Discover Well-Read Black Girl Books and the projects reshaping publishing →

Book Summary and Reviews of Where the Lost Dogs Go by Susannah Charleson

Where the Lost Dogs Go by Susannah Charleson

Where the Lost Dogs Go

A Story of Love, Search, and the Power of Reunion

by Susannah Charleson

  • Critics' Consensus (0):
  • Published:
  • Jun 2019, 320 pages
  • Rate this book

About this book

Book Summary

From a New York Times best-selling author, an important and heartfelt exploration into the world of lost dogs and the power of reunion.

One in six dogs go missing at some point in their lives, leaving bereft owners to search high and low, hang missing posters, check shelters, and hope for good news. But amid these grim statistics, countless happy endings are forged. Tails wag again. Best friends are reunited.

In Where the Lost Dogs Go, Susannah Charleson, author of Scent of the Missing and a trusted chronicler of the human/animal bond, dives headlong into the world of missing dogs. The mission to reunite lost pets with their families starts with Susannah's own shelter rescue, Ace, a plucky Maltese mix with a mysterious past who narrowly survived months wandering lost. While Susannah formally studies animal behavior, lost-pet search tactics, social media strategies, and the psychology of loss, Ace also steps up for training. Cheerful and resourceful, Ace has revealed a nose for the scent of lost pets, and together they help neighbors and strangers in their searching.

In Where the Lost Dogs Go, readers take to the streets beside Susannah to bring home a host of missing pets. Along the way, Susannah finds a part of herself also lost. And when unexpected heartbreak shatters her own sense of direction, it is Ace—the shelter dog that started it all—who leads Susannah home. Inquisitive, instructive, heartrending, and hopeful, Where the Lost Dogs Go pays tribute to the missing dogs—and to the found—and to the restless space in between.

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $60 for 12 months or $20 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Reviews

Media Reviews

"Moving and profound, Charleson's book affirms the special human-animal connection and fully celebrates the healing powers of forgiveness and love." - Kirkus Reviews

"This inspiring and informative work will resonate with pet lovers everywhere." - Publishers Weekly

"I have known lost people who could not have found themselves without the love of a dog. Our love for them and their love for us animates Where the Lost Dogs Go, a beautifully written and deeply felt memoir that I read with delight." - Dean Koontz, author of A Big Little Life

"A riveting book from Susannah Charleson, whose exquisite writing is an inspiration to us all, and whose courage and stamina knows no bounds. Dog lovers won't be able to put it down, and readers of great writing will be grateful that they picked it up." - Patricia B. McConnell, author of The Education of Will

"Susannah Charleson brings home another outstanding book of love and loss, searching and finding. With considerable canine insight, she tracks down dogs-on-the-loose in pursuit of happy reunions. Full of love and compassion, Where the Lost Dogs Go helps you find that nice warm place in your heart." - Peggy Frezon, author of The Dog in the Dentist Chair

This information about Where the Lost Dogs Go was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

Reader Reviews

Click here and be the first to review this book!

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $60 for 12 months or $20 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Author Information

Susannah Charleson

Susannah Charleson, New York Times bestselling author of Scent of the Missing and The Possibility Dogs, trains search and detection K9s, service dogs for the disabled, and comfort dogs that serve the community. She shares her home with a fur and feather menagerie, including a paralyzed pup on wheels named Ruff Draft.

More Author Information

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $60 for 12 months or $20 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Read-Alikes

Read-Alikes Full readalike results are for members only

If you liked Where the Lost Dogs Go, try these:

  • Rethinking Rescue jacket

    Rethinking Rescue

    by Carol Mithers

    Published 2025

    About this book

    Rethinking Rescue boldly confronts two of the biggest challenges of our time — poverty and homelessness — in asking the question: Who deserves the love of a pet?

  • Unlikely Animals jacket

    Unlikely Animals

    by Annie Hartnett

    Published 2023

    About this book

    A lost young woman returns to small-town New Hampshire under the strangest of circumstances in this one-of-a-kind novel of life, death, and whatever comes after from the acclaimed author of Rabbit Cake.

  • One Night Two Souls Went Walking jacket

    One Night Two Souls Went Walking

    by Ellen Cooney

    Published 2020

    About this book

    A young interfaith chaplain is joined on her hospital rounds one night by an unusual companion: a rough-and-tumble dog who may or may not be a ghost.

We have 10 read-alikes for Where the Lost Dogs Go, but non-members are limited to three results. Join free to see the complete list of recommendations.
Search read-alikes
How we choose read-alikes

More Biography/Memoir

Browse all Biography/Memoir books

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $60 for 12 months or $20 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

BookBrowse Book Club

Book Jacket
When No One Else Will
by Amanda Skenandore
1940s Chicago nurse risks everything at an illegal women’s clinic during a high-profile trial of courage and sisterhood.

Members Recommend

  • Book Jacket
    Dangerous, Dirty, Violent, and Young
    by Zayd Ayers Dohrn
    Son of Weather Underground radicals recounts life on the run and decades of revolutionary struggle.
  • Book Jacket
    Look What You Made Me Do
    by John Lanchester
    A propulsive tale of intergenerational tension and revenge from the Booker Prize nominee.
  • Book Jacket
    The Jellyfish Problem
    by Tessa Yang
    A marine biologist rescues a Maine island menaced by a giant glowing jellyfish in this inventive debut.
Who Said...

From the moment I picked your book up...

Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!

Book
Trivia
  • Book Trivia

    Can you name the title?

    Test your book knowledge with our daily trivia challenge!

Wordplay

Solve this clue:

Q S, S

and be entered to win..

Your guide toexceptional          books

BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.