A Dog Year

The Story of a Maladjusted Therapist and the Homeless Shih Tzus That Rescued Her

By: Allison Hilborn-Tatro

Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell

The obsessively controlled world of a high-strung therapist begins to come apart when she inherits a pair of old, neurotic Shih Tzus.

Ever since getting sober a few years ago, Allison Hilborn-Tatro has been dedicated to achieving what she calls "radical stability" in her life. She’s up before five each morning and asleep by nine every night. Her days as a family therapist and mother to one good-natured Labradoodle are orchestrated down to the minute, with little room for anything unexpected to barge in and knock her off the wagon.

That is, until the death of a neighbor she barely knew leaves her in possession of his two orphaned Shih Tzus. Not long after Coco and Nikki arrive at her door, Allison can feel her white-knuckled grip on her own existence start to slip. At first, her furry new wards demand more space in her life - and in her bed - than Allison’s willing to make for them. Before long, Coco and Nikki have not only barged into her tightly wound world, they’ve taken over. But instead of knocking her off the wagon, as she feared, they just might set her free.

Irreverent, honest, and utterly life affirming, A Dog Year reveals the ways in which a dog’s love can avail us to parts of ourselves we didn’t know were there. All the while Allison thought she was rescuing Coco and Nikki, she never expected they would be the ones saving her.

©2019 Allison Hilborn-Tatro (P)2019 Audible Originals, LLC.

Critic reviews

“Allison Hilborn-Tatro is a fresh, funny, wrenchingly honest writer. I fell head over heels in love with A Dog Year.” (Gayle Brandeis, award-winning author)

"Bringing a rescue into our lives can be messy, and sometimes their quirks and needs can feel like too much, but what we find in Allison Hilborn-Tatro’s hilarious and vulnerable debut memoir, “A Dog Year,” is that by allowing a pet and rescue into our lives and our hearts, we can fix our own." (Guy Winch, PhD, author of How to Fix a Broken Heart)

"Dog rescuer finds herself rescued by the dogs she adopts. Is there anything truer? A Dog Year is a treat." (Seth Casteel, bestselling author of Underwater Dogs)

I love dogs

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It meant a lot to me when Allison realized she loved Cocoa.

Insight into how animals can reach our hearts

This book was a lovely reminder about how dogs can love us so unconditionally that we are able to love and accept ourselves.

Rescue dogs rescue their new owner

Allison Hilborn-Tatro was 32, a recovering alcoholic, a working therapist, and owner of a goldendoodle named Buddha when one of her neighbors, Catherine, comes by with the news that another neighbor, Dennis, has died. The three all frequented the same dog park, and Dennis's two shih tzus, Nikki and Coco, are now orphans. His sister-in-law who is local can't take two more dogs. His sister in Texas would, but Nikki is in poor health and would probably not survive the flight. The family doesn't want them to wind up in the pound, which would be scary for them, and where two elderly shih tzus wouldn't be adopted. Can Allison take them?

She says yes.

She's almost immediately convinced she's made a terrible mistake. These two ridiculous little purse dogs will disrupt her tightly controlled life. Yet, she can't let them go to the pound.

She'll just have to make sure they don't disrupt her tightly controlled life.

When she meets with the local family to take the dogs, their food, and their medications, she discovers that Coco is on medication for epilepsy. That includes Dennis's late wife's dilantin. She finds this disturbing, and she's right. Dilantin isn't used in canine medicine.

The dogs are overweight, and due to Dennis's illness and death, they haven't been groomed or walked in a couple of months. They use pee pads, something Allison is determined to cure them of since she has a securely fenced yard for them to use.

She is determined not to love these dogs. News flash: These are shih tzus. Shih tzus have two missions in life, letting you know that someone is at the door, and being loved. I have lots of complaints about shih tzus, but they're all about the breeding that has given them abnormally short skulls and flat faces. That's what's responsible for the "cute" snoring and snorting, which indicate real difficulty in breathing. Having breathing my difficulties myself, I don't find it cute; it makes me sad for the dog. But darn it, they are really good at the "you will love me" thing. If you are a normal human being, and also not badly allergic to dogs, once you become the focus of a shih tzus attention, you will fall in love with that dog. You can't help it.

Allison thinks of herself as much improved from her time as a recovering alcoholic. Her tight control of her orderly life is in fact that of a woman who has stopped the alcohol and drugs, but hasn't learned to trust herself. She's closed herself off from people and from life. Coco and Nikki do, in fact, completely disrupt her orderly life, and it terrifies her, and it's exactly what she needs.

She sets about getting the dogs clean, getting their ear infections cured, their medications adjusted to what's really appropriate for these little dogs. They need to lose weight, and she transitions them to a better diet. She makes the classic mistake of thinking that Coco and Nikki should understand her explanations that they need to keep their toys in the spare room she has designated as the dog room. They do learn to potty outside, because that's what Buddha does, and Allison makes sure they get out often enough during the day, and dogs are pretty good about conforming to Local Custom.

But they are not going to sleep or keep their toys in the dog room. They're going to sleep in Allison's room. End of discussion, really.

These dogs disrupt her schedule, make her do things she thought she couldn't, reconnect her with good people she's lost touch with, and open up her shut-down emotions.

The hard part of this story sadly includes one of the dogs dying of her illnesses. This is a warning for those of you for whom this is a dealbreaker: one of the dogs dies. It's extremely well-written, and heartbreaking, and it had me in tears, listening to that part.

And yet this is in the end an uplifting and hopeful story. Highly recommended.

I bought this audiobook.

Wonderful story

We loved Allison’s story so much. It was very well written and since we know her and live in Reno also, it was so nice to know the author and all the places she wrote about. The lady who read the book was also wonderful. I will recommend this book to all my friends who have Audible.

Perfect Book

It’s a great book there’s a bit of everything. Including recovery road. It’s uplifting and you come to find Allison such an endearing person / character. Super fast read. It ended way too soon!

Funny & gripping

Only on chapter 11....can’t stop listening! This book caught me right away as a dog lover at first....then a deeper meaning starts to sneak in. It’s light yet read, Or is it? I felt my own buried, childhood feelings bubbling up...growing up in a house where feelings were not popular unless they were happy or funny...I am not all that different than Allison. The author is brilliant with her parallels of the dog/person angst & hilarity of real life.

pillolla

Excelente muestra de cómo los perritos rescatan a los humanos que los rescatan. Cada mascota es un ángel que llena un hueco que no sabíamos que teníamos

What a lovely story about a disturbed young woman and the two newly orphaned dogs.

Anyone who loves dogs should read this. Relatively short audio book. Heartwarming and sad - a must read if you love dogs

Unexpectedly engrossing!!!

Hilborn-Tatro’s amazing knack for story telling and insightful internal monologue turns a simple, seemingly mundane autobiographical tale of a woman who decides to adopt two dogs into a relatable, emotional, and gripping narrative. Anyone who has ever struggled with social anxiety, tried to control things that are uncontrollable, tried to neatly divide work from personal life, kept people at a distance under the guise of personal boundaries, accepted being alone, struggled with addiction, anxiety, or loneliness will instantly relate and often commiserate with Hilborn-Tatro’s story. It was filled with comedy, drama, and fearless introspection that that encouraged me to look at my own tendencies and interpersonal relationships. I look forward to more from this author and am recommending this book to all.

laugh out loud funny, tear your heart out moving-

Tears: tears from laughing so hard, and tears from being truly moved. Allison Hilborn-Tatro, makes you feel. Her writting is honest and relatable. I highly recommend "A Dog Year"