All Dogs Go to Kevin: Everything Three Dogs Taught Me (That I Didn't Learn in Veterinary School)

In her acknowledgments, author Dr. Vogelsang thanks her editor for “taking a leap of faith on a debut author with Yet Another Dog Book.” Yes, this is Yet Another Dog Book. It is also entertaining, hopeful, sad, and infuriating.

Not all puppies and rainbows, this book. There is death. There is failure to cope well. There is a path of learning. There are tears.

There are also people I want to just slap upside the head.

This memoir is told in sections labeled by the dog in her life at that time. Her vet school experiences were enlightening, as was her telling of her growing practice, her mistakes as well as her achievements.

What I hated was the dissection of dogs in vet school. Those dogs were someone pets, or perhaps never had the chance show more to be loved. At any rate, they were betrayed by humans so that vet students could glop around in their organs. And the live animal lab - I absolutely hate vivisection and cannot understand the mentality of those who do it.

The author grew from an introverted, antisocial, overly sensitive person, and I can relate to that personality type. I enjoyed seeing her change, and I enjoyed most of the stories. The book was nicely written, not overly verbose for the story it was telling, and a good memoir for animal lovers.

But don't expect only puppy dogs and rainbows.

I was given a ebook acvanced reader's copy of this book for review. show less

Jessica Vogelsang uses the life of each of her (first three?) dogs to tell the period of her life which ran concurrently with each life. This format allows her to both tell the story of each of those lives as well as how those beloved pets helped her to become the person and veterinarian she is today. I found this to be very effective and straightforward.

The comparisons with Herriot are justified but also a bit unfair. Herriot's works range far and wide and different readers tend to take away different impressions, which means that this single volume from Vogelsang can seem lacking in comparison. That said, with future (I hope!) volumes her work will, I believe, compare ever more favorably with Herriot's.

As with any memoir with pets, show more there is a definite need to have tissues close at hand. Yet even these relatively sad moments are expressed in a positive manner by remembering the joys of each dog's life as well as what each brought to Vogelsang's life. The section dealing with her postpartum depression was both a moving account of what it feels like as well as a wonderful example of what a dog brings to the human-canine relationship. The section where Kevin dies and the rationale behind why the phrase "all dogs go to Kevin" makes a certin amount of comforting sense is also a wonderful story.

All in all I would highly recommend this book to all the usual suspects (pet owners and animal lovers) and to those who may not fall into those two categories and wonder why those of us who do feel the way we do about our pets.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley. show less

I am day 4 on a five day cross country trip. I had a lot of fun reading parts of the book to my son who was driving. And there is a lot of great stories told well.
I wondered a bit at the beginning when she switched from med school to vet school because she thought it would be less work. Then a sentence where she said she didn't realize the emotions she would have to deal with. But it turned into a great book written well. I would recommend it.
Kleenex is needed at some parts, but even those parts are insightful.

I am day 4 on a five day cross country trip. I had a lot of fun reading parts of the book to my son who was driving. And there is a lot of great stories told well.
I wondered a bit at the beginning when she switched from med school to vet school because she thought it would be less work. Then a sentence where she said she didn't realize the emotions she would have to deal with. But it turned into a great book written well. I would recommend it.
Kleenex is needed at some parts, but even those parts are insightful.

I'm going to begin by vocalizing my extreme annoyance. Someone at Publisher's Weekly and some reviewer at Amazon 'made me' select this book by making a tantalizing comparison between it and James Herriot's books.

I think by mentioning Herriot most people would assume that this would mean that the tone and approach to the material would be somewhat the same. I'm here to tell you that it is not similar. In fact I found the only similarity to be that dogs were mentioned. And I can only assume that the people who 'saw' a similarity hadn't read Herriot's books or else could no longer recall them clearly.

What we have with Dr. Vogelsang's book is an interesting autobiography that revolves around wonderful dogs. I think many dog lovers probably show more perceive of their lives in the context of dogs they have loved and learned from. What most of us can't do is open up the world of veterinary school. And, in fact, this was probably my favorite part of the book.

Not that I didn't enjoy the stories that came out her actual veterinary practice, but the insight into her years of education I found personally fascinating.

This is nice quick read. There are some tear-jerk moments --at least for me there were -- but generally the whole book was upbeat.

~review copy provided by NG show less

This is a memoir of a dedicated, introverted, animal loving Veterinarian. This was an uplifting book showing the positives of pet ownership.

Dr. Jessica Vogelsang begins her story as a young introverted girl who's parents think that getting her a dog will help her to meet people. It doesn't really. As she struggles to determine what she wants to do with her life, she decides on Vet School. She is worried about having to euthanize animals though. The book deals with her professional life as well as her personal life. We meet her friends (Kevin), her two children, she talks about her post-partum depression and her family. The professional side had laughs, some tears and a comaraderie developed in the vet practice. She talks about the show more on-the-job training that goes on, as well the cost and sometimes disrespect that goes along with the job. Of course you can't read a book about animals without some deaths along the way. When she has to explain the death of the family dog to her young children, her youngest misunderstands Heaven to be Kevin. This misunderstanding plays an important role in how she eventually perceives death of a pet. This is a book that I really can't explain, you just have to read it. I went through a gamut of emotions while reading and listening to this one. If you are an animal lover, you will enjoy this book. I recommend it. show less

If you love dogs, this book is for you. The author gives us a snapshot of her life, helped along by three dogs and a friend Kevin, from adolescence, through veterinary school and her early years of motherhood. Jessica Vogelsang knows how important dogs are. Unlike everything and everyone else, she knows you can count on dogs all the time. Through many anecdotes and stories about her encounters with life and dogs, Jessica reminds us all why we put up with dogs and the things they do, while realizing how deep their love and loyalty are, by the way they stick with us through thick and thin. Jessica reminds us all why we do it, how dogs provide the unconditional love and loyalty few others provide, standing with us and alongside us, show more appreciative of every little thing we do for them. This is a heartwarming story about one person’s journey through life as she prepares for and enters a career in a field she loves, working with those who return everything she gives them and then some. Along the way, she meets and befriends Kevin, a rare individual whose exuberance and love of life is beyond what many of us have or encounter very often. Kevin leave an indelible imprint of her life as he did on mine.

This book is for anyone who has ever had a dog, is thinking of having one or just enjoys and loves animals (especially dogs). Jessica Vogelsang’s smooth and casual writing style makes the reader feel as if she is their best or close friend, sitting down with them for a regular, enjoyable chat or visit. By the end of the book, I felt that I had known her for years and was reveling in and thoroughly enjoying her tales of a vet’s journey through training and daily life. The stories she tells are funny, fascinating and filled with her love and that of the animal she is treating, who unquestioningly depends on her for everything while gratefully accepting whatever she offers. I highly recommend this book to all animal lovers, but especially those who love and enjoy dogs. I received this from NetGalley to read and review. show less