A Dog’s Purpose is about a dog living through multiple lives and learning valuable lessons along the way. Each life helps to guide him towards his purpose in life. Written from a canine point of view, this story gives a new perspective to how dogs perceive their interactions with humans.
Beginning his life in the wild, Toby lives a short but happy life in the “Yard” with many other dogs. In this life, he learns to understand pack mentality and the concept of “Top Dog”. More importantly, he learns how to open gates by turning its handle, a skill that he uses throughout his next three lives.
As Bailey, a playful Golden Retriever, he is able to live out a long and fun life with his owner Ethan. Bailey's love for Ethan influences him to learn how to rescue people who are drowning.
Todd, Ethan's unsavory neighbor, also teaches Bailey how to save people by recognizing dark human emotions and acting on his instincts.
Unfortunately, despite Bailey's efforts, Todd manages to cripple Ethan physically and emotionally. The loss of Ethan's first girlfriend, Hannah, along with diminished mobility caused Ethan an inner pain that Bailey was not able to fix before dying peacefully of old age.
When returning to life as Ellie, a female German Shepard, we see our protagonist transform into a search and rescue police dog. Through various dangerous encounters, Ellie grows to appreciate her new abilities to save people, but she never forgets her love and affection for Ethan.
In this life Ellie experiences how important people can be to each other and that the need for love is something both dogs and humans crave in their lives.
Despite having two caring owners:
Ellie begins to yearn for her old life as Bailey...
In his final life as Bear, our hero was initially confused.
What was the purpose of this life? Why had he come back? Who was left to save?
These questions, coupled with a dismal set of new owners, made Bear think he was ready to give up.
Fortunately, Bear stumbled upon familiar territory and with just a sliver of hope, began to find his way home. After a long and trying journey Bear returned to the Farm, where he was finally able to reconnect with his boy!
When Bear and Ethan reunited, Ethan renames him Buddy. It does not take long before Buddy realizes that Ethan still carried the same inner sadness from before.
Buddy then realizes that this time he can save Ethan and does so by finding Hannah and reuniting the couple. Buddy truly brings happiness back into his boy's life.
As Ethan's life comes to a natural end, Buddy oversees his final hours; standing by as the faithful loving companion he was born to be.
I really enjoyed this book! It was an easy and enjoyable read. While there were some sad parts (reading about the dog dying did not get easier) over all the book was light hearted. While clearly not based in fact, this book did make me wonder if dogs felt/thought similar to what was described.
I hope you enjoyed my summary and review! and as always..
