Customer Reviews

Healing Companions: Ordinary Dogs and Their Extraordinary Power to Transform Lives

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I recently teamed up with my service dog Rocky. Rocky is a Shih Tzu and he has been trained to support my Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Depression. Rocky is very young and is still a work in progress so while he develops and learns more skills I am also developing and learning skills.

I was not prepared for this process and I had so much to learn once I decided to have my dog trained to be my service dog. I ran into new lessons daily and I wanted to write a book about my experience to help others with the process. I was thrilled to read this book and to see the book I thought I needed to write was already written with much more experience, skill and knowledge than I could have ever provided.

I am very grateful to have found this book and am recommending it to all of the people who stop and ask me about my service dog.

Most of us have encountered service dogs for the blind and even for hearing-disabled people, but I, for one, had no idea that there was such a thing as psychiatric service dogs until I read Jane Miller's deeply touching and highly informative book Healing Companions. Miller is in a unique position to write on this subject, being a clinical psychotherapist and social worker as well as a leading authority on this emerging new field. What makes her book so special is that she combines her own personal story (especially the beautiful relationship she developed with her dog Umaya over many years) with insightful vignettes of her clients,plus imortant information that anyone considering such a dog will want to know.

Dogs often have an almost mystical sense of what we humans feel, think, and need, and I cannot imagine any more fulfilling relationship than that between a dog and a person whose emotional problems had previously left him or her feeling alone, unwanted and hopeless.

Thanks to Jane Miller for opening our eyes to this special bond.

HEALING COMPANIONS: ORDINARY DOGS AND THEIR EXTRAORDINARY POWER TO TRANSFORM LIVES is the first book to show how dogs benefit those who suffer from emotional issues. It shows how to choose a companion dog with healing in mind, how to understand the requirements of a service dog, and how to provide the dog with proper care. Any general or pet-oriented collection will find this a key pick.

Healing Companions is a must-have, empowering book for so many reasons. My bookshelves are filled with dog-themed books. Some are collections of amazing dog-people relationships. Others are detailed guidebooks or training manuals. And, finally, there are books are various philosophical issues and topics important to those in our huge dog loving world.

Jane Miller's book, however, cannot be so easily catalogued. In the same breath, this compelling publication is informative, practical, inspirational, and life-altering. Yes, Healing Companions includes the passionate stories of those helped by a Psychiatric Service Dog, showing clients dealing with bi-polar or post-traumatic stress disorders, for example. More critically, though, it provides almost 100 pages of truly valuable appendixes and book & online resources.

But, what truly sets this book apart is Jane Miller's emphasis on the dog member of the partnership. I cannot imagine that there are many psychotherapists proficient in Reiki, QiGong, and canine massage, which allows her to teach all of her clients stress-reduction and relaxation techniques that they can utilize with their PSDs. Jane so perfectly speaks to the fact that PSDs have issues too, their needing to be in sync with their partners' mental state, mood shifts, environment, and practical needs, but not so intuitive that they are negatively impacted.

The kindness and depth of knowledge Jane Miller shares in her book "Healing Companions" is not to be missed. If you work with people who are suffering from physical or psychiatric disability and could benefit from having a service/support dog, this is where you want to start. The great thing about this book is it is for the lay person wanting to train their own dog to help them in their daily lives, or for the professional wanting more information to share with their clients. It is very readable, and the amount of information in the resources pages is amazing.
As a Certified Professional Dog Trainer, I was often being contacted about how to train a service dog. I started sifting through the online search engines trying to amass information that I could easily pass along to people inquiring about training a service dog, and I was not happy with the results. Then I heard about Jane Miller and her book on a dog training and behavior list. In this one book, I found everything I'd been trying to find and more. She's already vetted and investigated all the resources she provides. It is worth it's weight in gold.

Start with this book, and you won't need to look any further.

Erica Curtis, CPDT
Arnicadia Farms Dog Training
North Coast of Oregon & SW Washington

Jane Miller has written a groundbreaking book on the subject of Psychiatric Service Dogs(PSD). The book has true personal stories of PSD handlers and their struggles with mental illness. It is also a wonderful resource on service dog laws, picking a dog, tasks/work lists, breeds and more! For anyone thinking about using a psychiatric service dog to mitigate their disabling mental illness, current service dog users, professionals in the mental health field, or service dog trainers; this book is a must read!

I first want to echo what the other reviewers have said. Having said that, my personal experience is that psychiatric service dogs are a little known blessing to those with mental illness. The first time I heard the term I had no idea the impact my friend's dog could and would have on her. I sort of brushed it off and went on with my life. I suffer from mental illness and have a degree in psychology, yet I still couldn't comprehend what the "PSD" thing was all about!

Fast forward about 5 yrs to 2005 and I'm researching like crazy! Some friends and family, as well as professionals had no idea the power of having a service dog. More than once I've had to remind people "service" dog and not the more familiar "therapy" dog. Wow, do I wish Jane's book was out back then! It was hard to explain how the dog I'd gotten through my trainer could do more than provide comfort a pet offers. This book explains it - and in an easy-to-read and easy-to-understand way. Had this book been around in those years of research and when I connected with a trainer, I think the concept would have been easily understood and accepted. There are NO resources out there that encompass the range of information Jane provides.

I bought this book on my Kindle, however with the incredible list of resources that Jane has included, I went ahead and got a paper copy as well. My husband, who does not like to read, was the first to open the box when it arrived yesterday. He is eager to dig right in! My Mother has ordered her copy and my psychologist was reviewing the book and is likely to purchase it.

Please don't think that this book is solely for those with mental illness and the ones they love. Healing Companions talks about the power a dog can have for anyone, not simply the "service" aspect for supporting those with psychiatric issues. Perhaps you've heard of the more mainstream concept of using PSDs for veterans who suffer from PTSD. The same concept can be applied to service dogs with any mental illness. Dogs can do tasks you may never imagine.

All dogs have that "6th sense" of empathy. Going through a difficult time you may find that your pet dog pays more attention to you or wants more attention itself. This is one way dogs in general distract people from some ruminative thinking, both for those with mental illness and those without.

Hearing several stories from individuals who have gained their lives back from having a PSD offers the reader concrete examples of how a PSD can help. But there is a range of ways dogs can be transforming. From pets to therapy dogs to service dogs, the healing is evident. If you have spent any time in a hospital where therapy dogs visit, you can relate to the power these interactions can have. You can easily see such examples in this book. A PSD offers individuals needs beyond emotional support and Jane discusses how.

One difficult topic Jane addresses is the retirement or passing of a service dog. Nobody wants to think about that time but it is a reality. In a gentle yet realistic way, Jane tackles how to handle the loss of a dog who provides a service and how to decide when to start considering another dog.

This really is a MUST-READ. If you have dogs, love dogs, want to help hospital patients with escorting therapy dogs to visit, or have/have the need for a service dog due to psychiatric issues, this book will explain what you need to know wrapped up between the front and back covers. I wish Jane lived closer to me so that I could not only meet her, but work with her in training my next service dog. From choosing a dog to serve as a PSD, to positive training methods, to what a dog can do to make a difference in someone's life, Healing Companions will give you information not found anywhere else and definitely not in one place. The list of resources alone is priceless.

Please buy this book. You won't regret it!

I so loved this book I carry my signed copy by the author Jane Miller LISW CDBC, around with me in my napsack behind my wheel chair everywhere I go. I read Jane's book before I ended up in a wheelchair and it guided me into the world of compassion and and realism of the facts of which I had already experienced through my own traumatic experiences; the caring and compassion of special canines helping under special conditions as specified in Jane's book. This book contains pertinent information owners of potential service dogs alike should be required to read. A great piece of writing, moving and compelling, every word draws you closer into the minds of the relationships between canine and woman and man. As a PTSD/MST survivor myself, and having a Golden Lab/Corgi mix in early training; I'm grateful to have had the opportunity to have been put in contact with writer Jane Miller, and share with her the knowledge and warmth of her work with these amazing "Healing Companions", Thanks Jane for a wonderful inspiring piece of art and knowledgably, insighfully, captivating, expanation and personal stories of peoples lives changing by the wonder of canines unconditional love.

I've been hearing a lot recently about psychiatric service dogs in the news and how they have helped to change the lives of those with such ills as depression and other problems. But I wanted to know more. This book is full of useful information for someone who is considering a PSD -- from whether a dog might be right for you, to how to pick a dog, to what kinds of tasks these dogs can do and how they can be trained. The examples are useful and inspiring and there is a lot of information. A great introduction to these wonderful dogs.

I work in a skilled nursing facility and have recently had the opportunity to recommend companion dogs to a resident. He kept putting me off and stating he didn't think he would deserve one and what could one do anyway. I received a copy of Jane's book and gave it to the resident to read. The book put in black and white what I had been trying to get him to see and understand. It was very useful and written in plain English. He is now in the process of applying for his service dog as he is now on board that they are really useful and do have a place in his life.