Customer Reviews

Maggie: The Dog Who Changed My Life

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As I turned the pages of Maggie, the dog who changed my life, I felt a powerful kindred spirit connection with Dawn and Maggie. Their story is so similar to my own, and the path I am now on because of my own lab, Cassie Jo, who I lost to cancer in 2005.
What I love about Dawn Kairn is the fact that she opens her heart wide to the world in sharing Maggie's story and their journey. She took an extremely difficult situation of realizing she should have followed her intuition, turned it into a positive, and now shares her truth in this deeply profound book.
We can probably all say that at least once in our life we have wished we followed our own intuition. Dawn's intuition of cancer in Maggie, along with her vivid dreams, which she recalled and wrote in exquisite detail after each dream, brought to light what her gut was telling her all along.
Even though there was a time Dawn could not forgive herself for not trusting what she believed was wrong with Maggie, she took a tough life changing lesson and turned into a blessing. The blessing of helping others understand that if our intuition is telling us something about our beloved animal, to follow it, no matter what anyone else says. She also takes all the heartache (and much joy) of her life with Maggie and shares it in this deeply moving memoir that I found very hard to put down.
I laughed, reminisced, forgave myself for my own guilt with Cassie Jo, and cried for the loss of Maggie, who was a beautiful, knowing soul. At times I felt as if Maggie and Cassie Jo were twins because of the amazing spiritual lessons they taught Dawn and I.
Dawn captures the essence and spirituality of dogs, as well as, eloquently gives us her heart by sharing Maggie with all of us, and I for one, am a better person for reading their story.

This book is a deeply moving story of the powerful connection between the author and her soulmate dog Maggie. This kind of a relationship tends to happen only once in a lifetime, and those of us who have been fortunate enough to share such a special relationship with an animal will find ourselves going down our own memory lane as we savor this book. Maggie enriched the author's life in ways she never could have imagined when she took that little black Lab puppy home with her. Maggie's joyful exuberant spirit touches all who come into contact with her. Maggie opens the author's heart and teaches her about trusting her intuition and listening with her heart. Interspersed with well-researched information about pet health care and advice on how to deal with the grieving process following the loss of a pet, this book shows us that animals are so much more than just pets. They are spiritual beings who are on this planet to teach us about joy.

Within the past year I have lost both of my dogs, 4/7/08 and 5/6/09. I read a borrowed copy of MAGGIE, and will buy my own copy as I want to read it again and use it as a reference if I should be lucky enough to own another dog. MAGGIE gave me peace in my grieving process and helped me appreciate the time I had with my great friends. I will refer to MAGGIE again in pet ownership regarding food and vet services.
Thank you Dawn for a great, readable book.

I am normally not a reader but Iam a dog person have been most of my 63 yrs. So from that side Iam telling you that this a great read. And you might even learn something!!!!!

Every dog owner, especially new dog owners, should read this.

All the aspects of dog ownership is covered.

Maggie is very special and so is her story.

This book describes the personal growth that we experience and the life lessons that we learn from our pets. I would recommend this book to those who have shared specials bonds with their pets as well as those who have yet to experience this joy. This story of love would make a great gift for any dear friend or loved one.

There are scores of books to choose from about dealing with the loss of your pet, or a tribute to a much loved dog. MAGGIE is both of those and so much more as it explores the human-animal bond and the way dogs can communicate with us without a word. Dawn had a special connection with Maggie and intuitively knew when something was terribly wrong even though she could not get a diagnosis from the vet. When Maggie is finally diagnosed, too late, with an aggressive cancer she feels guilt over not acting on her instincts but uses that painful life lesson to go on and make a difference in the lives of others. I connected with Maggie's story on so many levels and couldn't put it down. My daughter has a black lab who looks so much like Maggie and has health issues as do so many of this breed because of bad breeding and genetics. My sister lost a beloved shihtzu last Christmas to the same aggressive cancer that Maggie had. Because I lost my "soul dog" in 2002 to melanoma, I am now fanatical about checking my dogs for lumps and bumps to catch it early while still curable. In September it paid off when a small black lump was removed from my 12 year old dog Wookie's toe that had only appeared 2 weeks earlier - melanoma. This book will touch you deeply if you have ever loved a dog and you will learn the lessons of listening to your inner voice when it comes to sensing that something is just not right with them. Dawn has taken a deeply personal story of love and loss and shared it with all of us who are devoted to our dogs and want to help and make a difference for all of those who don't have a voice. After the loss of Maggie she went on to rescue an 11 year old Golden Retriever named Chloe who had lost her family. Senior dogs hold a special place in my heart, as my "MAGGIE" was an old dog named Sam that I adopted at 7 and shared 5 gloriously happy years together until I lost him to cancer also. If there are dog lovers on your Christmas list, "MAGGIE The Dog Who Changed my Life" should be in their stocking.

I was searching Amazon for a copy of a dog book that I had read as a child, when I found the link to "Maggie: the dog who changed my life" by Dawn Kairns. The timing of finding this book was incredible; I had recently lost my own 13 year old lab/hound "Maggie". I immediately wanted to know more about the author's relationship with her dog and how her life was changed because of it. The book did not disappoint. Not only did it help me personally through my own journey of grief, it shows just how deep a human/animal bond can be when we open our hearts to allow it. This book also provided much needed practical information about commercial dog foods on the market today and important details about choosing veterinary care. That was a real eye-opener. I loved that Dawn was able to convey how dogs are wonderful teachers and have great lessons to share when we humans learn how to listen. I thank Dawn for the gift of writing this book.

I read this book on the tail end of "A Dog's Purpose" so I think in my mind I may have been comparing the two books when in reality they were nothing alike. This was a sweet story of a dog and her owner, the experiences they shared, the life they bonded. I was so impressed w/ the owners dedication and determination in making Maggie's food, researching dog foods, and the care that Maggie got once diagnosed w/ cancer. It took me several days to cast off the sadness I felt at the end of the book sharing the grief of Maggie's owner after her death. I had just adopted my 3 yr old Rottie when I began reading this, and I suppose I put myself in Maggie's owners feelings and grief. I thought the book was a really good read, and I felt that I had truly gotten to know and love Maggie after reading it. I would recommend this book to anyone that loves dogs<3

Dawn Kairns' 151-page tome, Maggie: the dog who changed my life: A Story of Love, packs in a lot of emotion and love. Anyone who has ever owned a beloved pet can easily relate to this incredible story. The tender moments bring tears and the sad moments bring insight. It's more in-depth than most pet stories. It goes beyond every day fun and frolic and explores reincarnation, pet communication, training and the petfood industry's nutritional shortcomings. Maggie's adventures teach us to enjoy life in the moment and her big, loving heart shows us what love really means.