Notes on A Dog's Purpose

Sorry, been away from the blog for a while (been super busy IRL).

I did read a wonderful book a while ago that I wanted to post my notes on. It was A Dog's Purpose by W. Bruce Cameron. I knew I had to read it simply from the cover (I think the dog shown is my favorite breed: Neapolitan Mastiff); in this case, I truly judged the book by its cover.

It was a tear-jerking story told from the perspective of a dog (it's subtitle is "a novel for humans"). I really liked how changing the storyteller to a dog allowed the author to make some interesting commentary on our behavior as human beings.

This was the second book I've read that was "written" by a dog (the first one was The Art of Racing in the Rain. I liked this book just as much. The interesting twist of this book was how the same dog "soul" was reincarnated from "life" to "life" and learned lessons along the way that allowed it to play a pivotal role in saving people's lives and bringing people to love. That was awesome. It was also fun to play "detective" as it took a bit of thinking to figure out what was "happening" from the human perspective since the only clues given in the book are what the dog could sense and understand.

You clearly have to be a dog lover to want to read a book all about a dog's life, but I encourage those who want to consider their dogs from a new perspective (and gain more appreciation for them) to check this book out.

Biggest lessons/thoughts/takeaways:

• Lessons learned from one life helped in next life to serve bigger purpose
  
• Humans have so many more emotions than dogs
  
• Humans capable of so many amazing things but often just make words
  
• Dogs rescue people from despair of life
  
• Dog's purpose is to find and save people
  
• Dog's job is to do what people wanted
  
• Dog's purpose is to comfort boy
  
• Dog's purpose is to lick owner and make happy
  
• Dog always friendly and positive until end
  
• Often misinterpreted by people
  
• Very adaptable

My full notes are below.

Ch. 1

• Birth
  
• Suckling
  
• Siblings
  
• Avoid and fear men 
  
• Picked up by animal control
  

Ch. 2

• Good life in shelter
  
• Food
  
• Playing with new dogs
  
• Mother runs away
  

Ch. 3

• Wanted to stay in shelter with new pack
  
• Dog social hierarchy
  
• Mating impulse
  
• Neutering
  
• Play fights
  
• Bones
  
• Top Dog
  

Ch. 4

• Very adaptable
  
• Positive attitude
  
• New dog Spike challenged order with fight
  
• Got into fight and leg hurt
  
• Taken to pound
  
• Dog's purpose is to lick owner and make happy
  
• Put down at pound
  
• Dog always friendly and positive until end
  
• Often misinterpreted by people
  

Ch. 5

• Reincarnated as new puppy (retriever)
  
• Seized by question of purpose
  
• Why was he a puppy again?
  
• Now at kennel or pet store
  
• Human reader in role of trying to understand dog (reversal)
  
• Escaped from kennel
  
• Picked up by man on road
  
• Man forgot him in car to go drinking; got closed in car with no ventilation (big heat)
  
• Woman saved him
  

Ch. 6

• introduced to child (boy)
  
• Dog's purpose is loving boy
  

Ch. 7

• Don't understand commands and games
  
• Boy goes to school, closed dog in garage
  
• Bored, accidents in house
  
• Mixed messages from humans
• Dog's purpose is to comfort boy
• Dog door
  
• Dog house
  

Ch. 8

• Boy's friend Todd from bad parents, glue addiction, pyromania, stole dog
  

Ch. 9

• Went to farm
  
• Skunk incidents
  
• Saves boy and retrieves from water
  

Ch. 10

• Ate food in kitchen
  
• Humans have so many more emotions
  
• Astronaut lands on moon
  
• Boy shy around girl
  
• Left alone in house, parties with dog
  
• Played with grandpa's gun
  

Ch. 11

• Noise in house
  
• Lost in woods
  
• Found by search team
  

Ch. 12

• Hospital
  
• Back home
  
• Go Kart race where dog helps him win
  
• Todd threw rock in window
  

Ch. 13

• Cat died
  
• Felt anger in people
  
• Boy got together with girl
  
• Todd bad guy, dog smells his evil
  
• Todd gave poisoned meat to dog
  

Ch. 14

• Todd set house on fire
  
• Dog attacked Todd
  
• Couldn't find Ethan (boy)
  

Ch. 15

• Dog revealed Todd as criminal; dog hero
  

Ch. 16

• Boy came home
  
• Cats useless
  
• Stayed on farm
  
• Leg problem
  
• Boy had to leave again
  

Ch. 17

• Felt betrayed because boy left
  
• Broke up with girl, missed her
  
• Parents divorced
  
• Mom met new man
  
• Boy would visit sometimes
  
• Dog grew older
  
• Stopped eating, felt pain
  
• Sleepy, put to sleep
  
• Thoughts of boy at end
  
• Remembered sense of dying
  
• Dog's purpose is to love boy
  
• Felt like puppy again
  

Ch. 18

• Born again as puppy
  
• He became a female for the first time
  
• Front seat versus back seat dog
  
• Smarter than usual
  
• Smells of paper and people
  
• Name: Ellie
  
• Dog's job is to do what people wanted
  
• Can a dog have more than one purpose?
  
• Trained by new owner Jacob
  
• Dreamt of old boy
  
• Spayed and space cone
  
• Trained to be canine police dog
  
• "Find" command
  

Ch. 19

• Bomb squad
  
• Dog's purpose is to find and save people
  
• Depressed owner
  
• Ocean in Los Angeles
  
• Finding another victim
  

Ch. 20

• Found girl victim
  
• Officer shot
  

Ch. 21

• New officer
  
• German shepherd
  
• Cats in new home
  

Ch. 22

• New owner
• Certified search and rescue dog
  

Ch. 23

• Saved person but got into toxic waste and lost sense of smell
  
• Owner got married and dog carried ring
  
• Humans capable of so many amazing things but often just make words
  
• Became school volunteer to teach kids about search dogs
  
• Found another kid hiding in sewer
  
• Understood death
  
• Learning across lives helped him become rescue dog
  
• Fulfilled his purpose
  
• New owner had little girl
  
• Cat saw dog as new mom
  
• Ready to not be reborn
  
• Put down
  

Ch. 26

• Reborn again
  
• Born as exhibition dog
  
• Preferred to be alone and ponder self
  
• Got new owner and went to apartment
  

Ch. 27

• Abandoned by new owner
  

Ch. 28

• Recognized old place from previous life
  
• Found himself new home himself at old place but searched for Ethan and Hannah (girl)
  
• Escaped purposeless life
  

Ch. 29

• Lived homeless
  
• Lessons learned from one life helped in next life to serve bigger purpose
  
• Remembered old locations and retraced steps
  
• Found Ethan
  

Ch. 30

• Taken to shelter
  
• Ethan took him back
  
• Dog always forgives
  

Ch. 31

• Ethan never got married
  
• Sad
  
• Got his old collar and smelled himself from previous life
  
• Found Hannah for Ethan
  

Ch. 32

• Reunited
  
• Got married
  
• Fulfilled his purpose
  
• Learned to love and save people
  
• Dogs rescue people from despair of life
  
• Could tell Ethan got sick
  
• Realized his dog was Bailey (first name)
  
• Sat by owner while died
  
• Finally fulfilled his purpose
  
• Ends with dog tending owner to death (reversal)