TW: death
I read this only once as a kid since I was too sad to read it again. I was shocked to discover how bored i was of this book as an adult, and that I disliked it for various reasons. The POV of the dog was unneeded! As a kid, I adored it, though. Another reviewer commented on agility courses and how blind/disabled dogs can't do them. I'm glad I saw that review. A dog groomer, an adult who owns a small business, lets a fifteen-year-old work in exchange for free grooming of what sounds like a high-maintenance dog. This is set in the 90s. "Mandy" by Julie Andrews is set in probably the late 1880s to early 1900s, and a shopkeeper gives a ten-year-old dozens of flowers for free because she's starting a garden. Both are cute scenes to read but are unrealistic. The issue of her sister's death; how she wished for it, and her feelings of...guilt and confusion, and something else, belong in a different book entirely. It increasingly really creeped me out. Just have the parents divorce and remarry, author. That's plenty of emotion and dramatic stuff to work through in a book like this.

The death at the end of the book was both sad and felt like it was tacked on as an afterthought. The book should have just ended with Sterling placing in the dog tournament. I wasn't the audience for this and won't recommend it.. ( )