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  • Rescuing Riley, Saving Myself

  • A Man and His Dog's Struggle to Find Salvation
  • By: Zachary Anderegg, Pete Nelson
  • Narrated by: David Marantz
  • Length: 5 hrs and 39 mins
  • 4.0 out of 5 stars (5 ratings)

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Rescuing Riley, Saving Myself

By: Zachary Anderegg, Pete Nelson
Narrated by: David Marantz
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Editorial reviews

In Zachary Anderegg's touching memoir, Rescuing Riley, Saving Myself, the former US Marine sergeant recounts his heroic tale of saving a starving, abused puppy from the bottom of an Arizona canyon - and ties the act back to his own experience with bullying as a child. Brutally honest, Anderegg's story is a tale of suffering, and also of redemption: In rescuing Riley, Zak was able to overcome his own personal obstacles. Voice actor David Marantz's sympathetic narration helps make this inspiring tale a powerful listening experience.

Publisher's Summary

While hiking on a solo vacation in a remote, uninhabitable region of Arizona, Zachary Anderegg happened upon Riley, an emaciated puppy clinging to life, at the bottom of a 350-foot canyon. In a daring act of humanity that trumped the deliberate savagery behind Riley’s presence in such a place, Zak single-handedly orchestrated a delicate rescue.

What didn’t come out in the initial burst of publicity this story received is that Zak and Riley’s destinies were intertwined long before they improbably found each other. For much of Zak’s childhood, he was at the bottom of a veritable canyon himself - a canyon whose imprisoning depth and darkness was created by bullies who just wouldn’t quit and parents who weren’t capable of love. From the age of five, Zak was everyone’s favorite target.

When Zak came upon Riley, the puppy’s condition bespoke his abusers’ handiwork - three shotgun pellets embedded beneath his skin, teeth turned permanently black from malnutrition. The meeting was one of a man and a dog singularly suited to save each other. As a former US Marine sergeant, Zak was one of only a few people with the mettle and physical wherewithal to get Riley out. And in rescuing him, Zak was also attempting to save himself, conquering the currents of cruelty that swelled beneath his early life and always threatened to drown him.

©2013 Zachary Anderegg and Pete Nelson (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

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    2 out of 5 stars
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Did not like it, did not finish it

I did not like the way the book started with finding a dog ina canyon and that jumped to his unhappy school life with mean kids at school, his unhappy after school life with a big mean stepmom who made him eat a lot of cream cheese, then back to the canyon and some talk about knots and rapelling.

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amazing

An incredible book not only for the saving of Riley but the saving of himself. Made me look at my life and maybe it is the saving of me too!

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