Bone cancer rottweiler

Animal instinct

If you're willing to lie on the floor in a bathing suit, a dog just might sniff out melanoma on you that's so new a handheld microscope can't detect it.

Amazed? That's just the beginning. What about the golden Labrador retriever that alerted her owner to the early stages of breast cancer? Or the Labrador/rottweiler mix that senses its diabetic owner's low blood sugar and fetches her medicine?

Those stories astonished Bonners Ferry, Idaho, veterinarian Marty Becker and confirmed his lifelong belief that pets are as vital to people as people are to pets.

Becker ached to share the proof with the public, so he wrote a book, "The Healing Power of Pets," with Los Angeles-based writer Danelle Morton. It hit bookstores early this month. He'll discuss the book at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Auntie's Bookstore.

"These are not just stirring stories. We matched science with soul," says Becker, who writes the pet column "The Bond" for The Spokesman-Review and syndication.

Becker and Morton collected dozens of moving stories about dogs, cats and horses helping people overcome fears, detecting their life- threatening diseases and lowering their blood pressure, weight and anxiety.

But they didn't stop with incredible experiences. Vet and writer visited doctors and scientists to unearth specific reasons the pet/ people pairing works.

"I have always been a strong believer in the healing power of pets, and am thrilled that there are people like Dr. Becker to spread this message to the health care community," says Martine Siegel, a clinical nurse specialist in Louisville, Ky. She and her son, Nicholas, were among the first readers of "The Healing Power of Pets," and e-mailed Becker their excitement over his book. "I hope that it is widely read and taken seriously by all who read it."

A book was on Becker's mind for years, but he was busy compiling "Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover's Soul" and its sequel, speaking at vet schools and conferences worldwide, promoting pet greeting cards, organizing national pet movements and grabbing every opportunity to sell the public on pets.

He knew the time was right when two people came to him at a local book-signing with doctors' prescriptions for pets.

"We've taken a major turn when doctors prescribe pets on their pads," he says.

His agent introduced him to Morton, a mother of two with no pets. She was not as eager as Becker to believe that petting a dog or cuddling a cat could relieve pain.

"She said we had to prove it. She laid down the gauntlet," Becker says.

So the pair traveled from coast to coast. They visited schools that relied on dogs to listen to children read and rehabilitation programs that boasted psychological growth in kids caring for animals.

They met people whose dogs warned them of quickly approaching epileptic seizures and heart attacks. They watched dogs animate the depressed and encourage people with Parkinson's disease to continue moving.

Then, they asked doctors and scientists to explain why animals behave as they do. Becker and Morton learned that dogs have 250 million aroma receptors, nearly 50 times the number humans have, and that dogs are 10 million times more sensitive to some odors than humans.

They discovered that pets relieve pain by relaxing people and elevating their moods.

Morton poured the material into a sample first chapter. Editors told her it was technically satisfying but missing Becker's folksy voice.

Becker is the resident vet on ABC-TV's "Good Morning America" for good reason. He has a face everyone trusts. He knows what he's talking about, and he's boyishly enthusiastic about life.

"Marty absolutely is what he says he is," Morton says. She's a former writer for The New York Times and People magazine.

To know Becker well enough to express his voice in her writing, Morton flew to Idaho, met every Becker family member and returned to Becker's birthplace with him.

He told her about his childhood on a farm, his father's depression, his brother's multiple sclerosis, his wife Teresa's rheumatoid arthritis, his battle with weight and his fear of horses. She worked it all into an intensely personal, human narrative in Becker's voice from start to finish.

"Marty has a way of connecting to people," she says. "I applaud his courage."

Healing Power opens with Becker's gripping tale of his own alarming pain and the greater appreciation he learned for his dogs during recuperation. He confesses the need to lose 25 pounds - "Slip- on shoes were catching my eye in Wal-Mart" - and praises his black Lab, Sirloin, for insisting on the walks Becker needed for exercise.

That warm voice continues as he tells readers about Mike Lingenfelter and his golden retriever, Dakota. Dakota rescued Lingenfelter from debilitating depression after a massive heart attack, then learned to alert his owner to dangerous high stress situations.

When Lingenfelter returned to work, Dakota went with him. The dog sensed when tensions were rising during work meetings and herded his owner out the door to safety.

Becker chose anecdotes that feed people's need to believe in pets' dedication to humans, an attitude he and Morton found everywhere.

"I went to this anarchist coffee collective in Venice, Calif. - a place crawling with dogs - and I said sheepishly, `I'm doing a book on relationships with animals,'" Morton says. "This guy with a bone through his nose says, `I believe in that.' It was so gratifying to me."

The second and third sections of Healing Power teach readers how to choose pets that fit their personality and lifestyle, and how to deepen the bond with their animals.

"At least once a week, open up the pantry door and become your pet's personal chef by preparing a homemade meal or tasty treat," Becker suggests.

Dear Abby liked Healing Power so much that she's recommending it to readers with pet questions in her syndicated column this month, she told Becker.

The book inspired 13-year-old Nicholas Siegel in Louisville, Ky., to test people's blood pressures before and after petting a dog or cat for a science fair project. He discovered nearly all pressures dropped, and shared his excitement with Becker through e-mail.

"I enjoyed the chapter on the dog who assisted the man with the heart attack," Siegel says. "I think that it is important to find other ways to treat illnesses such as high blood pressure and stress without using medication."

Siegel's story and others have inspired Becker to plan another book. Among other details, he wants to report which pets are best for which health conditions.

"In my lifetime, pets went from a heavy utilitarian role, like guard dogs, to pets, then family members," Becker says. "I hope to be a piece of the next evolution when we recognize them as life support systems cleverly disguised as a family member."

This sidebar appeared with the story:

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Becker at Auntie's

Dr. Marty Becker will discuss his book, "The Healing Power of Pets," at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Auntie's Bookstore, 402 W. Main St. Admission is free.