Seizure Alert

For anyone already in love with pooches, the titles in the Dog Heroes series will only increase the certainty that dogs are the greatest things on the planet. The series is a surprising 17 titles deep and touches on everything from sled dogs to the Dog Scouts of America. Combat-Wounded Dogs kicks off with a bombing in 2006 Iraq, where an explosion not only wounded soldier Brendan Poelaert but also Flapoor, his military working dog (MWD). Flapoor’s survival is but one tale in a long history of canine soldiering, which took off in World War II and continued through Vietnam, where it is estimated that 10,000 soldiers were saved by dogs. A red-and-black design fits the dramatic atmosphere, and challenging vocabulary words (shrapnel, aerovaced) nudge along the ultimately inspiring story of how MWDs evolved from “equipment” to “soliders.” Seizure-Alert Dogs details the otherworldly ability of dogs to sense when a human’s seizure is imminent and take protective action (such as straddling the person’s body). Many of the pages are given to training, which begins at two months and can cost $20,000 per dog. But the heartwarming story of a German shepherd named Lady and photos of these stalwart animals with their extravagant gear and cautionary patches (“Do Not Pet”) will keep the smiles coming. This is satisfying coverage of a high-interest topic.