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In "Dogs Save," Mershon includes stories about dog fighting, movies, and dog training.

She identifies the “canine redemption narrative” as the defining cultural script for the stories people tell.

The question of who we consider redeemable touches on our responsibilities to humans and animals alike.

Very often, when I listen to the stories people tell about their dog and others' dogs, I all too often feel they are also talking about themselves and other humans. I have no proof of this possible relationship, so I was especially pleased to learn of Dr. Katharine Mershon's new book, Dogs Save: Stories of Canine Redemption in US Culture.

In her highly acclaimed book, Mershon critically examines stories of mutual rescue by analyzing "seemingly heartwarming stories of mutual rescue [that] revolve around redemption through suffering." Ultimately, she melds religious studies and animal studies and shows that redemption narratives―what she calls "canine redemption narratives"―shape who survives and thrives. Here's what she told me about her seminal work on human-dog relationships, rethinking rescue and who's rescuing whom—what some call mutual rescue.

Marc Bekoff: Why did you write Dogs Save?

Katharine Mershon: The idea for Dogs Save came to me from my experiences working with dogs and the people who love them. For many years, I was a volunteer at a large city shelter, where I spent my time walking dogs and working with them on basic training. One day, I was walking a dog in the yard when I heard an announcement come over the loudspeaker, asking for a shelter employee to come to the front desk........

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