Family Dog

As our world changes and our lives get more complicated, the one thing every family can count on is a friendly welcome home and a warm snuggle with furry friends. Follow the Walsh family as they lead you through the incredible and inspirational tales of their favorite family relatives. Curl up with these engaging stories of miracles, joy, and life's struggles, as Bob, Samantha, and Kevin Walsh share their truly amazing journey. Whether it's the Walshes or your own family, you know the family dog is part of your life.

The stories in Chicken Soup for the Soul will encourage listeners to stay upbeat, because there's always a brighter way to look at life. This collection includess 31 Stories about family, courage, and how to listen.

Poppy and Esme (a.k.a. the Peonies) live in the same apartment building in New York City, where they share a lively, nontraditional "friend-family" and are practically inseparable. But on the last day of fifth grade, the girls' parents drop a bomb: Esme and her family are moving to California. After the shock wears off, the tweens set out to earn enough money to purchase two very special, very expensive, matching friendship necklaces. They start a dog-walking business, Peony's Prancing Pups, and the adventure begins.

After receiving a rose covered sweater from Grandma, Harry is determined to lose it. He tries leaving it all over town, but it is always returned - until a bird catches sight of a loose thread and Harry's luck finally changes.

Valerie Torrey took her son, Alex, and fled Los Angeles six years ago - leaving both her role on a cult sci-fi TV show and her costar husband after a tragedy blew their small family apart. Now Val must reunite nine-year-old Alex with his estranged father, so they set out on a road trip from New York, Val making appearances at comic book conventions along the way. As they travel west, encountering superheroes, monsters, time travelers, and robots, Val and Alex are drawn into the orbit of the comic-con regulars.

Ever since Cosmo became a big brother to Max 10 years ago, he's known what his job was: to protect his boy and make him happy. Through many good years marked by tennis balls and pilfered turkey, torn-up toilet paper, and fragrant goose poop, Cosmo has doggedly kept his vow. Until recently, his biggest problems were the evil tutu-wearing sheepdog he met on Halloween and the arthritis in his own joints. But now, with Dad-scented blankets appearing on the couch and arguing voices getting louder, Cosmo senses a tougher challenge ahead.

Since as far back as Ben can remember, it’s been him, his devoted dad, and Sunshine - Ben’s little dog, who rarely leaves Ben’s side. It was Mom who did the leaving, and Ben’s about to spend a whole week with his suddenly present mother in the wilds of northern Minnesota. On the remote island she calls home, Ben will learn to camp, canoe, weather the elements, and weigh a burning question: When will she come back to where she belongs?

Eleven-year-old Sadie’s school year is off to an awful start. Her best (and only) friend has moved away, her older brother is a jerk (as always), and her beloved Gramps is having more and more trouble keeping his memories straight. But when she comes across a stray dog, she discovers something wonderful and magical - she and the dog, Dewey, are able to communicate telepathically. Sadie knows that Dewey is destined to be her friend.

Critically-acclaimed author Monica Holloway shares the extraordinary, touching story of Cowboy, the golden retriever puppy who changed her son's life.

The Allen family loves their many pets, and they’re excited to adopt just one more - Henry, the bull-terrier. But why are dangerous men after him? He’s not telling, and the other pets must find out before someone in the family gets hurt: Why is Henry angry about being adopted? Can a dachshund actually concentrate for more than two minutes? What do Henry’s stalkers really want? Can a cat’s natural stubbornness foil a dastardly scheme of kidnapping and robbery?

When 30-year-old Lisa Forster begins to trace her family tree, she discovers her birth certificate belonged to a baby who died at four months old and is not in fact her own. Her apparently happy middle class upbringing was a myth and her parents had a dark secret. With Pete Laundon's help, Lisa sets about searching for the truth.

Olive Hudson desperately wants a dog. But that doesn't seem to be a possibility right now. Newly orphaned, she's moving in with the half sister she hardly knows, and their life is too chaotic to include a dog. But then something wonderful happens: Olive gets a chance to raise Lumie, a guide dog puppy. Discipline. Rules. Lots of hugs. Only the best of the best puppies continue on to become guide dogs, and of course Olive wants Lumie to be chosen. But if she is, that means that Olive will lose her.

For years, 10-year-old Zelly Fried has tried to convince her parents to let her have a dog. After all, practically everyone in Vermont owns a dog, and it sure could go a long way helping Zelly fit in since moving there from Brooklyn. But when her eccentric grandfather Ace hatches a ridiculous plan involving a "practice dog" named OJ, Zelly's not so sure how far she's willing to go to win a dog of her own. Is Ace's plan so crazy it just might work…or is it just plain crazy?

Ben Coffin has never felt like he fits in. A former foster kid, he keeps his head down at school to avoid bullies and spends his afternoons reading sci-fi books at the library. But that all changes when he finds a scruffy abandoned dog named Flip and befriends the librarian's daughter, Halley. For the first time, Ben starts to feel like he belongs in his own life. Then everything changes, and suddenly Ben is more alone than ever.

Angus and Sadie are brother and sister. Angus is bigger. He is a good, brave, and clever dog - and he likes that. Sadie isn't as quick to learn - or to obey. When cats jump at her, she yelps and runs away. Angus thinks that means she's scared of everything. But Sadie isn't so sure that's true.

Zelly Fried has finally convinced her parents to let her get a dog, with the help of her grandfather Ace. Unfortunately, said dog (also named Ace) is a shoe-chewing, mud-tracking, floor-peeing kind of dog. Despite Zelly's best efforts to drag Ace (literally!) to puppy kindergarten, his flunking report card says it all: "This Ace is wild." Also wild is the other Ace in Zelly's life. Grandpa Ace has decided to begin dating again and is dining and dancing every night, against his doctor's orders. Determined to get both Aces under control, Zelly enlists the help of her two best friends, Allison and Jeremy (despite the fact that they don't quite see eye to eye).

In this brave and shocking memoir, the author masterfully guides us through the pivotal points of her life, from an abusive upbringing that destroys her self-confidence, to the wreckage of an ill-conceived marriage, and on to a defining moment, full of grace and mercy, which gave her the wings to become the conquering and triumphant phoenix she is today.

You've maybe heard the story about how John Hawkins "ran away with his pet dog". But the truth is that John and Mouse left to save Tom, and that Mouse is much more than just an ordinary dog.

Anna and her friends can't believe that pop star Frankie Santoro is coming to their school to judge a singing competition. They're going to be famous! But Anna is struggling. Her dad's working abroad, and her mum's worrying about ill baby Jack, so Anna has to keep things together. The only person she can talk to is her dog, Timmy. Anna is sure she's going to let everyone down, so she starts to dream of running away, with Timmy at her side.

New from Newbery Honor author Kirby Larson, the moving story of a Japanese American girl who is separated from her dog upon being sent to an incarceration camp during WWII. Although Mitsi Kashino and her family are swept up in the wave of anti-Japanese sentiment following the attack on Pearl Harbor, Mitsi never expects to lose her home - or her beloved dog, Dash. But, as World War II rages and people of Japanese descent are forced into incarceration camps, Mitsi is separated from Dash, her classmates, and life as she knows it.