Author Monica Holloway was devastated to learn that her adorable, brilliant three-year-old son was autistic.  Sure, he was different and special, but isn’t every child, in his own way?  Wills could talk about trains and planes for hours at a time, but ran screaming if the smallest (to us) thing upset his well-ordered world. Monica reacted to the diagnosis in a perfectly logical way: she bought a big fish tank and some fish. And that was only the start of their growing menagerie.

Several hermit crabs, hamsters, and a rabbit later, they began talking about puppies. They researched dogs for months, ultimately deciding that nothing would do but a female Golden Retriever puppy. They finally found the perfect puppy in time for Christmas. The golden ball of fluff they called “Cowboy” was about to change their lives in ways they couldn’t imagine.

Cowboy’s impulsive, energetic, inquisitive antics pushed Wills to explore a world that he’d been terrified to experience. Every little accomplishment that Wills made was a huge step forward for this very special little boy. His parents marveled at the things he did “because Cowboy needed my help,” like actually getting into their swimming pool for the first time and “helping Cowboy learn to swim.”  The bathtub changed from being a torture chamber to a delightfully bubbly play area “because Cowboy needed a bath.”

The changes that Cowboy wrought in Wills’s life were nothing short of miraculous. And when Cowboy needed his family as much as they needed him, Wills learned even more life lessons—painful, difficult lessons that opened his world even wider.

It’s often said that every child should have a dog—a puppy, if possible. He’ll learn responsibility, learn to think of another life before his own, and will learn to love more deeply than he ever thought possible. Cowboy taught Wills more about life and love than all the books and teachers in the world could ever impart to him.

Monica candidly shares their lives with us, unfolding an incredible story as we laugh and cry with her from beginning to end. This is truly a love story of a very special boy and his incredibly loving parents, and the puppy who changed their lives forever.

Tags: autistic boy, Book, book review, child and dog, child and puppy, Cowboy and Wills, dog love, Golden Retriever puppy, Love Story, Monida Holloway