As I write this, Frieda is dozing by my feet, purring like a kit. But I call her the “Demon Dog” and I used to call her the “Helldog.” She is a sweetie, but she is a handful. Yesterday, I got cocky and decided I would take a sweet video of the four dogs running to me on the path. Frieda almost made it to me, and then took off abruptly up the hill after some animal only she saw. You can see a 14-second glimpse into the unraveling of an idea. At the end of the video, I drop the camera and take off after her. I got her too.
This is why I am not a fan of guru training books. They just are not real. Frieda is real. Frieda can get you to move.
A reminder that training a dog – especially this dog – is a humbling experience.
Reba Wadsworth is an educator and blogger and book reviewer and she wrote the loveliest review of “Meet The Dogs of Bedlam Farm” and was good enough to send it to me.
Reporters have asked me why I decided to write children’s books, and the answer is that the children I have met are the purest and most devoted animal lovers I know. Beyond that, it seemed a challenge for me creatively, to write in a new language to a new audience. My editor at Holt, Sally Doherty, challenged me as good editors will do and we ended up with a book that was more important to me that I had quite anticipated.
At first, I was uncomfortable with the form. It seemed too simple to me, too elemental and basic. But then I got – with Sally’s prodding – the idea that this was the point. A very different kind of writing for me. I want to move ahead and try different kinds of stories. And I am much encouraged by the response to the photography. My photos of the dogs, which I have been privileged to able to take have allowed me to present them and their lives in a warm and completely different way. The photos in “Meet The Dogs Of Bedlam Farm” do tell a whole different kind of story. Anyway, thanks to Reba Wadsworth for the thoughtful and enthusiastic review of my first children’s book. It can now be ordered on Amazon, bn.com or through any chain or independent bookstore. My tour for the book in early May will take me to New York City, New Jersey, Portland, Seattle, Chicago, Cincinnati and Boston. The tour details will be posted on the website shortly.
