My Booster!

WHAT DIFFERENCE CAN A DOG MAKE? I was about to find out. For two decades, my life was a cesspool of codependency. Fear consumed me. Life wasn’t worth living. I’d “rescued” the two addicts in my life—one an alcoholic, another a crack addict. Then a puppy I’d foolishly gifted to my crack addict became “my” puppy when I learned it was destined to be traded for crack. I wholeheartedly resented the puppy because the damned thing was always happy, and I was always sad. As a way out of my spiraling life, I attempted suicide one night. I awakened in the morning to kids knocking on my camper door, wanting to play with the puppy. Fifteen minutes later, the puppy screamed in pain. I just knew he’d been hit by a car, likely dying, because everything in life was bad. I opened the camper door, expecting the worst, but the puppy had simply run into a parked car and hurt his paw. The puppy was crying, the kids were crying, and then I too began to cry … uncontrollably. Suddenly, the puppy and I were one, both in pain. An epiphany…a Helen Keller-like breakthrough that changed my life forever. I suddenly realized he’d tried to bring healthy people into my life, breaking the chains of codependency. I slept with that puppy in my arms for three days. Upon awakening, I looked deeply into his eyes, and promised him I’d share him with the world. That puppy, my Booster, saved my life … twice! In My Booster, international service dog advocate and author Davis Hawn lays bare his life in the incredible story of Booster. Engaging, enlightening, hilariously funny and heartbreaking at the same time, their story shows the true power of the canine-human bond.