Book ~ "Molly: The True Story of the Amazing Dog Who Rescues Cats" (2019) Colin Butcher

From Goodreads ~ As a veteran of the Royal Navy and longtime police officer, Colin Butcher was no stranger to dangerous situations. But a career in uniform can wear anyone down, so in 2003, Colin left the force to start his own private detective agency, specializing in helping reunite people with their missing pets. And yet, despite his hundreds of successes, there were still heartbreaking cases where Colin couldn’t find the missing on his own. He knew he needed a partner.

When Colin first met Molly, his friends doubted that she would be up for the job. Where Colin was battle-tested, Molly was young and inexperienced. She was willful, wayward, and stubborn. But Colin could tell that Molly was unusually charismatic and intelligent. He decided to take a risk and bring on Molly for training.

Yes, Molly is no ordinary deputy but a black Cocker Spaniel and this is no ordinary detective agency. Trained by the top canine behavioral experts at Medical Detection Dogs, Molly can find missing cat - who are uniquely skilled at eluding humans - by detecting a unique scent signature, and she has been wildly successful.

The work is not always easy. Molly has faced hardships ranging from a near-fatal snakebite to the challenge of winning over Colin’s girlfriend, Sarah. But through it all, Colin and Molly share an enduring love and affection. More than a working relationship, Molly is part of the family. Together, they are the Sherlock and Watson of missing pets. 

Colin was in the navy and is a former police officer.  He decided to start The Pet Detectives, a private detective agency with a focus on finding missing pets.  He decided adding a dog to his agency would help so he started searching for one.  After doing a lot of research, he was looking for a cocker spaniel and wanted it to be a rescue.  Puppy Molly was found and spent many months being trained with Medical Detection Dogs.  Not only did Molly become his colleague but she also was his pet and companion.  Together they hired themselves out to find missing pets ... sometimes they were successful in finding the pet and sometimes not.

I love reading books about animals.  I liked the writing style and found the book interesting.  It's good that Colin is of service to many and it's obvious he loves animals.  You can tell, though, it's written by an English author because there were so many expressions that were unfamiliar to me ... like moggy, nineteen to a dozen, bolshie, crack on, etc. and he kept calling his dog "missus".

It seems like a lot of pet owners in Colin's area let their cats outside.  I have two cats and they don't ever go outside.  Maybe if cat owners didn't let their cats outside, they wouldn't run off and disappear and they wouldn't need Colin's services.

I wasn't crazy about Sarah, Colin's girlfriend, at first.  She wasn't a dog lover and seemed to have no tolerance for Molly.  But it didn't seem like Colin really consulted her in bringing Molly into the household.  It was nice to see her mellow and bond with Molly in the end.