Cincinnati, Ohio – People with dogs understand that elimination is an issue, for them and for us. I rarely take a dog on book tours for lot of reasons. It’s complicated. It is distracting to me and involves food, regulations, hotel and motel choices.  You can’t bring dogs into restaurants, and in Cincinnati, we were challenged everywhere we went. “Is he a therapy dog?” guards ask. He is.

You have to be vigilant. People who love dogs to not always handle them well. Trusting kids run loose around them, people grab dogs, rub them roughly, stick their faces near the dog’s (a challenge to a border collie), think their dogs want to meet them. People ply dogs with unhealthy treats, and too many. Izzy rarely gets treats and doesn’t need them.  (I will honestly never understand why people want to bring dog’s to book readings. I wouldn’t ever think of it. )

But people love to meet dogs,especially Izzy and that is important. I love traveling with him, he is the most easy going creature, and he connects with people. Having a dog underscores many of the things I talk about, but it is still a challenge. When you have to go to the bathroom, you can’t exactly hand him off to strangers, so he comes into the Men’s Room with me, as he goes everywhere else I go, waits patiently. Fair enough. I do the same for him. I sometimes expect him to tell me to get busy.

The blog and Facebook continue to play a growing role in the book tour. On Facebook, we set up a visit to the Bainbridge Library in Chagrin Falls, Ohio Thursday at 7 p.m. and the library says they are getting calls about the reading from as far away as Pittsburgh and Shaker Heights, Ohio. On October 26, 3 p.m. we will be at the  South Hadley, Mass., Public Library, another event arranged largely on Facebook. Wednesday, the Woodford Public Library in Versailles, Kentucky, 2 p.m. And Wednesday night, 7 p.m., Joseph Beth Booksellers, Lexington, Ky. We are rethinking the book tour, something I will talk about tonight at Joseph Beth, Cincinnati, 7 p.m.