Lenore loves to sit in water. She is a Lab, and needs to sit in water and mud and eat
revolting stuff and dig holes. If you don’t want these things to happen, don’t get a Lab. But if you do, let them live their lives, as you would live yours.

  March 31, 2009 – Cool, clear. We are planning the “Soul Of A Dog” book tour for September and October (the book is due out August 18, and is available for pre-ordering on Amazon and BN.com as well as independent bookstores. Cities under consideration: Portland, Seattle, Boston, Washington, Los Angeles, Albany. In keeping with the time, a comparatively small tour and we are saving some energy for the release of my novel next year.

  I am not certain whether or not dogs have souls, but I am more focused on saving their spirits. Dogs need to be dogs. Border collies need to work, Labs need to wallow in muk, and all dogs need work, exercise and attention of one sort or another. In our rush to turn dogs into existential versions of ourselves we risk taking their souls and spirits away.
  This is much on my mind, not only because of “Soul Of A Dog,” which explores that question through the lives of my own dogs and animals, but because I am writing a novel about the coming to consciousness of a working dog, a female, on a remote farm during a blizzard, a subject I unfortunately (or fortunately) have too  much experience with.
  The novel is inspired by Rose, and my experience of watching her grow over the years, make decisions, and take responsibility. She makes choices every day.
  I respect that. Rose is not a pet. Lenore and Izzy are.
  I think dogs are in danger of losing their souls to people who want to love them so much that they sometimes forget to respect their true nature as wondrous animals, not adorable versions of people. It makes me sad to hear people tell me so enthusiastically that their dogs are like children to them. To me dogs are like dogs, and children are like children.
  I try and respect the nature of my dogs, and permit them to be what they need to be, not what I need them to be. Sometimes I fail in that, but I will keep trying.