View source for The Puppy Express: On the road with 25 rescue dogs . . . what could go wrong? by David Rosenfelt

{{infobox1
|title=The Puppy Express: On the road with 25 rescue dogs . . . what could go wrong?
|sort=Puppy Express: On the road with 25 rescue dogs . . . what could go wrong?
|author=David Rosenfelt
|reviewer=Sue Magee
|genre=Pets
|summary=The story not just of how David Rosenfelt and his wife moved themselves and twenty-five dogs across the USA - but how they came to have the dogs in the first place.  The book is utterly unputdownable and makes fascinating reading. Highly recommended.
|rating=4.5
|buy=Yes
|borrow=Yes
|pages=288
|publisher=Sphere
|date=March 2014
|isbn=978-0751553529
|website=http://tarashouse.org/
|video=gLGhsF6AowE
|cover=Rosenfelt_Puppy
|aznuk=0751553522
|aznus=B00FAT9G24
}}

If you're moving home from Southern California with twenty-five rescue dogs how, ''exactly'', do you do it?  Add in that these are mostly elderly dogs who've already had too much change and trauma in their lives and it's obvious that crating them and flying them across the country isn't going to work. They couldn't all go together and the trip would take about twenty-four hours with all the changes - and that's before you even ''begin'' to think about the prohibitive cost.  In the end the answer was a convoy of three motorhomes, the addition of nine helpers and just about non-stop driving across the continent.  Fun, eh?

When David Rosenfelt met Debbie Myers he wasn't really a dog person, but Debbie was to what David soon acknowledged to be a rather abnormal level.  Animals were her priority in life and they would soon become David's too.  It all began with one dog - Tara - who was the inspiration for all that would come afterwards.  In California the shelter system for lost, abandoned or unwanted dogs can be brutal - in many ways, it's the only way that the system copes.  Dogs who are not claimed or adopted can be put to sleep in a viciously short time - and older dogs, the larger breeds and those with a problem are inevitably a long way down people's wish lists.  David and Debbie began taking in these dogs who would otherwise die, initially in the hope that they could find a home for the dog, but knowing that there was a strong chance that the dog would end up sharing their home.

There have been as many as forty-two dogs in the house.  Rosenfelt acknowledges that this is too many - ''anything over forty is eccentric'' - but you have the sense that if another dog in need had come along then room would have been found.  And it wasn't just space, of course.  These dogs all had to be fed, exercised and given appropriate veterinary care.  For the dogs, whatever was necessary was done.  Sometimes it was the first step on the way to finding a dog a better way of life but frequently it was a case of making the final weeks or months as comfortable and loving as possible.

Rosenfelt writes with insight and humour.  He doesn't shy away from the more distasteful parts of the story but neither does he linger on them.  It isn't just the story of an American road trip (I think it's been done before, you know..) but the background to how the trip came about and most importantly the animals who played a part in the tale.  Anyone who loves dogs knows that they all have individual personalities and as Rosenfelt tells us about them they come off the page, tails wagging.  I laughed.  I cried.  I ''hated'' when I finished the book, but I'd like to thank the publishers for sending a copy to the Bookbag.

If this book appeals to you then we think that you might also enjoy [[The Dog Nobody Loved by Jon Katz]].  Children will appreciate information about rescuing dogs in the UK in [[Rescuing Gus by Melissa Wareham]] but if you just want to gorge on dogs then have a look at [[The Big New Yorker Book of Dogs with Foreword by Malcolm Gladwell]].  You might also enjoy [[Copper: A Dog's Life by Lady Annabel Goldsmith]].

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