – I take Bear out Friday-Sunday to expose him to the experiences he’ll encounter as...[read on]

About Weekends with Daisy, from the publisher:

When Sharron Luttrell, a journalist still deeply mourning the loss of her family dog, discovers a weekend puppy raiser program for a service dog organization, she knew it was just what she needed to help her move on. It seemed ideal; pick up a puppy on Friday, return it on Sunday night, get a new puppy each year. No strings attached. Well, it turns out there were strings – and they tugged at her every time she had to return “her dog” to its weekday caregiver.

This memoir chronicles Sharron’s year co-parenting Daisy, a sweet Lab puppy, with Keith, Daisy’s other trainer. As Sharron and Keith develop a relationship she likens to “divorced parents handing over the kids,” she becomes curious about Keith’s life story. When Sharron uncovers a tragic event from Keith’s past, she realizes she must take a lesson from Daisy and “think like a dog”— react to circumstances in the present, not the past.

Sharron applies this way of thinking at home too, using the lessons she learned from Daisy to mend her rocky relationship with her teenage daughter. Where once a dramatic eye roll from her daughter would have sparked a battle, Sharron has learned to employ the patience and understanding she practices with Daisy to become a better mom. As Sharron and Keith work tirelessly to ensure Daisy passes her service dog test, she is taught priceless lessons in empathy, compassion and affection. In the end, Sharron’s weekends with Daisy have taught her more than she could ever have imagined.

Visit Sharron Kahn Luttrell's website, Facebook page, and Twitter perch.

Read--Coffee with a Canine: Sharron Kahn Luttrell and Bear.

--Marshal Zeringue