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Speaker 1: This is pet Life Radio. Let's talk pets.

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Speaker 2: Hello, pet lovers, Welcome to Best Bets for Pets. I'm

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your show host, Michelle Burn. And you know, if there's

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anything that I love, you, guys know, I love dogs.

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I greatly miss mister Zusie, just such a dog lover.

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But I love doing puzzles, all kinds of puzzles. I

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think it's a great way to stimulate your brain and

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to learn things, and I just have such an affinity

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for it. My guests today combine both, so I am

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over the moon excited to talk with her and share

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her book with you. So stay tuned, we'll be right back.

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Speaker 3: Take a bite out of your competition. Advertise your business

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with an ad in pet Life Radio podcast and radio shows.

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There is no other pet related media that is as

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large and reaches more pet parents and pet lovers than

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pet Life Radio, with over seven million monthly listeners. Pet

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Life Radio podcasts are available on all major podcasts platforms,

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and our live radio stream goes out to over two

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hundred and fifty million subscribers on iHeartRadio, Odyssey, tune In,

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and other streaming apps. For more information on how you

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can advertise on the number one pet podcast and radio network.

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Visit petlifradio dot com. Slash advertised today.

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Speaker 4: Let's talk pets on petlifradio dot com.

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Speaker 2: Welcome back everyone. I'd like to welcome Debra Simon. She

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is the author of Dog Lovers Activity Book. Welcome Debra,

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him Michelle, thanks for inviting me. I'm very excited to

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have you on. So before I ask what, well, I

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want to know what inspired you to create the dog

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Lover's Activity Buck, But can you share your background with us.

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Speaker 5: In terms of dogs or in terms of profession both?

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Speaker 6: Oh?

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Speaker 5: Okay, Well, I am a dog person. Ever since I

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was a little girl, I wanted to have a dog. Unfortunately,

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there were no dogs allowed in my house. But when

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I met my husband and he heard that I'd always

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wanted a dog, he immediately said, well, then let's go

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get one. To tell you the truth, I didn't even

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know how you go about that, but he had grown

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up with seven different dogs, so he took me to

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the animal shelter in Durham, North Carolina, where we were living,

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and that's where we found our first rescue dog tubs

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and over the years we've had many dogs, as many

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as three at a time.

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Speaker 2: Well, I think that's a wonderful story. And you know,

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you got to love a partner that hears you want

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a dog and it's like, let's go do it. You

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know That's that says a lot. What about you now?

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You're an author? Have you written in the past or

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is this the first time? Oh no.

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Speaker 5: I have been working for national magazines and news services

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since I was I guess eighteen years old. My work

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has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Seventeen Magazine, Adweek,

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Thompson Reuters, The Miami Herald, The Hartford Current, the Financial Times,

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and I'm the founder, editor and publisher of Carolina Woman magazine,

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which is now celebrating more than three decades. You can

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find us at www dot Carolina Woman. That's Woman with

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an a dot com.

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Speaker 2: Well, thanks for sharing your background with us. So what

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inspired you to create the Dog Lover's Activity Book?

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Speaker 5: Well, my dogs and all the joy and fun they

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bring to my life, and I thought that if I

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could would come up with activities that people could do,

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could enjoy, it'd perhaps even share with their dog with

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their family, it would be great. So there are things

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in the book newly shan life, Doggie Dreaming. Am I

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a dog whisperer, dog o, lingo, baunappetite, nuts about MutS.

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Speaker 6: So it's just.

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Speaker 5: Lots and lots of fun.

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Speaker 2: Well, we're gonna get more into the book. But you'd

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mentioned that your dogs led you to write the book.

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You'd mentioned Tubs. What are some of the other dogs

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that have inspired you in your life to write The

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Dog Lover's Activity Book.

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Speaker 5: Oh, thanks for asking. I love saying great things about

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all my dogs, you know, some of whom I have

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gone over the Rainbow Bridge or My first dog, Tubs

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was what we called a Snickerdoodle, a mix of Schnauzer,

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Terrier and poodle all from the shelter. He was little,

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about twenty three pounds. Then we had Lily, who was

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a black, shaggy dog who looked like a Bouvier. She

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was big Delancey, another big, black shaggy dog who looked

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like a Portuguese water dog. And then we had Riving Tin,

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also like a sixty pound Schnauzer Terrier mix. And finally

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Samson was a one hundred pound Great Pyrenees. He passed

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away two years ago at the ripe old age of fifteen,

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which is really you know, old for one hundred pounds dog.

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Speaker 2: Yes for a dog that big bat is a long

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time Yeah.

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Speaker 5: His last two years we called it Doggie assisted Living

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and my husband, who I told you about, would buy

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ninety pounds of chicken every month and make him chicken

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and rice from scratch and that's that's what he ate

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the last years of his life. That was on the

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veterinarians recommendation. And now we fostered dogs through Pause New England.

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Our guests have included Brownie, a chocolate lab who was

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our dog when I wrote the book. In fact he

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wrote the introduction and then we and Millie, a Great

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Pyrenees mix, and both have found their forever homes.

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Speaker 2: So Brownie was a foster.

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Speaker 5: Yes, Brownie and Meally were both foster's and it's something

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I love doing now ever since Samson passed, that's what

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we have been doing, is fostering and it's just a

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wonderful way to help animals.

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Speaker 2: You know what we're going to talk about your book,

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But if you were to share something to our listening audience,

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you know their pet lovers, you know, furbabe lovers about

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fostering too. If someone has thought, well, I don't know

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if it's for me, whatever, what would you tell them.

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Speaker 5: Well, I've heard a lot of people say that, like,

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I can't imagine falling in love with the dog and

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then giving the dog up. But when you realize that

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you could do this for a succession of dogs, basically

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saved their lives and help them find their forever homes,

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it just it, I don't know, it just grabs you somehow.

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And when you see each time I've delivered my foster

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dog to their new home and their new pet parents,

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and it's just been wonderful and heartwarming. It's always been

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to just lovely people, and it's just great to see

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how the foster dog who I love is now going

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to be in this very loving home with wonderful people.

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Speaker 2: Oh, thank you for sharing that. Okay, let's talk about

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your book. So you told us a little bit about

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the activities, but let me ask this, why did you

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decide to have like a lot of different activities in

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their book? Are you a puzzle person?

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Speaker 5: Well, I just thought it's a great way for anybody

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from you know, technically it's in the adult category of books,

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but it's fun for the whole family. So I imagine

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little kids enjoying the book with their parents I imagine

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adults having great time doing the noises, the word finds,

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the puzzles, really everything, and there's lots of information there.

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But it's not a dry book. It's a book that

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it embraces the love and the joy and the fun

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we have with our dogs, and it's just all part

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of that.

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Speaker 2: Well, one thing I loved is that there are so

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many types of activities. Like you said, there's word search,

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there's mazes, there's fella in, there's tips about there's not

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tips but celebrities and their dogs pairing them. What am

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I forgetting because it's it's not my book, it's yours.

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I perused it. But the puzzles in their book are

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just so much fun.

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Speaker 5: Oh, it's just great. There's let's see the puzzles like

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you said, there are fill ins like fill in the blanks,

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there are quizzes, there are match games, there's mad libs,

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word finds, the mazes. Like you said, there's even pages

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where you can color things in. There are pages where

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it's a can you tell the difference between these two pictures?

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And it's really funny because it's when the puppy first

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came to the house and the house is just destroyed,

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and then the puppy is an older dog, and of

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course by then everything's well organized and lovely. So I

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love those plus just so much more.

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Speaker 2: Well, thank you for sharing that. So let's talk again

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about something you brought up. Your book is educational as

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well as entertaining, So I mean, that's a hard thing

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to do to make something educational but also entertaining, and

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it's educational besides one past the fact that the puzzles

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are educational. You know, doing puzzles are great for your mind,

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for adult minds, for young all minds, children's minds. But

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what made you to decide to make it so educational?

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Speaker 5: Because I'm a journalist and I bind my two loves,

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which is information and providing you know, information to people

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that's you know, valid and authentic and things that's actionable

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and they could really use with their dogs. And making

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that information fun is also kind of who I am

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as a personality, because I like to have a good

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sense of humor and have lots of fun. That's what

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we joke. That's why I keep my husband around because

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he's you know, good for a good time and you know,

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so this was a way to put it all together.

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My abilities as a reporter and a writer, as well

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as my love of dogs and sons. So fun.

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Speaker 2: Okay, we're going to take a short break and we

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will be right back. Real people, real stories.

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Speaker 7: Our little dog caveolted this lump problem. The chemotherapy lasted

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for six months, started developing more lymph nos so I

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thought I'd just try carnival. The lumph nose started to

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go down. Then I took him into the vet to

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him checked out, and then there was no signs at

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all inside.

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Speaker 1: My cat had issues that developed in his height, and

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three months later my ven airing said let's go ahead

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and remove the eye.

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Speaker 5: I heard the Carnivor on advertising, so I said.

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Speaker 7: You know what, I'm going to order this product. They

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did the procedure, they did all the death and they said,

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I don't know what you did.

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Speaker 2: This product they had I.

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Speaker 7: I've got a labrador. You could hardly lift yourself up

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off the floor. The treatment was chemotherapy. That's when I

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said this could be the ticket. About three weeks you

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could tell she was very alert. She was going on

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buy my walk and she is just like crime again.

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Speaker 2: Well eight six six eight three six eight seven three

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five that's eight six six eight three six eight seven

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three five or visit carnivore dot com. That's c A

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r N I v O r A dot com. Use

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promo code pet life at checkout for fifteen percent off

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your order at carnivora dot com.

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Speaker 4: Let's Talk Past, Let's done, Pets talk about Life radio

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Headline Radio at live radio dot com.

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Speaker 2: Welcome back, everyone. We're talking to dever Simon. She is

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the author of dog Lover's Activity Book. So we talked

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about your book in the first half and about yourself. Now,

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let me ask this. There's people that are usually crossword

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or word search, usually one or the other. Which one

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are you?

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Speaker 5: Oh? I love well, I'm a scrabble person, so I

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guess you would say I guess you would say puzzles.

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I also play words with friends and really just about

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anything you can do with words. I'm a writer, so

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that's the way it is.

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Speaker 2: I agree. I have affinity for reading and I have

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a thing for words writing. When I retire, I plan

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to write a book. That's my goal. Let's also one

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other thing that I thought of when I was as

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I was going through the puzzles, I thought, you know,

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this could really inspire people to maybe foster or adopt dogs.

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What do you think?

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Speaker 5: Well so much? And you know people who are dog people,

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whether they have pure bred dogs or whether they adopt

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dogs or dog people. So this book I think works

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for either set of people. I do have to say,

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because all of our dogs have come from rescues, a

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lot of this really does have a lot to do with,

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you know, adopting a dog from a shelter. But we

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do have some things about I think we have one

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called Breed all about It where it talks about the

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different breeds. But besides that, much of this has to

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do with with just you know, everyday dogs and your

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own dog and how you love them no matter where

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they came from.

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Speaker 2: I love it. And the thing is too, when you

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when you think about shelters, I mean a lot of

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people that are not maybe not familiar with shelters don't

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understand that there's all kinds of dogs, and there's also

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rescues that are that are breed specific. There's greyhound rescues,

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there's there's all kinds of rescues and you never know

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what breed or mix. I like Mutt, that's my favorite.

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Speaker 5: Mutt is my favorite breed too. But I'll tell you

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my dog, sam'son. My last dog, who was not a foster.

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We got him from the Great Pyrenees Rescue. And the

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reason we did was very interesting. We lived out in

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the country in North Carolina and the coyotes were attacking

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are two big dogs, and there was really nothing we

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could do to stop it. And I looked up, like,

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who or what are the enemies of of the coyote

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And I realized that the Great Pyrenees as a breed

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is the enemy of the coyotes. So we found a

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Great Pyrenees and we adopted one. And from the second

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we had Samson, we could hear the coyotes howling in

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the woods, but they never again came back to our house.

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Speaker 2: Oh that is a great story. Wow.

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Speaker 5: Yeah. And then also, like I said, I mean, Delancey

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very much looked like a Portuguese water dog, even though

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we got her from the DRM Animal Shelter. When I

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would take her to, say, you know, a pet smart

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type of place, people who were breeders of Portuguese water

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dogs would stop me and start talking to me about

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my Portuguese water dog. And when I would say, oh, well,

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she's really a mutt, they would say no, no, no,

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no no, that is definitely a Portuguese water dog. So

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she again was adopted from the animal shelter. So you

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really never know what you'll find at the animal shelter

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and from the rescues. You clearly know that you're getting

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one of those dogs.

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Speaker 2: You know you're so right because when my first dog passed,

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it was right before a hurricane, and I was so

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I was living alone. I was just so lonely, and

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I was looking for I like border collies, but mixes.

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So my goal was a border calling mix that's okay,

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but border calling mix. When I found mister Zeus, He's

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named Zeus because I got him right before Hurricane Wilman.

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I didn't want to name him Fred, so I picked

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him up Sunday morning, right before the shelter closed down

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for the duration of the storm, and that night we

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went through the hurricane together. I thought he was a

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border calling mix. Turns out he was flat hair retriever,

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maybe some border collie and who knows what else. Best

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dog ever he's gone, you know, another Rainbow Bridge hooch.

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But you know, they here are such intense love in

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our lives that even though it's so difficult, so so

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difficult to lose them, it's all worth it, and adopting

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out of shelters and rescues is definitely the way to go. Okay,

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so let's get back to your book. Were there any

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activities while you were creating your book that you just

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decided this one's not going to work that did not

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make the cut? Can you share that with us?

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Speaker 5: Yeah? And actually it's kind of funny. It was something

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I never considered. This book is going to be released

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not just in the United States, but in the United Kingdom.

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So British English is sometimes different than American English. Right,

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So this book originally was supposed to be called Color

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Me a Dog Person, But Color in the United States

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is spelled colr. Color in England is spelled colo. You are,

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So the entire title of the book had to be

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changed so that it could be released in both countries.

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Speaker 2: Wow, So it wasn't quite an activity, but it was

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the entire title how to be changed?

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Speaker 5: Yes? And thank goodness, Ay this such great editors at

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Quardo Publishing, which is publishing the book. They managed to

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change everything that had to be changed and I didn't

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have to do anything.

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Speaker 6: Yay.

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Speaker 2: That's Oh. The editors out there are amazing. So let's

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talk about Brownie. If Brownie could try the activity book,

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what do you think would be his favorite?

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Speaker 5: Well, I've got to let you know a funny story

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about Brownie. When Brownie came to us, he was one

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hundred and thirty pounds and he was apposed to weigh

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seventy five.

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Speaker 2: Wow.

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Speaker 5: Yes, So whatever his situation was before he got to

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us through cos New England, he apparently had been fed

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a lot of hot dogs, so I'll never forget. I

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asked the woman in charge of the fostering what exactly

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what was his goal weight? She said, well, we just

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like to see a little definition around the hips.

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Speaker 2: So hush, I'm sorry. I'm trying to imagine from seventy

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pounds to one hundred and thirty that's a lot of

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extra weight on a dog.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, you know, we laughed, but still not funny.

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Speaker 2: And I'm just trying to picture, like when you said

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a lot of hot dogs. He might look like one

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of my cats that looks like an armadillo.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, we were concerned he couldn't walk the five steps

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up to our house. Oh but he made it, and

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we fed him exactly what we were supposed to feed

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him according to the bag, nothing more. If he wanted snacks,

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they were carrots. And we walked him and we took

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him out, and we took him to the dog park

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and we did everything, and he lost thirty pounds while

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he was with us for the first I think two months.

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Speaker 2: Ah, that's great.

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Speaker 6: Yeah, And then it was really great because friends of

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mine would say, I'm going to move into your house

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because then I'll lose weight, and I explained to them

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this does not work for people.

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Speaker 5: It only works for dogs.

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Speaker 2: Well, people reduce their calories and exercise a lot.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, but in my house only works only works for

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the dogs. Yeah.

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Speaker 2: So would Brownie's favorite activity be one that featured desserts

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in your book.

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Speaker 5: Well, he liked the one called Leading Dogs, where you

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match the celebrity with his or her dog. For example,

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we learn about the dogs of Chloe Kardashian and The

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Rock plus many more. I think Brownie would have liked

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that a lot.

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Speaker 2: That's always fun, and it's always kind of surprising sometimes

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because some of these celebrities that you would think, you know, oh,

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they would like a little fluffy kind of a dog

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and they have a you know, just a dog, that's

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the exact opposite. I have a lot of respect for that.

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I actually there's a lot of celebrities too that do

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a lot for rescues and so forth, so good for them. Okay,

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in your book, what is your favorite activity? So if

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there was one activity on your book that you could

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do over and over, what would it be.

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Speaker 5: Well, again, because I'm a writer, I have to tell

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you the mad libs. I love that the best because

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you get to fill in the story and really, as

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you're filling it in, you're creating your story. So I

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like that a lot.

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Speaker 2: Okay, that's a lot of fun. This is a really

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entertaining book, and like we talked about in the first half,

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it's educational as well. I mean, it's really informative. I

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thought I knew a lot about dogs, but I learned

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a few things. So I did know a few things,

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but I learned a few things too. And I always

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really appreciate that when books can educate me, because I

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think learning is something that's never should end in your life.

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But what do you hope that readers of The Dog

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Lover's Activity Book gain from the book?

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Speaker 5: I hope that they just have a lot of fun

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with the book and actually do the activities while in

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the presence of their dog, petting their dog, rolling around

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with their dog, just sort of taking the dog for

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a walk, sitting down on a bench, and doing the

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activities so that it really includes the dog, because that's

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what this is all about.

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Speaker 2: Well, I love your book. Now, do you think that

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you might have a second one out about cats?

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Speaker 5: Well, I would love to write it because I love

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cats too, and I have had cats in the past.

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My favorite cat was the cat who had no name,

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and that stayed his name. So I guess it's all

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up to Quarter Publishing and they know where to find me.

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Speaker 2: Well, let's hope for that. So, Deborah, what is the

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best way for listeners to use the book?

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Speaker 5: Well, while the book is tons of fun and humorous

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at its heart, I think it's an opportunity to reflect

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on the joy that pets bring into our lives. So

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it's great for you to just pick up on the

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way to the beach or a vacation, or just have

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a fun thing to do on a Sunday or Saturday afternoon.

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The book is also great for gifts, and it's coming

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out November eleventh, so that's a great time for holiday gifts,

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So I think people can use it in that way.

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Speaker 2: Well, I agree with you absolutely. So where can people

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find The Dog Lover's Activity Book.

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Speaker 5: Well, luckily, it's available at all major book retailers including

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Barnes and Noble, Amazon, Bookshop, Dot Org and more that

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you usually would buy a book from online. Also, I

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always encourage folks to shop at their local independent bookstores,

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and a bookstore can always order the book if they

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don't happen to already have it in stock.

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Speaker 2: Well, I want to thank you so much for coming

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on Best Bets for Pets and telling us all about

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the dog Lovers Activity Book. Search for it by author name,

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It's Deborah Simon and it's dog Lovers Activity Book. Deborah. Again,

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thank you so much for coming on Best Bets for Pets.

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Speaker 5: Thank you, Michelle, it was a pleasure.

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Speaker 2: Well, pet levers, this is definitely a great book to get.

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It's by Deborah Simon. It's called Dog Lovers Activity Book,

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and there's just so many fun activities. Great for adults,

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great for adults to do, but children as well. Great book.

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I want to thank my guest Deborah Simon for coming

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on Best Bets for Pets. Thanks to everyone listening to

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Best Bets for Pets. I appreciate your listenership and loyalty.

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Thank you so much, and of course thank you to

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my dogs in heaven, mister Zusy and my other Babes

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for Babes and mister Nicki. And thanks to my cats

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who sometimes remind me of dogs, which will help when

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I do the activities and the Dog Activity Book. So

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thank you, Dennis, Charlotte Molly, and of course a huge

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thank you to my producer, Mark Winter for working his

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magic and making our show sound amazing. Now keep listening

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because you never know what we'll have next on Best

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Bets for Pets.

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Speaker 4: Let's talk Bets every week on demand only on petlight

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Radio dot com