How a dog’s love brought Julie Barton out of depression

By Marilyn Rosenthal
MILFORD — Julie Barton had very low self-esteem when she was growing up, and it got worse in her adult years.
This incredibly savvy and smart woman was made to feel stupid by her brother, who was almost four years her senior. He would abuse her verbally and physically beat her. He continually said she was stupid and that no one liked her. Her mother was totally passive and did nothing. Yet today, Barton is the author of the New York Times best seller, "Dog Medicine: How My Dog Saved Me from Myself," which was ultimately picked up by Penguin Random House.
Barton will be talking about her experience on the publishing panel “Words Won’t Die: The Brave New World of Publishing” at the Milford Readers and Writers Festival on Saturday, Sept. 29, from 11:30 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. at the Milford Theatre, where she will appear with Jane Friedman and Brooke Warner.
Barton was studying writing and earned a master’s degree at Southern Connecticut University and an MFA from University of Vermont in creative writing. But still, she felt she wasn't creative enough.
Later she moved to New York and becane a marketing manager for a tech company when she realized that the tech brain is totally different than the writer’s brain. She was alone, working in SoHo, and struggling mentally. In 1996, in the throes of a major depression, she called her mom, left New York, and went home. She wasn't able to move or even get out of bed.
Just lookingOne day, she visited a farm that raised Golden Retrievers — just to look. Suddenly this very special eight–week-old golden retriever ran to her. She put her hands on the dog, who then vomited. She thought, “Maybe he’ll help me.”
Julie and her puppy, Bunker, were deeply connected.
“He understood me from a molecular level," she said. "He saved my life for sure.”
She'd never had another relationship like that. You can see their wonderful connection in the photo of Barton with Bunker, about four months before he died.
Barton started writing the book the day after Bunker died.
She worked with Adam Wahlberg of Think Piece Publishing, a micro press consisting of one very caring guy (Adam) and his freelancer. Think Piece Press was an artist-friendly mental health imprint that genuinely wanted to help people. Barton was delighted.
"If there is one girl out there who is alone and wants to be rescued by an animal, it is all worth it," she said.
This tiny press was able to get the book noticed on Facebook and some other online outlets but really didn’t have a distribution system. However, the book did get on Amazon and sold 2,500 copies the first day.
Barton’s friend, a published author, read "Dog Medicine" and wanted to write a review and send it to her agent, thinking it could be a really big book. Barton actually said “No thanks” because she didn’t want to deal with a big press that might want to change the book's tone and feel.
Six weeks later, the same agent came back with a deal from Penguin Random House that Barton couldn’t refuse. They didn’t really make any changes to the book and used a similar cover to the one printed by Adam Wahlberg, who, by the way, was compensated in the deal.
And one week after the book came out, it hit the New York Times Best Seller List.