Book Review-Reporting for Duty: True Stories of Wounded Veterans and Their Service Dogs by Tracy Libby

From the publisher:
Reporting for Duty profiles 15 disabled veterans from WWII, Vietnam, both Iraq wars, and Afghanistan. The author, Tracy Libby an author and photographer, sought out veterans with a wide range of physical and emotional challenges with one thing in common: a skilled, reliable, and loyal service dog by their side. The book features how the dogs are selected, trained, and socialized before being matched with their veteran partners and a background on assistance dogs, guide dogs, PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) dogs, and emotional-support dogs, as well as the history of canine-assisted therapy.

The book also covers the many service-dog training organizations and the dedicated people who are determined to help those who fought for our nation regain their mobility and independence.

About the author:
Tracy Libby is an award-winning writer and photographer whose work has won multiple awards from the Dog Writers Association of America (DWAA) and the Alliance of Purebred Dog Writers (APDW). She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Jounalism from the University of Oregon and has been writing about pet care for more than two decades. Her articles have appeared in mainstream magazines, including Dog Fancy, Modern Dog, Dog World, Puppies USA, Dogs USa, and the AKC Gazette, as well as online from Embrace Pet Insurance. She lives in Oregon with her husband, five cats, and five Australian Shepherds. She has been involved in the sport of dogs for nearly three decades, exhibiting her Aussines in agility, conformation, and obedience.

My take on the book:
The book is a hardcover coffee table-style book. Unlike most coffee table books, this had a lot of informative content to go along with the photographs. Each chapter is dedicated to a different type of service dog, the dogs and their veterans are profiled within the chapter. It amazes me what these dogs can do! There are PTSD dogs who can wake a person up when they begin to have a nightmare, or can guide them out of a situation that is raising their anxiety before they even know it's happening.  The bond between dog and veteran shines through in the stories and you can tell how natural the relationship is for both sides.

An important point to remember: when you see a service dog-of any type-that dog is working. Don't distract the dog by trying to pet it or play with it; it's on duty doing a very important job.