My book is officially published! My copy arrived yesterday and more are on the way. I could not be more excited! When I sat down to start this book I was not sure which of my areas of expertise and interest would come out, so I decided to just start writing. I had just finished fostering our beautiful Island dog, Destiny, and I was fed up, disgusted, and saddened on a daily basis about stories in the news about abuse to dogs as well as the daily onslaught of perfectly amazing dogs abandoned like a piece of actual trash at shelters around the country.
With that as my motivation, Love, Laugh, Woof: A Guide to Being Your Dog’s Forever Owner, started to flow out of me and into my laptop. Although I am a realist and do not expect to necessarily impact those who would severely torture a dog, like the “owners” of Caitlin in South Carolina, Cabela in Florida, or any of the other dogs whose abusers are now facing jail time for the atrocities against these beautiful and innocent dogs.
I do pray and put it out to the universe that I can at least impact those who go into dog ownership without all of the information that they need and end up giving up on their dogs for reasons that could be fixed or prevented. In some instances I hope to prevent people from getting a dog if they are not committed to the hard, sometimes gross, sometimes expensive and sometimes patience testing parts of dog ownership.
I want to be a voice that helps minimize the situations where dogs are abandoned for no “fault” other than “getting too big” or “barking too much” or “shedding too much” which in my opinion are cowardly reasons for giving up on a living creature that feels, thinks, and loves like dogs do. And yes, sadly, those are actual reasons that people have turned their dogs over to high-kill shelters and rescue groups.
While Love, Laugh, Woof, might be a fun name, a cute name, the Love, Laugh, Woof Philosophy and The Love, Laugh, Woof Vow are no joke. Love means committing to your dog for its entire life, from the moment they step their first paw into your life until the last breath that they take with you by their side. Laugh means having fun with your dog, laughing with them, embracing the fun in dog ownership as well as laughing off some of their less than perfect moments. And finally, Woof means putting yourself in their position and having empathy for what it is like to be a dog in a human world, with different rules and ways of communicating.
When you self-publish a book you throw your heart, soul, and savings into the project. Unlike a book deal with a traditional publisher, there is no hefty advance, no agent or publicist, no book tour. Instead you pay for everything, from the basic publishing package, plus editing, marketing, photography, and the actual inventory that you sell. Of course this was my choice to follow my dream of writing about dogs and teaching workshops about dog ownership and I appreciate every single social media share with your friends and fellow dog lovers, every single recommendation, every positive review on Goodreads and Amazon, and every bit of support from my “pack” of friends, family and fellow dog lovers! Thank you, thank you, thank you for following my blog, sharing the word, and supporting the mission of Love, Laugh, Woof!
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