Is
She a Dog? by Renee Charles
I
don’t know about yours, but our dog doesn’t know she’s a dog. Well technically
she isn’t. She is a Wolf / German Shepard Hybrid, and way too smart for her own
good. Or ours.
Our
Snap-On tool vendor called us and told my husband his dog had been caught by a
wolf. Nine puppies, come get one. We
waited until they were old enough and took our two boys. As the other dogs ran
and played with each other, this pup came and sat on my husband’s foot. We
encouraged the kids to play with all the puppies to see how they interacted.
When they came near us, this dog was very happy to play with them. When the
boys ran off again, she stayed by or on my husband’s foot. As the afternoon
went on we figured our fates were sealed. She had chosen us. The fact that she got
car sick on the way home should have been a clue as to what we were in for.
Because
she is a hybrid, I felt compelled to do research into wolf/pack behavior to see
how different it would be from having a regular dog. Was it different?
She
is 10 years old now and since she hit about 6 months, it has been like constantly
having a three year old around that never grew up. She loves to play in the
snow, lets us know when she is pissed (usually by burying her food dish in our
bed), and picks on the other dog for fun. (He struggles with the new hardwood
floors so she likes to bump into him and knock him over.)
She
hates to lie on the ground without sufficient pillows, has a sensitive stomach
and will bypass steak to get her paws on pizza. (She will go to great lengths
to steal pizza. Then spend the night throwing up because, like I said, she has
a very sensitive stomach.) When we camp, if she gets dirt on her belly and we
don’t wash it off, she breaks out in a rash. But it’s not usually a problem,
because she doesn’t like to lay on the ground.
She prefers to lay in a camping chair and will steal the chair of
whomever happens to stand up. There are
4 of us and we always bring 5 chairs, then have to explain to people why it’s
not a spare.
So
glad I did all the research into what having a wolf in the family would entail,
none of which seems to apply to her. The running joke in our house is that if
she’d been born in the wild, she would not have made it. However, that research
did come in handy when I wrote my first werewolf novella Changes In Autumn.
Does
she help with my writing? Well, she
likes to lay on the couch next to me with her head on my thigh while I weave my
tales. When she is done waiting her turn for my attention, she puts her paw in
the middle of my keyboard, so if you call that helping… By the way any typos you
see here are her doing not mine.
I
would love to hear what your animals do that makes them seem more human than
pet. Leave it here in the comments…
Title: Only
Love Survives
Publisher:
The Wild Rose Press
Date
Published: June, 2013
Genre:
Urban Fantasy
Word Count:56,000
Blurb:
Amidst an epidemic ravaging
the world, all Megan Fletcher's hopes for the future lie in getting to Las
Vegas where newscasts reported scientists were gathering to search for a
cure for the modern plague. After rescuing her from a rooftop surrounded by
Zombies, Sam Woods appoints himself her escort. While he knows she is
determined to get to Vegas no matter the cost, he doesn't know her secret. And
with his hatred of all things Zombie, she doesn’t dare tell him the truth. The
more he kisses her, the harder it is for Megan to hide her growing feelings…and
the bite-shaped scar.
But Vegas is not the haven
it was promised to be, and when Megan’s immunity to the disease is discovered,
she realizes her future and her heart belong to Sam, if he will trust
her. An idealistic school teacher and ex-corporate mogul manage to find
love despite a looming worldwide catastrophe. Can their love survive while
everything around them is dying? Will they learn that when facing the end of
the world, Only Love Survives.
Excerpt:
Sam eased the soap from her hand. She turned her head to look up at him over her shoulder, eyebrows knit together in question. He lifted her wet locks in one hand, and skimmed the bar of soap over them with the other. Megan closed her eyes, tipped her head back, and gave him full access to her entire head. He rubbed his hands together and watched the bubbles build while his fingers worked the golden brown strands into a lather. It felt damn good to touch a warm human being. Flesh and blood, pulsating with life.He’d been alone too long. Months. Hard to say exactly, since he didn't know what day it was. Bet she knew. She probably knew the exact date it happened, today’s date, all of it. He could ask, but he wasn’t sure he wanted to. It was enough just to touch her.Sam reached over and set the soap on his discarded shirt then focused on the slippery tresses in his hands. He slid his hands through them, over and over, until all the knots came undone between his fingers. When he raised his hands to the top of her head and massaged above her ears, a moan of pleasure escaped her, and it echoed inside him. Fire rushed to his lower abdomen. Despite the cool water flowing around them, his body responded in a way it had no right. He let his fingers slide to the ends of the strands again. Her shoulder glistened, and when he scooped up a handful of water to rinse away the soap, he let his palms trail down to her shoulders just to see if they were as soft as they promised to be. She relaxed under his ministrations, so he didn't stop. He allowed his fingers to trace a path down her arm to her hand below the surface of the water where he laced his digits with hers.
Available for purchase:
Author Bio:
Author, Renee Charles believes all love is
legendary. Being the only female in a house full of giants (husband and two
teenage boys) she tends to lean toward the macabre, but inevitably the softer
side shines through.
Whether life leads her to a snow covered
mountain top, sun dappled forest, or the bottom of a ravine (yes, ditches
happen) she always has a pen and note pad ready so wherever the next adventure
takes her, she can take notes.
Her own romance began in an insane asylum.
Luckily, both she and her husband only worked there. But it makes sense her
romance novels have strange beginnings that lead to passionate endings. Romance
with a twist.
In the face of zombies, werewolves, and big
foot she always seems to find a happily ever after to leave you with a sigh at
the end.
Author
Links:
