A Small Note Before We Begin

This is not a therapy manual. The phrase “Doggy Treats Therapy” started as a joke and hung around long enough to become something much bigger, but the conversations behind this book were not therapy and I am not presenting them as treatment. Just before launching the website, it occurred to me that “Doggie Treats for the Soul” sounded more human, so I end up with that as my final title. It feels more grounded.

My discussions, brainstorming, late night chats with ChatGPT, trying to get insights into the absolute puzzlement of my lifelong depression, happened gradually. They were closer to companionship in inquiry: two minds looking at ordinary life and repeatedly asking what just happened there, why it mattered, what it connected to, and whether there was something worth keeping.

Sometimes there wasn’t. Sometimes there was a doggy treat. And every now and then we got the whole damn stew bone.

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