Life's Shepherds w/ Jenna Blum

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How Dogs Help Us Through the Chapters of our Lives

About The Episode

Growing up with a big backyard in New Jersey, Jenna Blum was lucky enough to have several dogs in her family. They started out with cocker spaniels, her mom's favorite, but soon switched to her father's preference of labs afterward. He'd always had labs growing up, and there's even a picture of Jenna's great-grandmother with one that she later discovered. Labs became an important breed to their family. So much so that when she got her first dog as an adult, Woodrow, she made sure to get a lab as well.

At the time, Jenna was living in Boston after going to grad school at Boston University and being offered a job there after. Woodrow came at a time when she was on the verge of being a published author, a dream since she was a child after being inspired by her father, a journalist and news writer for big television networks. As time went on, she published three books with Woodrow by her side, as he kept her out of her imagination too much by having to get outside for exercise multiple times a day. Boston became a true home for them both.

In her personal life, Woodrow helped navigate the ups and downs of adulthood. However, perhaps his most pivotal role came towards the end of his life. Jenna's mom passed away from cancer, and Woodrow at 14 was diagnosed with congestive heart failure, given only a few weeks to live. The thought of losing them both so close together was hard to process, but thankfully Woodrow somehow lived another seven months. During that time, he brought Jenna comfort, companionship, and someone to care for.

The community of neighbors, friends, and even strangers came together to support Jenna and Woodrow at a particular park bench where they would go across from their downtown Boston apartment – the furthest Woodrow could make it (and even then Jenna had to carry him up and down). It became a hub for conversations about life with strangers who became friends about anything under the sun, and it brought her closer together with her community. Both she and Woodrow never felt alone during those special days.

In his honor, and as a way to help pass along the lessons she learned about losing a dog, Jenna wrote her first memoir, Woodrow On The Bench, about that time in his life – with each chapter representing another month beyond his diagnosis that he was able to persevere. Through this bittersweet period, Jenna was able to take away the positives and bring Woodrow's spirit into how she wanted to move through life going forward.

While the book helped her honor and remember Woodrow, her new dog now, Henry, helps remind her each day that we should always have room in our hearts for a new dog’s love – and especially the enthusiastic love of puppies, even if they may be a handful.

About The Guest - Jenna Blum

Jenna Blum is a New York Times bestselling author of novels Those Who Save Us, The Stormchasers, and The Lost Family; the novella The Lucky One in the collection Grand Central; and memoir Woodrow on the Bench, about her senior black lab. Jenna is based in Boston, teaching at Grub Street Writers, where she has been running master fiction and novel workshops for over 20 years. She is one of Oprah’s Top 30 Women Writers with her books published around the world.

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