Short Leash: A Memoir of Dog Walking and Deliverance

Walking a dog in the park should be simple, but for Janice Gary and her dog, Barney, there was nothing simple about it. Gary, who had been attacked on the streets of Berkeley as a young woman, saw the world as a dangerous place and needed a big dog by her side to feel safe. When she found a stray Lab-Rottweiler puppy with a goofy smile and biscuit-sized paws wandering in a Piggly Wiggly parking lot, she thought she had discovered her biggest protector yet. But before Barney's first birthday, he is viciously attacked by another dog and becomes dog-aggressive from that day on. Walking anywhere with him is difficult, but for Gary, walking without him is impossible. It's only when she risks taking him to a local park that both of their lives change forever as Janice faces her deepest fears and Barney loses his fierce need to protect his mistress. Part memoir, part meditation and part love letter to the natural world, Short Leash is a moving tale of love and loss, the journey of two broken souls finding their way toward wholeness."Pema Chodron has said that the best way to deal with fear is to lean into it,diffusing its effect by letting it inform you and staying present. Sufferingthe after-effects of traumatizing attacks, Gary and her dog Barney leaned intotheir fears and in doing so, freed themselves from them. An inspiring anduncompromisingly honest story." - The Bark Magazine"Short Leash... isn't quite a dog book--even though the title and the cover picture both relate to a big, lovable black lab named Barney. No, Short Leash is instead an impossibly beautiful portrait of two damaged souls and how they lean on one another to heal, hurt, and find their way back to happiness after unspeakable tragedy." -Independent Publisher"There were innumerable times when I was just knocked over by this book. This is astunningly beautiful story told by a gifted writer."-Meredith Hall, author of N.Y. Times Bestseller Without a MapNamed an "Editor's Pick" from New Pages.comNamed an "Indie Groundbreaking Memoir:" Independent Publisher