A Dog Walks into a Nursing Home: Lessons in the Good Life from an Unlikely Teacher
By: Sue Halpern / Narrated By: Karen White
Length: 7 hrs and 4 mins
Oh gosh! Loved this!
Ya know what? Tho’ I’ve been looking forward to listening to A Dog Walks into a Nursing Home ever since I started looking for places to offer my volunteer services as an End of Life Doula? I gotta tell ya: I went in with looow expectations. I think that’s because I was drawn in, hook, line, major heavy-duty sinker, by Making Rounds with Oscar by David Dosa M.D. THAT little ditty was disappointing as all get-out.
Oscar the cat there seems to know just when to see a resident at a care facility, soothing them as they slip from this world into the next. What a wonder! How awesome! Certainly, thought I to m’self as I started that audiobook, this will bring the knowledge that animals (And dude! a cat!) can bring comfort, leaving no one to die alone. -Alas?- ‘Twasn’t about Oscar at all, or at least only peripherally. Rather, it’s about the aging process, dementia, big yuks such like all that.
Soooo, I was just a trifle twitchy upon starting this, especially since I read the reviews before starting, and SEVeral were, like, Hey! where’s the dog? Why this is just author Sue Halpern’s musings on Philosophies from across the globe. Booooo!
But I was vaaaastly relieved to find that, yes, Halpern does indeed do a treMENdous amount of philosophical musing, but it’s all relevant to how we choose to live our lives, how we choose to meet our declines, how we choose to see others, esPECially as they’re in states of diminished vigor and mental capacity; you know—those whose lives are behind them (THIS is sooo untrue, as Halpern discovers to her immense relief and joy).
An empty-nester, Halpern and her rambunctious Labradoodle need something to do. Kinda sorta on a bit of a whim, Halpern begins looking into getting the pair of them certified as a Therapy Team, with Pransky doing the heavy lifting. Pransky is sooo vibrant, sooo exuberant, Halpern feels that she needs to do a bit of “cheating” before the rigorous testing. She exercises the beJESus outta Pransky so that the young dog might be too exhausted to stop mid-test and go chase squirrels. But this ain’t about a tricked system cuz Pransky just has a knack.
There’s a county nursing home that Halpern decides will be their place, their Tuesday outing each and every week. Somehow, while Halpern is flailing and judging based upon first impressions and preconceived notions about how people are when they’re older and in decline, Pransky knows where she needs to be. Trained well-enough to STAY! when Halpern is asked to help with a project and dogs are not wanted, Pransky knows where she is indeed wanted. Paws on a hospital bed so that the occupant knows s/he isn’t alone? Check. Head in the lap of somebody in a wheelchair so that they might feel loved? Check. Inspiring the ubiquitous enthusiastic remark: I Used To Have A Dog? Yes, Pransky is pressing all the buttons, marking things off the list of: Awesome things an awesome dog needs to do to make someone’s day.
Okay… onto Karen White. I sooo stayed away from a Brené Brown audiobook where she narrated instead of Brown. Cuz White just sounded so smug and bored and insufferable. And I read the reviews on Audible—Poor Karen White gets dinged there for just being Karen White and doing her Karen White thing. Which is? To act and sound intelligent, like we listeners are up to the task of hearing whatever erudite thing an author is trying to say. Smug? For Brown’s work, yes. A Dog Walks into a Nursing Home? Nope, she just sounds like she’s Halpern herself, contemplating Aristotle and the Meaning(s) of Life based upon whichever philosopher she’s dissecting. So yeh, the woman has Know it All tones, but it totally works here because we’re expected to be paying attention. Brava, ya poor Ms. White… Brava!
Tho, yeh, there are multiple branches of Philosophy considered, the fact that each “lesson” is applied by Halpern or inspired by Pransky makes this so much more than mere introspection. These here are gifts to people who may feel lonely and isolated; these here are gifts received by Halpern as her notions are called into question by seeing such acts of love and of kindness. And considering Halpern had many a misgiving, many an erroneous judgment about such individuals, this is truly beautiful. I’ll admit it: Seeing my husband caring for his mom at the “Memory Care” facility has had me with m’ own worries about my abilities to be of service to people nearing their ends, but there truly is such beauty in what Halpern learned, what love she received, how she was able to note each lesson, each tidbit of love and fearless acceptance that Pransky, delightful little girl that she is, taught her. Halpern learned from the best dog ever; she learned from the best teachers ever as well—those with so much left to give.
Sure there’s a lot of Philosophy and consideration of the Virtues. But gosh! there’s so much more of Pransky.
Now ya see, David Dosa M.D.? THIS is the way to give the public lessons on aging and dementia and living life to the fullest. Dude, ya GOTTA put the animal in it if an animal is the Guide Extraordinaire!
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