The first chapter of Dog Medicine: How My Dog Saved Me From Myself builds to a hopeful note. Julie Barton describes the depression that left her helpless and alone on the floor of her dreary Manhattan apartment, the desperate call for help to her mother in Ohio, the suicidal thoughts as she waited for rescue. She then remarks that American Kennel Club records show the day she "gave in to the sorrow was the same spring day that Bunker Hill was born."
Adopting Bunker, a feather-soft red-orange golden retriever puppy, was a turning point in Barton's journey of struggling with debilitating depression. The pup offered "judgment-free listening and wordless faith" that restored her self-esteem. "I felt confident, despite my shaky mental state, that I could keep him safe, healthy, and loved."
Dog Medicine covers spring 1996 to spring 1997, with some attention paid to early childhood trauma and explaining the medical parameters of the condition that led to Barton's collapse in New York. Attuned to nature her whole life (as a child she "felt so connected to the land, to the trees, to the animals passing by"), she seems predisposed to bonding with her dog. Her innate optimism, a strength of her story, comes to the fore when Bunker faces a severe medical condition of his own. Their healing relationship, and the romance Barton finds with Bunker by her side, elevate this "dog book" to the head of the pack. --Cheryl Krocker McKeon, manager, Book Passage, San Francisco