Have you ever met a dog who was trouble? Too much energy, destroying everything, etc? Well did you know that they make excellent conservation heroes?
Carol Foote is a former freelance journalist whose work has appeared in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and a variety of popular science magazines. A strong supporter of wildlife conservation, she met with human and canine members of Working Dogs for Conservation while researching this book. Carol lives near Santa Cruz, California, where she enjoys exploring new places and photographing animals in the wild. You can learn more about her at her website or follow her on Facebook, Instagram, or BlueSky.
TROUBLE DOG: FROM SHELTER DOG TO CONSERVATION HERO is a fictional take on a real working dog (or dogs). Here a dog named Tucker is too much for people to handle and he keeps getting returned to the shelter. Until Laura finds him and suspects he might make an excellent conservation hero (and she turns out to be right). The story sucks you right in and grabs at your heart strings, but even more surprising is the nonfiction matter tucked into it. I had no idea there was such a thing as a conservation dog! This story is actually based on two real-life conservation hero dogs, as well as their human co-workers. Incredible!
Please note: I received a copy of this book from the publisher to review, but the opinions, as always, are my own.
Welcome Carol!
Me: Can you tell us a little bit about your writing journey? When did you start writing stories? What brought you to this picture book?
Carol: I wanted to be a writer from the time I learned to write. In third grade, I penciled my first story, a horse story, in a spiral bound notebook. I’m sure it was outstanding, lol, but it has unfortunately been lost to posterity. In eighth grade, I wrote my first unpublished picture book—about a woman whose clock lost an hour each day. In college, I turned to writing terrible short stories. When I graduated with a history degree and realized I didn’t have a career path, I went back for a master’s in journalism and became interested in science writing for adults. I worked on a daily newspaper and later freelanced as a science writer and photojournalist for magazines. It was when I had kids and read to them that I became passionate about children’s literature, and I decided to write for children. I thought it would be easy after writing for adults, but was I wrong! I spent many years studying children’s books, reading books about children’s writing, attending conferences, writing unsuccessful stories, working with my critique group, and revising, revising, revising.
Me: What was it about these conservation dogs that first grabbed you and made you want to write about them? What gave you the idea for this story?
Carol: Like many people, I’d never heard of a conservation dog. I saw my first one, Pepin, at an annual Wildlife Conservation Network (WCN) expo in San Francisco. Pepin’s handler, Megan Parker, who later became one of my main sources for the book, demonstrated Pepin’s amazing abilities at the expo by hiding things and sending him off to find them. That was fun and impressive, but what touched my heart was learning that these remarkable dogs are often abandoned at shelters and marked as trouble because they don’t fit into normal family life. The same qualities that make them great conservation dogs, their nonstop energy and intense focus, make them trouble. I wanted to tell the story of a rejected dog being rescued and finding his place in the world, celebrated for his incredible abilities and accomplishing amazing feats.
Me: I love that! And it worked! You mashed up two real dogs to tell the story of one “fictional” dog, and yet this works brilliantly to pull at the reader’s heartstrings. What gave you the idea to do that? How many revisions did it take for this story to get to this incredibly polished work of art?
Carol: Thanks so much for your kind words! After meeting Megan and Pepin, I started out to tell only their story. I think it might have been Megan who suggested I also talk to another dog’s handler. She introduced me to Aimee Hurt, and I started interviewing her, as well. Aimee told me about her training, travels, and conservation successes with Wicket, who had been in a shelter for six months when she found him. With so many interesting adventures and accomplishments between these two dogs, it made sense to combine tales from both of them. Needless to say, it took countless revisions.
Me: I can only imagine. I imagine that by being a dog lover you could easily lose yourself in the fascinating research. Did you have to do a lot of research for this story? Can you tell us a bit about that process for this story?
Carol: You’re so right that the research was super engaging and fun. Having been a former newspaper reporter, I was used to doing interviews, and I spent a lot of time on the phone with Aimee and Megan and emailing back and forth with them. But before taking up their time with interviews, I delved into magazine articles and books, and I listened to Megan’s excellent presentations and videos online. I also received a lot of support and information from Pete Coppolillo, the Executive Director of Working Dogs for Conservation, who was a regular with Pepin and Megan at demonstrations and events I attended.
Me: I love the angle you used to tell this story about these conservation dogs and really make readers care about them. What was it about this story that you wanted to share with young readers?
Carol: I think what makes readers care is that we all feel for any creature, including dogs and humans, made to feel unlovable and not good enough. We rejoice when we see Tucker go from being forlorn and rejected to being happy and enjoying life, recognized for his extraordinary talents. I hope readers, young and old, will take away the message that everyone has value and the ability do amazing things.
I’m also happy that the story shares something positive and exciting in the field of conservation that I hope will inspire young readers.
Me: Larry Day’s illustrations in this book are gorgeous! I love his watercolor illustrations and how they perfectly capture the exuberance of the dog. Did you have any illustration surprises? Any favorite illustrations?
Carol: I love Larry’s illustrations, too, and am delighted with how he captures Tucker’s complete joy, even when he’s causing trouble, and then his sadness at being abandoned. You can see that he doesn’t understand. He just wants to play and love and be loved. Then it’s so heartwarming when he’s saved by Laura and taught to use his abilities in a way that’s fun for him and valuable to the world.
My biggest surprise with the illustrations was probably that Tucker looks so much like my own golden retriever, Lily. Larry didn’t know I had a dog, let alone a golden.
Choosing a favorite illustration is hard. I love all the adorable little vignettes on the inside front and back covers—there is so much to examine there! Each one makes me laugh. I also love the look on Tucker’s face when he’s facing Laura in the kitchen with everything in shambles, the screen door torn, etc., and his expressions says: what? I also adore the love between them in the last illustration and how the mug is falling, but Megan doesn’t even notice—it’s just pure love between them.
Me: Any advice for other new picture book writers?
Carol: I had to ponder this a while because, of course, the advice to write and read a lot is primary. I think my next best suggestion is to get a critique group. It’s invaluable to have other writers you build trust with and can take honest criticism from. Another good thing about critique groups is they keep you writing because you want to turn in something. And that brings me to another important piece of advice that might seem obvious—start. Don’t just think you’ll do it someday, start. It probably won’t be perfect at first—it might even be terrible—but you just have to face that and get going so you can make it better. I sat on this story for a long time, thinking I would do it. Then I woke up one day and acknowledged that it wasn’t going to get written unless I started.
That is great advice. Thank you for stopping by my blog today Carol.
Dear readers, this book is published today. It’s an original dog story that I’ve never seen before. It will warm your heart and astonish you at how these working dogs are helping to save our world. Trust me when I say that this is a story you won’t want to miss!