SOULMATE DOG takes readers gently through the messiness of grief on a raw healing journey. SOULMATE DOG is a memoir of a unique twenty-first century love story. It is much more than that, though; as the title implies, animal communication and a philosophical examination of the special relationship between humans and dogs is part of this story too. Because Brady became seriously ill at the age of five (and, according to his vets, should not have survived), this is also a story of the expanding field of modern integrative veterinary medicine. Animal communicators argue that anyone can be coached to listen, understand, and respond to animals. Having undergone training with Debbie McGillivray in the art of animal communication, Michelle became semi-fluent in the language of dog. As a result of her extraordinary conversations, Brady transformed the way that Michelle sees animal beings. This perspective has shaped her understanding of the human-animal relationship. This book writes a new language of grief in a coda that shows how we, as humans, are illiterate not just about grief, but about love and daily communication. Our love (and then our grief) for our animals resides in a place we don't have human vocabulary for; the language of dog-as taught to Michelle by Brady-makes a new literacy possible for us. It encompasses how we love and how we grieve, as well as how we live day-to-day with our animals.