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Thrown out of training classes, banned from local parks, shunned by the neighbours and now Royal Mail is threatening to sue them…
Marley & Me meets This is Going to Hurt in this hilarious and moving real-life diary about a woman who’s bitten off more than she can chew!
Meet Otis and Kiara, two giant Rhodesian Ridgeback puppies who turn Saz’s life upside down! Kiara is wild and wayward and does not belong in the civilised world of people and their pets. Otis, her loyal brother thinks it’s his job to back her up at every opportunity!
With the experts insisting that she must give one of the dogs up, will Saz be able to get these two mad dogs under control before losing any more friends and family and before almost certainly losing her mind?
Described as Bridget Jones but with giant dogs, if you like dogs and love a laugh, then this book is for you!
Profits from the book will go towards buying land to set up The Gentle Soul Sanctuary to home neglected and abandoned animals. Please spread the word far and wide. ♥
My thanks to Hannah of Hannah Hargrave PR for the offer of a review copy. Mad Dogs and Me is published by Gentle Giant Press and available in ebook (including Kindle Unlimited) and paperback (1 March 2024). It’s a pleasure to feature a guest post from author Saz and at the end of the post I have a giveaway for 3 paperback signed copies together with my review.
GUEST POST
by Saz Wilson
In a moment of madness, I took on two giant Rhodesian Ridgeback sibling puppies. I knew it wasn’t going to be a walk in the park (quite literally) and admittedly my experience looking after dogs was a little rusty, given that I was nine when we last had a family dog.
But I’d read the books, watched the videos and even called a top dog trainer before bringing the pups home – who told me in no uncertain terms to give one of them back!
It’s an understatement to say that these two were not textbook dogs. Kiara was completely bonkers and made it her mission in life to break every rule there was, causing as much chaos and destruction in her path as possible. Otis’s goal was to back her up at every opportunity.
Within a few months, we were thrown out of training classes, banned from local parks, shunned by our neighbours and Royal Mail were threatening to sue us. Their strength and speed of growth was staggering and our once zen-like life rapidly descended in chaos and calamity – it was like living in a house with two wild ponies. Strangely however, from an outsiders viewpoint, it was utterly hilarious.
I would arrive daily at the school gates, looking like I’d been dragged through a hedge backwards, and regale my tales of woe. Sympathy was not forthcoming but bouts of hysterical laughter were in vast supply. One of my good friends (who also reassuringly had a crazy mutt) said, you have to write this down – you couldn’t make it up! And so, I did.
Although I barely had time to take a bath whilst trying to hold down a job, run a house, look after a family and prevent the dogs from eating the piano, I did have time to leave voice notes on my phone as I ranted at the end of each day – huge glass of Merlot in hand.
One year later, at the start of lockdown, I had an astounding 300 diary entries! And thus, Mad Dogs & Me: A comedy diary, was born.
I wrote Mad Dogs & Me for two reasons, the first was to make people laugh because we needed it more than ever (and I struggle to find any genuinely funny books to read), and the second was to use the profits to start an animal sanctuary. As a passionate animal-lover and activist for animal welfare, I made the decision to buy a plot of land with the proceeds from the book and start The Gentle Soul Sanctuary. Otis and Kiara were certainly good training in teaching me how to be patient and kind towards animals as day by day they turned my life into a disaster zone. Disclaimer: I will say now, however, several years later (and plenty of wine) that both dogs are impeccably well behaved and happy members of the family – but boy did I put the work in!
There are so many funny moments in the book, too many to choose from. Without giving away any spoilers, Kiara’s behaviour, although off the charts crazy, was not her fault. The book for me is, at its heart, a love story. It’s so easy to love an obedient dog but really hard to love a disobedient, destructive and at times dangerous dog. Looking after Kiara has taught me that you don’t always get what you want in life – sometimes you get what you need. And through this supercharged, hi-octane rollercoaster of an experience, it has taught me how to have the patience of a saint, the reflexes of a ninja, the stamina of an ox and most importantly to love unconditionally. In the words of Michael Ball, love (really does) change everything. 😉
The feedback from readers has been incredible. People have loved the book and found it “hilarious”, “eye-wateringly honest” and “uplifting”. I’ve had so many emails from people who are unwell and told me this book has been one of the few things to lift their spirits. One girl in hospital is reading it for the third time! The audience for this book has really surprised me. Teenagers, dads, and grandparents all tell me how much they’ve enjoyed the book which is a far cry from the audience I was told to expect, that of middle-aged mums with too much on their plate. I think if you like dogs and love a good laugh, then you’ll love this book.
As it’s written in diary form, up to their first birthday, it makes it easy to dip in and out of. Here’s a little taster…
Saturday 22 September
Ivan was first up and I was basking in the delight of my first lie-in since getting the pups. That was until I heard a bloodcurdling yowl coming from the garden. I leaptout of bed and saw Ivan with his hand at Otis’s bum, trying to pull something out of it. There was a look between horror and astonishment on Ella’s face as Ivan pulled out, as if by magic, what looked like a collar with its buckle still attached! Otis’s missing white collar! I was completely gobsmacked, not only that he’d managed to eat his own collar whole, but that it had taken this long to come out! Dogs have died from less! Once the collar was fully extracted and Otis had stopped wailing, he went back to playing with Kiara as if nothing had happened. The three of us just looked at the collar hanging from Ivan’s fingers with amazement. ‘It’s not white anymore,’ Ella said.
MY THOUGHTS
When Hannah offered a review copy of this, I didn’t hesitate to say yes please.
I’ve had several dogs in my life including one German Shepherd puppy who was labelled as a canine delinquent and expelled from puppy training school. I had every sympathy for Saz trying to deal with her two wayward hounds.
When Saz went against all advice to get two sibling puppies from the same litter, she had no idea exactly what she had let herself in for. Otis and Kiara were trouble from the beginning with Kiara the ringleader and Otis following in his sister’s wake. Within their first year, they had wrecked the house and garden, destroyed so many belongings including the ‘Jimmy Chews’ and terrorised the neighbourhood.
Reading this, I was wincing at the mayhem and wondering how on earth Saz would ever train these two hooligans. The book documents Saz’s struggles with the pups over the course of a year in diary format, the brief snapshots of their lives made for an easy and entertaining way to enjoy the book.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this. It’s humorous, Saz’s witty writing is so engaging. It is also honest with Saz reflecting on things she has also done wrong. Many dog trainers say it is not dogs who need to be trained but owners. There are no pictures sadly, but there are plenty of photos of the two on Saz’s website (link below).
Despite the many problems and behavioural issues, Saz and her family never gave up on the dogs, despite the advice to give one back. Her bond with the dogs was heartwarming and although sometimes broken and at the end of her tether, her patience and perseverance paid off. Dog lovers especially would enjoy this but indeed it could be for anyone who wants a witty and heartwarming read.
Saz Wilson worked in the film and television industry before chucking that all in and writing her first novel, Mad Dogs & Me. Having worked in script development she understood the world of writing but not having had a dog since she was 9-years-old, she was not quite so au fait with bringing up two huge, crazy dogs (hence the inspiration for her first book).
Saz lived and worked in Los Angeles, where she developed formats for the television Networks, then went solo and sold her first screenplay, produced a movie and wrote and directed a musical. Although she calls LA her second home, she now lives in Surrey in the UK with her husband and daughter and two large lovable loons, Otis and Kiara.
An avid animal lover, Saz has grand plans to fulfil her life-long dream of setting up an animal sanctuary, and wants to use profits from the book to raise money to buy the land to start the Gentle Soul Sanctuary,
Always up for a challenge, Saz’s life motto is, “I don’t know what I’m doing, but I know I can do it.”
Follow the author: Website | Instagram | AmazonUK
*** GIVEAWAY ***
Look out for my pinned post on X and BlueSky. There will also be a chance on Instagram to enter the giveaway. Entries welcomed across all platforms
Links below:
On behalf of the publisher, I am delighted to offer not just one, but 3 paperback copies. This giveaway is restricted to UK residents. 3 winners will be selected after 13 December (you need to be following me on whichever platform you enter so that I can contact you if you are a winner). They will each receive one signed copy of Mad Dogs & Me.
The giveaway is open until midnight on 12 December 2024 and 3 winners will be chosen at random. The winners will need to let me have their names and postal addresses. Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties with the exception of the winner’s details. This will passed to the publisher for fulfilment of the prize, after which time I will delete the data I hold.
My Reading Corner is not responsible for dispatch or delivery of the prize.
Good luck to everyone entering the giveaway! 😄
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