The inspiration for book topics can come in surprising ways. When U.S. Navy Seals Team Six killed El Quida leader Osama bin Laden, the crew included a military working dog. When people learned a dog was involved in the raid, they wanted to learn everything about it–what breed, gender, and what work such dogs do.
“The Right Dog for the Job” follows Irah, a wonderful golden retriever who started out as a service dog in training and ended up as a Guide Dog for the Blind. I made many new friends, both canine and human, while working on this project.
Learn how humans developed different kinds of dogs for different jobs, how dog and human brains and hormones work together to bond us, and how new helpful jobs for dogs have come about.
ISBN13: 9780399549885 ISBN10: 0399549889 Publisher: Crown Books for Young Readers, January 2016 Have you heard of Eclipse, Seattle’s bus riding dog? Dog on Board, tells her story. Take a look for book details, and watch the video, from Seattle’s KOMO TV, and this one, from the King County Department of Transportation. You’ll fall …
I recently made an appearance at the beautiful new Billings, Montana, public library to talk about the dog books I’ve written for children. The first, “Maggie: A Sheep Dog,” about a sheep guard dog, came out in 1986, and my next book, “Dog on Board: The True Story of Eclipse …
As I scanned the shelves of old books from our family’s collection in my brother’s study, I spotted “The Fireside Book of Dog Stories.” I had vague memories of it from childhood and was in the mood for reading shorter pieces about dogs, so I borrowed it. Turns out this …
The American Kennel Club website can be a great resource for dog lovers. If you’re like me, you mainly think of the club in terms of dog shows and breed requirements, but the site offers so much more than information about shows and pedigree registration. Here’s a sample of the …
I recently finished reading Fifteen Dogs, by Canadian author André Alexis. This thoughtful book uses dogs given ‘human intelligence’ to explore questions of thought, feeling, life and death, and other aspects of what it means to be human or canine. I would recommend it to all philosophically inclined readers, not just for dog lovers. …
“Do As I Do” dog training, developed by animal behavior scientist Claudia Fugazza (Shown above with one of her dogs), fascinated me when I visited the Family Dog Project in Budapest recently. During this process, the dog learns to copy the moves of the trainer. With the dog sitting in …
Service dogs at the seminar I really enjoyed the broadcast on research at the Family Dog Project in Budapest. In addition to onsite attendees, hundreds of viewers attended from around the world. A dozen presenters gave summaries of their recently published research. The seminar was divided into sections, beginning with What …
