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"This is Hannah," Lynne Hugo introduces her chocolate Labrador retriever to an aged woman in a wheelchair at the Golden View Nursing Home. "Would you like to pat her?" "I don't know," she responds warily. "Dogs are complicated." So, of course, is life, especially as the years accumulate and the body declines. In fact, the most painful complications are those that Hugo hopes to ease with Hannah, her exuberant therapy dog. What Hugo receives in return, unexpectedly, is an outpouring of stories as the residents respond to Hannah’s antics and affection. As Hugo’s involvement deepens, she begins to see her own life and her care for her elderly parents in a new perspective. Interweaving the elders’ tales—of old loves and ancient dreams, abandonment and loneliness, and the struggle for dignity—with her own family’s story, she creates a richly textured collective portrait of the often-hidden world of the aged. At the same time, she crafts an eloquent meditation on the fundamental human need to nurture and remain connected to other people, to animals, and to the natural world.
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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 Where the Trail Grows Faint [First Pag [-1], (1) Lines: 0 t ——— * 481.0p ——— Normal P * PgEnds: P [-1], (1) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 [-2], (2 Where the Trail Lines: ——— 7.732 ——— Norma * PgEnds [-2], (2 River Teeth Literary Nonfiction Prize SERIES EDITORS Daniel Lehman Ashland University Joe Mackall Ashland University The River Teeth Literary Nonfiction Prize is awarded to the best work of literary nonfiction submitted to the annual contest by River Teeth: A Journal of Nonfiction Narrative. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 A Year in the Life of a Therapy Dog Team Grows Faint [-3], (3) Lines: 73 ——— 0.0pt P ——— Normal P * PgEnds: P [-3], (3) LYNNE HUGO University of Nebraska Press Lincoln & London 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 [-4], (4 Lines: ——— 13.46 ——— Norma * PgEnds © 2005 by the Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska All rights reserved Manufactured in the United States of America ⬁ 䡬 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Hugo, Lynne. Where the trail grows faint : a year in the life of a therapy dog team / Lynne Hugo. p. cm. isbn 0-8032-2432-x (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Dogs—Therapeutic use. 2. Older people— Rehabilitation. 3. Human-animal relationships. I. Title. rm931.d63h84 2005 615.8'515–dc22 2004024174 [-4], (4 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 For Alan, my partner on the trail [-5], (5) Lines: 164 ——— * 426.72 ——— Normal P * PgEnds: P [-5], (5) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 [-6], (6 Lines: ——— 0.0pt ——— Norma PgEnds [-6], (6 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 Contents Author’s Note viii 1. First, Everybody Leaves You 1 2. A Velvet Anger 9 3. One Dear Voice 18 4. Regret 23 5. 6. 7. 8. [-7], (7) We All Fall Down 32 Power 39 Whatever It Takes 50 Working (in) the System 9. Huntin’ Home 66 10. The Eden Effect 74 11