What is the purpose of a dog? The answer to this question is learned in A Dog’s Purpose by W. Bruce Cameron. In this adventurous book, a dog goes through many different lives. In each life, he or she learns a new lesson or purpose of why the dog lived that life.

The main focus throughout the book is through the point of view of a dog named Bailey. Although this was the second life that the dog lived, this life is the most important one. It teaches Bailey through his owner, Ethan, that unconditional love is the most important. The significance of Bailey's story being the second in the book is that he learns from his past life.

“Living in the Yard had taught me how to escape through a gate. It had led me straight to the boy, and loving and living with the boy was my whole purpose in life. From the second we woke up until the moment we went to sleep, we were together.” In his past life as Toby, living in the Yard had taught him a skill that he was able to use as a puppy in his new life. He learned that developing that skill was the only way that he could have ever gotten to his boy. He also learned that while in the Yard Senora didn't love him specifically. It was just a over all love for all the dogs there. ‘“When I lived in the Yard, senora loved me, but I now realized it was a general love, aimed at all the dogs in the pack. She called me Toby , but she didn’t say my name the way the boy whispered, ‘Bailey, Bailey, Bailey,’ in my ear at night. The boy loved me; we were the center of each other’s worlds.”’

Every time he or she is a reborn the dog wonders, “Why am I a puppy again?”  The dog ends up learning a new purpose by the end of that new life. When she is a police dog, she learns that her purpose is to find and save people when they are in danger. By the end she ends up coming to the final conclusion that the reason he or she lived those lives was to meet the boy but then go back to him and make him happy again until the last second of Ethan’s life

I liked this book because of how action-packed it was in each life of the dog, the meaningful loving things that the dog learned, and even the sad times when a life came to an end. Each one of the lives had some suspense and made me scared for the dog. The lessons that are learned throughout the book are caring and show the loyalty a dog can have for its owner. I also like the included times of the death. This adds to the story and shows that even though the dog lived a happy life, there can still be a hard death. I felt I could relate to this book especially at the times when I felt grief for the dogs passing away. I thought back to my old dogs and felt like they fulfilled their purpose for our family. This emotional book shares the beautiful lessons the dogs learn.