Why do dogs eat furniture when there
are endless chew toys nearby?
Why do they always dash to a rug when they have to throw up?
And why are they always absolutely starving?
Why do they always dash to a rug when they have to throw up?
And why are they always absolutely starving?
Things
Your Dog Doesn’t Want You to Know answers
the questions that dog owners have asked for centuries. The book is a
collection of 115 humorous essays that reveal the truth behind some of the most
baffling canine behavior, their hopes and dreams, their grudges and pleasures,
and what they really think about us humans. Peppered with lively, clever
stories and visually appealing photographs, Things
Your Dog Doesn’t Want You to Know is a verbal and visual delight that is
laugh-out-loud funny. If you have
dogs, love dogs, or have ever been baffled by a dog, this book is a must-have.
Topics include:
- My Life in Your Purse by Tinkerbell, the Chihuahua
- Waiting by the Table (for food scraps, of course!) by Orson, the bulldog
- The Bed Rules (Rule #1—It’s my bed) by Dimples, the boxer
- The Reason I Ate the Sofa (leather tastes a lot like rawhide) by Axelrod, the yellow lab
- I Can Poop the Second I Start My Walk (but choose not to) by Sophie, the cocker spaniel
Things
Your Dog Doesn’t Want You to Know is
available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Indigo, Target, on e-books and at
independent bookstores everywhere. For more information, go to www.ThingsYourDog.com
where you can also ask questions about your own dog’s behavior and learn the
secrets they have been keeping from you!
PRAISE
FOR THINGS YOUR DOG DOESN’T WANT YOU TO
KNOW
“A
whimsical delight for dog lovers everywhere, this book will charm and remind
readers why they fell in love with Rover to begin with.” (Publishers Weekly Starred
Review)
“I
laughed, my dog howled.” (Steve Martin)
“This
is the perfect book for anyone who owns a dog, has ever owned one, or knows
what a dog is. These guys made me laugh out loud—and captured my heart at the
same time. The book is simply irresistible.” (Tony Shalhoub, star of the TV
series Monk)
“If
you love dogs and enjoy humor, you’ll love Things Your Dog Doesn’t Want You to
Know. I did. Dog lovers will go crazy with this book!!”
(Kah Cherub, Not Just Nonsense)
“ABSOLUTELY
LOVED IT!!! Overall, this fun read is perfect to leave on your coffee
table and it is easy to pick up, read a few pages and then come back to it,
sort of like your dogs attention span when food isn’t involved.”
(Mary, BookHounds)
“We LOVE this book. Written by 11 dogs
to their owners, each dog’s personality shines through on colorful, journal
like pages. This is the perfect book for dog lovers of all ages. Even my kids
have started asking me to read the book to them. A+ for a fun, beautifully
crafted book.” (M. G. Gagliano “Maria”, Amazon Reviewer)
“This
book was delightful to read because it was so accurate to the many breeds
described. It would make a great gift for anyone considering a dog to help pick
the breed. It was a funny, easy-to-read, laugh-out-loud book that dog owners
will enjoy, yet dogs may have a cause of concern as now their secrets are out
to us humans.” (Motivevotives, Amazon Reviewer)
Tell us a little
about yourself.
I
guess I’m best known for my TV work. I
was one of the original writers of the series “Monk” and wound up becoming the
show’s Co-Executive Producer. From there
I became head writer for the webisode series “Little Monk” and Consulting
Producer on TV’s “White Collar.”
In
the publishing world, I’ve written a dozen books of short mysteries which have
been translated into over a dozen languages.
More
recently, I came out with “Rally ‘Round the Corpse”, the first in my Abel
Adventure mystery series (available everywhere). Most recently I was tapped to take over
authoring the “Monk” novels, a successful series of books based on the
characters from the show.
Did you plan to be
a writer or did it just happen?
Starting
as a teenager, I began working as a stage actor, performing on Broadway and in
national tours. Then one summer, while
doing summer stock, I wrote a play that found a niche Off-Broadway. Suddenly I wound up getting a lot more
respect and more jobs. And from then on,
I was a writer.
What is your
favorite non-writing pastime?
I
love travel and history and dogs. So, I
guess my dream job would be to travel back in time and take care of Marco
Polo’s pooches.
If
you had to sum it up the book in 30 or less words, what would you say?
“Things Your Dog Doesn’t Want You to Know” is a
humor book, 115 essays “written” by 11 dogs who share their innermost
secrets. They range from Tinkerbell, the
world’s most spoiled Chihuahua to Axelrod, a yellow Lab who is puzzled by
everything, from herb gardens to sofas to sprinkler systems.
What inspired the
idea behind your book?
For this book, the title came first.
One evening, my co-author, Jeff Johnson,
and I were watching late-night TV and there was a series of infomercials,
advertising books like “Things The Government Doesn’t Want You to Know” and
“Things the Banks Don’t Want You to Know.”
A seemingly endless number of things we weren’t supposed to know.
At that point, I turned to Jeff and said,
“Sure, what about something really useful like ‘Things Your Dog Doesn’t Want
You to Know.’”
Like many humor books, this one began as a
blog. We started posting on the most
obvious topics: “What We Do When You’re Gone” or “Sticking My Head Out The Car
Window.”
The initial idea was to keep them generic,
in a sort of Everydog persona. But we
soon realized that the humor was in the specifics. It was funnier if the dog had a real
personality, and even funnier if we invented a variety of “blogging dogs”, each
with a radically different personality.
Do you have a
favorite character in Things Your Dog
Doesn’t Want You to Know? Who and why?
I think writers, being naturally lazy, love
characters that are easy to write. From
that viewpoint, Axelrod and Tinkerbell are total favorites. With Axelrod, we got to write a lot of dumb
dog jokes. And Tinkerbell turned out to
be the snottiest, most superior animal on the planet, which somehow came easy
to us, too.
When we wanted to get sentimental and take
the long view about what dogs and humans mean to each other, we turned to
Sophie, our old soul. Gabby was a late
addition to the pack, when we found we were missing the young voice of a
self-obsessed girl.
What has been your
greatest challenge in writing Things Your
Dog Doesn’t Want You to Know?
Our
biggest challenge was getting the tone right.
We wanted something funny but a little edgy. Emotional now and then, but not too
sentimental. And then each dog has a
different style and a different comprehension of the world. Orson, our fat bulldog, thinks of everything
as it relates to food. Axelrod barely
knows his own name, while Moonbeam, our rescue mutt, knows enough of pop
culture to make fun of her human.
Is
anything in your book based on real life experiences or purely all imagination?
We got a lot of our ideas from observing how people
interact with their dogs. For example,
Jeff was in an upscale boutique in Manhattan and saw a woman shopping for
handbags. She would put her Yorkie in
each bag, then stepped back to see how the bag looked with the dog in it. This became our inspiration for Tinkerbell, who
spends much of her life in a handbag.
Which character in Things
Your Dog Doesn’t Want You to Know will be the most difficult to part with?
Sophie is an older dog who likes to
reminisce about life. As we were writing
her stories, Jake, one of our own dogs became sick. We wound up putting a lot of our own feelings
into Sophie’s mouth as a way of helping us say goodbye to Jake.
Do you have to be
alone or have quiet to write?
Jeff can write anywhere under any
circumstances. I hate him for it. When I write, I need to be alone, but not
isolated. If I could, I would hire
someone just to sit in the next room and not say anything.
What has been your
greatest pleasure in writing this book?
Jeff and I had always wanted to write a
book together. Our goal was to make it
full of humor but with a little edge.
Sweet without being sentimental.
For four months, we got up every day and talked about dogs and swapped
paragraphs and laughed a lot. It was a
great experience and we hope that readers can appreciate all the fun and energy
we put into it.
What do you have in
store next for your readers?
I
was just commissioned to continue the Monk novel series. Somehow I got on this crazy deadline where I
have to write two books in the next six months.
In addition, I’m trying to finish the second book in my Abel Adventures
mystery series. The first is called Rally ‘Round the Corpse and is available
now. The second will be called If I Should Die Before the Wake and will
be available in 2013.
What has been your
greatest pleasure or personal success as an author?
Without
a doubt, it was my eight years working on “Monk”. I went into work every day to a room full of
funny, generous writers and got to create a show for a great actor.
Is there a genre
you wish you could write, but haven’t made the plunge? Which one and what
appeals to you about it?
I’ve
always wanted to write a YA novel.
They’re, in general, big on plotting and concept and are becoming more
popular with the so-called adult audience.
About a year ago I got an idea for a great story. Very high-concept. I imagine it will continue to gnaw at me
until I actually sit down to write it.
Why did you choose
to be an Indie writer and would you choose to self-publish again?
Jeff
and I are not indie writers. Being
publishing dinosaurs, we have always gone through the old route of agents and
publishers. But if we ever get a great
idea that a publisher doesn’t understand or doesn’t want to commit to, we would
readily switch over to self-publishing.
What is the best
piece of writing advice you’ve received?
I
think Earnest Hemingway said (and I’m paraphrasing), “Always stop for the day
when things are flowing well and you know where you’re going. It makes it easier when you sit down and
start again.”
Which authors and
books have most influenced your writing style?
I’m
a big fan of humor fiction writers like P.G. Wodehouse and E.F. Benson. Basically I go for dead English guys with a
lot of initials. Also H.G. Wells.
Have you ever literally deleted or thrown away a book you’ve
written?
I’ve never thrown away a book. But I worked in TV for years, and for every
series that you get on the air, there are at least 10 that never see the light
of day. My favorite was “Mr. and Mr.
Nash”, a pilot that Steve Martin and I wrote for Alan Cumming on ABC. It was about two gay interior decorators who
solve crimes. The premise was great, but
it never quite worked.
MEET HY
CONRAD
Best known for his work in mysteries, Hy was one of the
original writers for the groundbreaking series, Monk, working on the show for all eight seasons, the final two as
Co-Executive Producer. In a related project, Hy was Executive Producer and head
writer of Little Monk, a series of
short films featuring Adrian Monk as a ten-year-old. His latest TV work was as writer and
Consulting Producer for White Collar.
Hy is also the author of hundreds of short stories and ten
books of short whodunits, which have been sold around the world in fourteen
languages. Hy’s first mystery novel
series, Abel Adventures, debuted in 2012 with the publication of Rally ‘Round the Corpse. And his first full-length comedy/mystery
play, Home Exchange, premiered at the
Waterfront Playhouse in May 2012. Hy has
recently begun writing the Monk book
series, which will be available in 2013.
He lives in Key West with his partner and two miniature
schnauzers. (www.hyconrad.com)
My
website: HyConrad.com
My book
website: ThingsYourDog.com
Twitter: ThingsYourDog
Thank you for hosting Jeff :)
ReplyDeleteI love this book! Hope the tour goes good.
ReplyDeleteSo fun:) Great idea and can't wait to read! Now, look forward to one for cats as well:O)
ReplyDeleteCool giveaway! Thanks for sharing:)
Michelle
Pit Crew
The craziest thing my pets have ever done...well, my 7 pound, declawed cat chases the 40 pound mutt and the 55 pound golden retriever around the house.
ReplyDelete