Rock Springs, Wyoming, Author Publishes New Book

Ruff Love: Tales of a Therapy Dog, a new book by Kari Bollig, has been released by RoseDog Books.

Ruff Love: Tales of a Therapy Dog is an inspirational tale that brings readers into the heart of developmental delays and animal-assisted therapy. In this heartwarming treasure of small miracles, the reader will follow as children facing hardships learn to embrace and overcome their disabilities through interactions with a therapy dog named Hattie. This is a Marley and Me meets Working as a Therapy Dog story of a fun-loving, spirited dog embarking on adventures while working with challenging children in a preschool setting. Currently, there are several books on the market for adult audiences that focus on the how-to aspect of animal-assisted therapy. Deeply moving and sometimes humorous, Ruff Love: Tales of a Therapy Dog moves beyond the how-to and focuses on the outcomes as a therapy dog helps children to communicate.

This book is a unique look at how a speech-language pathologist uses a therapy dog to motivate preschoolers to communicate in everyday situations. A story within a story, Ruff Love: Tales of a Therapy Dog chronicles events in Hattie's life from the day she was the pick of the litter to becoming a reading buddy at the local library. It combines specific stories of children with autism, speech and language delays, vision and hearing impairments, Down syndrome, and behavioral issues with the everyday activities of an ordinary dog and the special training she had in order to become a therapy dog. While therapy animals do not work for everyone, this book will focus on the children whose stories show readers the benefit of using a therapy dog.

About the Author
Kari Bollig is a speech-language pathologist who enjoys finding new and exciting ways to teach children to communicate. She has worked in a private clinic in Flagstaff, Arizona, and on the Navajo Reservation in Tuba City, Arizona. For the past ten years, Bollig has enjoyed working in a developmental preschool in Rock Springs, Wyoming. In 2004, Bollig decided to combine her love of dogs with her love of children and began a therapy dog program at the preschool.

Born and raised in Indiana, Bollig moved to Arizona at age 18 to attend Northern Arizona University. Falling in love with the west, Bollig remained in Arizona until moving to Wyoming in 2002. There, she met and married the perfect man for her.

Bollig is a fanatic about western history, especially the history of her current hometown of Rock Springs, Wyoming. She is currently writing a fictional novel based on the Chinese Massacre of 1885, which occurred in Rock Springs.

Bollig began writing her stories about Hattie in 2009. Ruff Love: Tales of a Therapy Dog is her first book.

Ruff Love: Tales of a Therapy Dog is an 86-page paperback with a retail price of $17.00. The ISBN is 978-1-4349-7342-9. It was published by RoseDog Books of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. For more information or to request a review copy, please visit our virtual pressroom at www.rosedog.com/pressroom or our online bookstore at www.rosedogbookstore.com.