Paw Prints In My Heart by Andrew Hessel Review!

Book Details

• Paperback: 212 pages
• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (May 13, 2014)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1497595495
• ISBN-13: 978-1497595491

About the Book

Here’s to great dogs. Many of us would like to believe there’s a special place in doggie heaven for the really great ones. I know I want to. No question they’ve earned it, deserve it, and it seems only fair. I know there are a great many great dogs out there, working their magic, living their lives with their families and saying it all without ever saying a word. For dog lovers, our precious memories of those “non-conversations” with dearly-departed four-legged friends lend silence a deafening quality. I explained to a friend that Paw Prints is a book about great dogs, not just my dog, although Mac was truly some great dog. And as I’ve said many times, he was certainly the dog of my life, and his friendship enriched and changed not just my life, but the lives of everyone in our family. While the book is my attempt to capture Mac’s remarkably and improbably wonderful story before it fades to past, it’s also in many ways my story, too. Because Mackie and I were happily and deliriously, joined-at-the-paw. Amazing, I think, that I could learn so much from a guy that never said a word. Paw Prints in My Heart is Mac’s story. I think of it as my gift to our family and all of his friends, two and four-legged, that had the pleasure and the privilege of knowing and being loved by this magnificent old Labrador retriever. It’s my best attempt to capture and chronicle a remarkable life, the pain and sadness of his passing, but most of all, his joyful impact upon us over what truly was a most improbable life of fourteen years and a day. A reverent and grateful tribute to a gentle and pure spirit that for me will always be a living reminder of a loving friend in the very truest sense. In every way, for me this book was a labor of love and joy to write. Parts will make you laugh, and others may bring you to tears, so a tissue at times may be advised. But I have the highest hopes that you’ll read it, enjoy it, and connect in ways that only you can understand. Maybe even share it with friends that might understand and pass it along, as a comfort for a true friend they’ve lost, and for what they’ve experienced, and a way for them to remember the laughter and happy times through their tears. I hope that dog lovers everywhere read this book and see a bit of their dog in Mac. I hope that the non-dog lovers amongst us read this book and reconsider. I hope that everyone has at least one dog of their life in their life. My first novel Rush to Dawn, was, in many ways a love letter to my wife, Lynne. This book, I’d like to believe, is a love letter from Mac to all of us.

The Review

Reading a book like “Paw Prints in My Heart” is always a tough choice to make.  Being non-fiction, it’s almost guaranteed to be a tear-jerker.  We all know that most humans will outlive their animals, it’s a simple fact of life.  Heart-breaking, but true.  

That being said, this book is more than just a couple hundred pages of paper.  It is a story that will truly warm your heart, make you laugh, drive you a little bit nuts (especially if you’ve ever had a pet that is so obstinate, yet so loveable), and it will make you cry.  

Author Andrew Hessel, being a writer at heart, tells the story of the “dog of his life” in such a way that draws the reader in, giving the feeling that we know Mac, a gloriously large and incessantly stubborn, yet totally endearing, black lab.  The retriever that wouldn’t retrieve…or swim.  Or ride in a car.  The kind of dog that turns even the most adamantly anti-dog people into dog lovers.  I’ve known a few of these people in my time (how anyone can not love dogs is just beyond me), and I’ve also known a few dogs of Mac’s caliber in my day.  

Almost from day one, Mac had to fight for his life.  With all the medical issues he faced (and all the hits to the Hessel family checkbook), he led a truly blessed life.  But as Hessel put it, Mac was more than just a pet, he was a friend.  A friend that Hessel went to extreme measures for, measures that most people would not (or could not) have done.  This country is blessed to have doctors of veterinary medicine of the caliber that the Hessel family encountered.  Especially their primary vet, many people in the medical field went above and beyond to care for Mac.  It is amazing to see the love and tender care given to animals.  Such a beautiful juxtaposition to what we see in the news most often.

As Hessel states, there are over 43 million households that have dogs in them in this country.  Mac is but one, though he was clearly a special one.  Even if you don’t have a dog, don’t want a dog, maybe you don’t even especially care for dogs much, give this book a shot.  It will restore your faith in humanity, if only for a few hours.  

Everybody needs a friend, companion, “dog of their life” and Hessel was blessed to have had that.  Sad as it is when it’s over, but what a beautiful 14 years and one day.  

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A copy of the book was provided by the author and there was no monetary compensation.