You never forget the day you welcome a furry family member into your heart and into your home. In Things I Learned From My Dog, Brazilian-American author Victor D.O. Santos and Canadian illustrator Dena Seiferling highlight the bond that grows between a child and his beloved dog, Luna, from the very first day they meet. 

Readers follow the protagonist through the ups and downs of navigating life alongside Luna, and the lessons she inadvertently teaches him along the way. Luna is there for it all: from inconsequential disappointments like ruined birthday cakes, to big life changes like moving away and falling in love. Luna also shapes his values as a person, showing him “that friends can come in many different colours, shapes and sizes.”

While Santos’s text tells the story perfectly, Seiferling’s illustrations take the story to the next level. The pencil strokes invoke a dreamlike quality to the protagonist’s memories of Luna. Keen-eyed readers will appreciate the symbolism of some of the illustrations, including the moment the protagonist meets his spouse (with dreams of future puppies), and at the end of Luna’s life, the painting of dogs running on a farm.

In the end, Luna teaches her owner one final lesson: how much it hurts to lose a beloved family pet. In his pain, the protagonist vows to never adopt another dog, but many years later, when his daughter asks for a puppy, he is forced to reconsider. He realizes the simple, yet difficult truth: it is better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all. The story comes full circle when the protagonist relents and allows a new dog into their home so that his daughter can have the same experiences.

Although this is a picture book classified as juvenile fiction, there is nothing juvenile about this work of art. The story will resonate with anyone who has ever loved an animal, and perhaps most especially with older readers or those experiencing the loss of a pet.