Authors & Their Dogs - Pat Frayne & Charlie

Amber: Welcome Pat Frayne, an author of cat stories who loves her rescue dog Charlie.

 

Pat: This is Charlie, our nine year old black lab, border collie mix. He was thirteen months old when we adopted him from a family who had two other dogs. They'd rescued him from the streets of Phoenix when he was just a puppy.

We call Charlie our wild child, because he gets along better with coyotes than he does with other dogs. Actually, he prefers people to other animals. He especially loves children.

For a nine year old dog, Charlie’s in good shape. He walks 3-4 miles a day with Ron. When we first got him he had a stainless steel chain on his neck. His legs looked longer because he was lean and almost totally black. He looked like a prince. People used to turn around and stare at him. He really was a beautiful dog.

Pat Frayne, grandmother, author and retired registered nurse lives with her husband, Ron and their black lab mix, Charlie, in a small town in northern Arizona. 

Pat writes fast-paced adventurous mysteries about a mystical cat with unique powers. They're a bit scary, lots of fun with an emphasis on the value of friendship and loyalty. The creation of the character, Daisy, a young fawn with hazel eyes, was inspired by Pat's granddaughter, Cait. Daisy makes her first appearance in Topaz and the Plum-Gista Stone. The second book in the series  Tales ofTopaz the Conjure Cat. The books can be read in any order.

Stories for parents and grandparents as well as children who wish to retreat into a world inhabited by mystical characters…

Topaz and the Plum-Gista Stone 

An evil sickness has befallen Topaz's old friend, the great owl, Otis. Topaz, Dooley the racoon, and Daisy the fawn take him to the Healing Gnomes at North Fortress to be cured. As for Topaz and Dooley, their journey doesn’t end here. Grim circumstances compel them to leave the fortress tin search of the Plum-Gista, a rare precious stone, in a mysterious and forbidden land. Topaz and his friends face life-threatening dangers as dark magical forces close in.

Find out more about Pat &Topaz

Pat's Website 
Barnes & Noble

Amazon link 

This is the first in a series of 

"Authors & Their Dogs"

If you interested in 

sharing a little about your dog

in 2103

Send me an email

Barista Vincenzo Imhoff (St. Bernard) Character Interview

Vincenzo Imhoff (St. Bernard)

Shipsfeather Academy Barista

I’m the manager of Starbooks and Starbarks cafés in the Shipsfeather Academy. I don’t do it all myself. We run 24/7 and for many years provided the only entertainment and gathering places for 200 dog-shifter  staff and librarians.

My top manager is Fábio Rodrigo, a solid black Fila Brasileiro. The guy is huge like a Mastiff, as big as Cynerik Trent-Croft. None of his staff brace him or argue about their schedule. He’s super self-confident but isn’t good behind the counter, because he has a problem with strangers. His family owns mucho coffee plantations in Brazil and supplies us with a wide variety of beans for custom roasting.

I love developing new recipes. I’ve worked out a version of Pacifico’s grandmother’s Mexican hot chocolate recipe with hot peppers and coffee that is one of our best sellers. Godiva Anglesey loves it, but then Diva loves anything chocolate. 

During the curse, when Liberty and Chronus discovered that caffeine and sugar consumed in human bodies did serious damage to dog bodies if shifting happened before these substances were fully digested. I worked with Fábio to develop a completely caffeine free coffee drinks based on a new strain of varietal bean from a secret location. We’re proceedings with patenting it under the name NoNoCaf. Griswald agreed to act as our patent attorney for free food and drink in all locations. 

My good friend Pacifico Lopez and his programmers are my best customers. Pacifico is helping me create a franchise opportunity for the Starbooks/Starbarks concept. I think the Starbarks café franchises will be popular in other shifter academies worldwide. Starbooks in libraries in this country could also catch on, especially considering all the dog-shifter librarians employed in U.S. academic and public libraries. And Starbarks dogpark kiosks is in the planning stages.

Hobbies: Cookbook collecting, Mountain climbing, cross-country skiing, yodeling and accordion playing.

Menu Items I developed -

Proprietary Blends: Retriever Roast (subtle blend with hint of chocolate), Komondor Kona, Rottie Robusta, Wirehaired Espresso

Specialty Drinks: Malamute Mocha, Whippet Frappe, Irish Red Rover, Lhasa Lattes, Chihuahua Chai, Cocker Cappuccino, Maltese Macchiato, West Highland White Chocolate

Starbarks Food: Liver and Liver, Lamb and Cheese, Chow Chow Chow, Schnauzer Schnitzel, Borzoi Borscht, Poodle Noodles, Bichon Quiche, Shar-Pei Chow Mein

Desserts: Eskimo Pie, Spinone Italiano, Cannoli Corso, Clumber Cobbler, Swiss Mountain Mousse

Favorite Books – Julie and Julia, Mastering the Art of Shifter Cooking, Producing Your YouTube Cooking Show.

Complete List of Characters 
in 

The Shapeshifters' Library Series

  Read 

Released (The Shapeshifters' Library Book 1)

to learn more about Vincenzo's Starbarks cafe, the dog-shifters, and the werewolf book-burners.

Have You Voted? Dogs or Cats?

Is America A Cat Nation or a Dog Nation?

Get Pawlitical! 

America’s Pet Debate will be settled 

on November 9, 2012, 

when the votes are tallied and the winner 

cat or dog – is announced.

For every vote in America’s Pet Debate

Purina will donate $1 to

 Pet Partners’ veteran programs

up to $100,000!

Meet the Candidates 

Team Cat Why are cats better than dogs?

• America owns approximately 86,400,000 cats
  (more are female than male)
• 33% of Americans are cat owners, and 52%
  own more than one cat

Team Dog Why are dogs better than cats?

• America owns 78,200,000 dogs, which are
  equally male and female
• 39% of Americans own dogs, and while
  60% own just one dog, 28% own two dogs and 12% own a pack of three or more

VOTE! VOTE!

And leave a comment and tell why you voted for Team Cat or Team Dog! 

Personal Opinion:
In The Shapeshifters' Library series I come out strongly for dogs (and dog-shifters) because dogs are noble with solid values. In pointing out the good qualities of dogs, as opposed to wolves and cats, occasionally I may write things that seem to demean the cat-loving public. Don't get me wrong, there is nothing bad about cats -But dogs are just better.

I can't figure out why cats are winning!
Only 1 state has more dog votes.

Come on dog-lovers, get out the vote!

Character Interview - Julianna Eisenberg von Noir

I’m Julianna Eisenberg von Noir, the Young Adult Librarian at the Shipsfeather Public Library. 

I love selecting books and planning programs for teens. Everyone thinks I’m successful bringing teens into the library because of my looks. I think that silly. The come for the programs and their love of books.

Everyone does want to know about my looks. I look a lot more like my father Ivan van Noir than my Swedish mother Hildegarde Eisenberg. Mom was an Eastern European bibliographer in Paris and Dad was doing genealogical research into his Transylvanian family tree. Their marriage didn’t last long and Mom brought me to the US and got a job with the Pittsburgh Historical Society.

 

Until I started college I spent summers in Europe with Dad. He was a good father, but a little old-fashioned. When I was young a nanny took me places during the day and Dad showed me the sights of the Old World at night. When I was older I explored the great cities of the Continent by myself.

I think I want to help teenagers have fun in groups because I spent so much time with adults or alone.

My kids love the popcorn machine, pizza and movie nights, gaming days, and all the bookclubs. Yes, the Vampires & Werewolves Bookclub is popular. I’m not team Edward or Jacob. I don’t really care for either. After the curse is broken, a few of the werewolf kids sneak in the library. I promise not to tell their book-burning parents. What happens in the library stays in the library.

I’m certainly not immortal and love the sunshine, though I don’t tan.  I faint at the sight of blood. The Goth girls say I’m cool because I wear a lot of black, but it’s just a color than flatters my complexion.

 

Besides the great staff here at SPL and the good kids in town, the best thing about this job is the dental insurance. After the dentist replaced my canines with normal implants. I felt like a new woman. I even was able to smile at red-haired Taxi McCasson. The head of circulation is sooo cute and so smart. He’s a classical languages scholar. In Book One I’m too self-conscious to talk to him, but in Book Two we begin a friendship. Beyond that, you’ll have to ask Amber. She seems to like us both, so we’re hoping we’ll have more time together in Book 3.

Oh, and I’m an ebook fanatic. Always reading on one of my devices. I want to start a blog and review books for teens.

 

Favorite books: I love most kinds of fantasy (except vampire and werewolf genres). Fantasy is so important for everyone. Teens (and adults) are able to safely explore feelings that might be too intense for the real world. I especially like time travel and fantasy with historical settings. The Outlander series is one of my favs. (Maybe that’s why I love the library celebrations when Taxi wears his kilt. As I said, he is so cute.)

Complete List of Characters 
in 

The Shapeshifters' Library Series

  Read

Released (The Shapeshifters' Library Book 1)

to learn more about Julianna's library, the dog-shifters, and the werewolf book-burners.

Therapy Dogs Smile

Though most dogs are therapeutic for their owners, some special dogs do a lot more.

Teams of dogs and handlers, usually owners, visit schools, assisted living facilities, hospice centers,   hospitals, children's hospitals, libraries, nursing homes, shelters, and DSR (disaster stress relief) programs.

I met Linda Vogel in the Cottonwood, AZ Public Library with Daisy, her calm gentle 7 year-old retriever/lab. As you can tell from her picture, Daisy is one of those dogs who smiles.

Linda and Daisy are certified through the Delta Society Pet Partners program, one of several national organizations that can help you register your dog as a therapy dog.

Our local Verde Valley Medical center hosts a licensed team evaluator and instructor from Delta Pet Partners.

Handlers must take a day-long training course and then return with their dog for a 30 minute test which evaluates the animal/handler team in a simulated hospital setting. The evaluator looks at how well the team relates to patients.

Dogs must have at least six months of age and been owned or with the handler for at least six months. The dog must have a good disposition and respond to basic commands, sit, stay, and leave, and love people with absolutely no growling.

After a team is certified they have many opportunities to brighten the day of hospital patients or work with students.

We know reading and dogs go together, Therapy dogs often go into schools and libraries or reading programs where a child reads to the dog. In programs, such as the Paws to Read, or Tail Wggin' Tutors allow students to practice reading to a non-judgmental companion. Te child pats the dog, relaxes and focuses on reading. 

At the Yale Law School Library, students can check out Monty, a Jack Russell-border terrier mix, a certified therapy dog, to pet him, give him a biscuit, and de-stress from the grind.  

As we left the library, a woman entering stopped and smiled back at Daisy and commented that the dog was smiling at her.

When a Rescue Dog Rescues You

by Jerrie Alexander

I’ll confess right up front. I’m an animal lover. Granted most of them have been horses. And at one time the Alexander place housed two kids, eleven horses, two dogs, and one cat. (Except for the time I bought twenty baby chickens.)                                                                             

So while working my romantic suspense novel The Green-Eyed Doll, I wasn’t too surprised when a big mixed-breed yellow Lab turned up in the book and befriended Sheriff Matt Ballard. Distrusting and hungry, he adopted Matt, showing up to eat but shying away from any contact. The scene worked. They needed each other. So the no-name dog stayed.

Now meet Buddy. I found him out back, flat on his side, too weak to raise his head. Unable to go any further, he’d gone down and had given up. His wounds weren’t visible under all that hair, but we rushed him to the vet where she uncovered bite marks from a much larger dog. Of course, with him weighing in at seven pounds, most dogs were bigger. He was dehydrated and malnourished. He needed to be neutered and wormed, but his system wouldn’t tolerate harsh medicines. So Buddy came home with us while I set out to find his owner.

We were without pets and liked it that way. Okay, we thought we liked it that way. I called every establishment I could think of, printed pictures, and put up posters everywhere I could get permission.

I called the humane society and asked if anyone had been by looking for a lost dog. They hadn’t. The woman said if I brought him to them, they’d keep him two weeks and then euthanize him if unclaimed. That was sooo not happening.

I expected a kid, tears running down his cheeks, to show up at our door clutching the dog’s picture to his chest wanting his pet back. Of course, we were going to give him over.

Thursday, October 18, Buddy celebrates a year as a permanent member of our household. His bed is next to ours, his doggie door is in place and a good part of 2 acres is fenced. He loves it out there, but most of the time he’s close by stretched out enjoying life.

I can’t say we rescued Buddy. It’s more like he rescued us. He brought unconditional love with him. If you ever need assurance that a rescue dog knows who stepped up and saved its life…adopt one. You’ll be a believer.

Buddy’s come a long way, taking us with him. We’re assuming he came to us for a reason. We needed him. The universe spoke, and we listened. How about you? Ever been given a gift by the universe that you didn’t know you needed?

Originally Posted Oct 15, 2012 When a rescue dog rescues you.

Jerrie Alexander writes alpha males and kick-ass women with a hint of humor. Whether her hero is a member of our nation’s military, the FBI, CIA, or a Sheriff in a backwater Texas county, he’s intelligent, aggressive, and hard-headed. He fights injustice, lives life on the edge, and when he falls in love…it’s forever. Her heroine is not afraid to stand shoulder to shoulder with her man and fight for her beliefs – a woman, who loves life, sex, and laughter – a woman who struggles through the dark times and pulls her man, sometimes kicking and screaming, into her heart.

Jerri's first book, THE GREEN-EYED DOLL 

will be out in December, 2012.

Find out more about Jerrie Alexander