ShelterDogs-PegKehret.docVIP

Shelter Dogs Amazing Stories of Adopted Strays by Peg Kehret About the book: A big jumpy dog who’s “hard to handle,” a scared little dog who snarls and snaps at everyone, a blind dog who hasn’t been house-trained all have come to the shelter. What is going to happen to these abandoned animals? Must they be euthanized? Or can they be adopted and live happily ever after? Award-winning author Peg Kehret tells the true stories of eight amazing shelter dogs and how they have changed the lives of the caring, courageous people who love them. About the guide: This guide includes discussion questions and projects appropriate for children’s book clubs, literature circles, and classroom discussions. It focuses on reading comprehension and would be appropriate for reluctant readers and students who need to prepare for standardized tests. In addition, it considers the themes of the book which are animal care, heroes, volunteering and hope. Author Interview: What inspired the book Shelter Dogs? I have volunteered for animal welfare groups for more than thirty years. During this time I’ve heard countless reports of dogs who had been adopted from shelters and had gone on to accomplish extraordinary feats. I finally decided to write a book about some of them. Did you do a lot of research to prepare for writing this book? What types of sources did you use? Many of the stories came from the Seattle/King County Humane Society, where I was a volunteer. The staff there helped me find dogs to include in my book, and that agency gets a portion of my royalties from Shelter Dogs. I had hoped to find a dog who had rescued his/her family from a fire but nobody knew of a case where that had happened. I started calling the non-emergency phone numbers for all of the fire stations in my area, asking if anyone knew of such a dog. My call to the Redmond, Washington, fire station paid off. A firefighter returned my call and told me about Ivan. Of course, my first question was, “Where did the family