Diary of a Dog Mum

Today was a good day as far as Archie was concerned. He went into the back garden ahead of me. When I went outside I could see the little monkey was rubbing himself against something dark on the ground. I thought it was bird poo (he did the same thing the other day and got bird poo on his beard!). I wasn’t looking forward to shampooing his face (never an easy task with Archie), so I wasn’t sure how to feel about the fact he’d been rubbing his face on a dead vole!

We have a large garden, which Archie loves exploring. One night, when he went out for ‘one last sniff and a wee before lights out’, Simon (my husband) noticed him nudging something with his nose. It turned out to be a frog!

Simon took a short video and when I watched it, it sparked the idea for a story. Could a dog and a frog become friends despite their differences? Did they have anything in common? So that’s where the idea for the first story came from.

Then I began imagining Archie meeting other creatures in the garden, many of which have actually been in our garden. There are another six stories, some more developed than others.

The reason for the delay in getting the first story published was because of the cost of illustrations. Children’s books, at least those for young children, are usually illustrated. I didn’t have the budget to get the whole story illustrated for a picture book.

Then I thought about a chapter book, which would combine several stories. I found the illustrator, Sarah Owen, via Twitter (or X as the platform is now known). We have been contacts on there for a while and I liked her painting style.

I asked Sarah for a couple of illustrations for “When Archie Met Frog”. Sarah is now starting preliminary work on an illustration for the next story.

The chapter book is very much a work-in-progress. When I’ve got illustrations for at least three (if not more) stories, I will publish a chapter book. There will be an e-book as well as a paperback version. That is some way off yet, but it’s good to have a goal.

Publishing a children’s story featuring Archie has long been a dream of mine, and I’m delighted it’s now coming to fruition.

Archie is not at all happy travelling in the car. He cowers on the back seat. We’ve tried many different things to help him, but nothing has made a difference. It’s strange because Archie jumps in the car as though he’s excited to be in it.

He doesn’t bark or cry whilst we’re moving, but he’s clearly stressed. He tries to flatten himself against the back seat. As he’s reached the grand old age of ten, I really don’t think things are going to change.

We’ve long since resigned ourselves to not taking him with us on holiday. He’d have to be sedated to be driven up to the Highlands of Scotland!

Although Archie doesn’t make a noise whilst the car is in motion, as soon as we arrive at our destination, he barks. It’s really distracting and not pleasant for our ears! Again, we’ve tried various things, but nothing has worked.

We now keep car journeys for Archie to a minimum and it’s a shame, because I’d love to take him to more places. One journey that’s non-negotiable though is taking him to see his grandparents, as they all love to see him (and he loves seeing them). I sit in the back with him to try to comfort him. We just have to grit our teeth when the barking starts as we reach our destination!