It wasn’t easy for a human to come out of Hurricane Katrina unscathed, let alone a little puppy. But a brave little yellow Labrador puppy named Hooper managed to. And now, six years after Katrina, comes a stronger, healthier Hooper, and a new children’s book detailing his journey from that dreadful storm in New Orleans to his eventual home in New York entitled “Hooper Finds A Family: A Hurricane Katrina Dog’s Survival Tale.”
“In many ways, Hooper is really just like a child. He faced the same problems that all children face—how to survive in a new environment, how to adapt, how to be accepted and how to emerge from it all. I saw my own son emerging in the same way and Hooper went through it too,” says author Jane Paley.
Paley and her family are avid dog lovers, and before Hooper came into the family, there was Hammer who died shortly before Hurricane Katrina stuck. Pauly’s husband, who was still grieving, was reluctant to welcome Hooper into the household.
Paley elaborated, “It really was a difficult time for all of us. The experience one gets for having each dog is very different, and I suspect my husband was not ready for it. But in the end, Hooper won him over. And that is the thing with dogs—their love is so unconditional, so pure and whether you are in a good or bad mood, they are always there for you.”
