Good Reads in LIFE: Forever Home

The power of love, the joy of home and the unconditional acceptance of animals make this book a must read—and the perfect gift for anyone on your list.

Weaving together the tales of Ron Danta and Danny Robertshaw–before they became a couple; their story together after; their ark full of dogs and other creatures; the thousands of animals the couple has helped; and the many people with whom they’ve worked—was a complicated task. Writing collaborator Larry Lindner, however,  deftly pulls the story together in a highly readable, compelling and heartwarming page turner titled Forever Home. 

Many already know Ron and Danny from their Netflix movie Life in the Doghouse. The film documents how the couple went from taking in animals who tugged on their hearts to a wholesale mission to rescue dogs, a change that occurred when they rescued 600 dogs in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. That mission blossomed into Danny & Ron’s Rescue. 

To tell Ron and Danny’s deeper story, Lindner, a New York Times bestselling co-author, relied on his experience as a collaborative writer of memoirs, his two books on dog care, and his role as executive editor of the Tufts University veterinary school’s Your Dog newsletter. Lindner is, like Ron and Danny, an animal lover for whom dogs “are the bullseye of that love.

“I grew up in an apartment building in New York City,” Lindner recounts. “I wanted a dog so desperately, but the building didn’t allow pets. One time in third grade, the teacher asked if we could have anything in the world, what would it be? Kids were saying things like, ‘I want a giant mansion’ or ‘a million dollars.’ I said, “A dog.” Bringing a dog into the family was one of the very first things Hinghamite Lindner and…