Explaining to children how to take care of a new pet can be complicated and often overwhelming. Author/photographer/mom/blogger Christi Drue Dunlap makes it easy with her thoughtful and instructive new book LUCKY ME: A Children’s Guide to Animal Companionship and Safety. With sweet-but-smart text, children and parents alike learn how to care for and keep their new pets happy, safe and secure both inside and outside their homes.

ROCKY the Pug

Excerpt from Lucky Me: A Children’s Guide to Animal Companionship and Safety by Christi Drue Dunlap

“Hi, my name is Rocket. But you can call me Rocky. Everybody does. There is a lot to know before you bring a new animal friend home to live with you. My friends and I have some things we’d like to share…

“There are many ways you can help keep us safe when we come home to live with you. Can you think of some?

“Puck [the Cairn Terrier Mix] likes to go for walks, but to do so he needs to be on a leash. Whenever we are outside of your yard, make sure you keep us on a leash.

“This keeps us safe from getting lost, being hit by a car, getting in fights or catching diseases from other animals.

“A collar with identification tags, including a phone number, will help others reach you if we get lost.

“You should also license you dog or cat. This is required by most local governments and helps the Humane Society locate you if we should get lost. Your animal nfriend must have a rabies shot before getting a license. This helps all of us stay healthier and safer.

“To keep yourself safe, you should be careful when you see an unfamiliar dog, even if he looks friendly like my buddy Bogart [the Vizsla]. The first thing you should always do is tell a grownup – a teacher, a parent, or anyone else you know.

“It is best not to approach dogs to try to read their identification tags; let a grownup do that.”

About the book:

Told from the point-of-view of Rocky, an adorable rescued pug, this book will show children (and their parents) what it feels like to be a pet without a home; what the inside of a Humane Society looks like; ways to make sure your new pet feels at home, right away; and how animals tell us what they like and what they don’t.

With over 14 practical tips, LUCKY ME features heartwarming, up-close photographs of seven dogs and three cats: Rocky the Pug, Martha the Bernese Mountain Dog, Bogard the Vizsla, Belle the Lewellen Setter, Durham the Great Dane/Pitbull Mix, Puck the Cairn Terrier Mix, Harry the Poodle/ Bichon Frise Mix and Oliver the Domestic Long-Haired Cat, Gherkin the Domestic Short-Haired Cat and Serena the Calico Domestic Short-Haired Cat.

Visit the www.luckymebook.com for more information. Also, visit Christi’s blog, Life in the Fur Lane to see her musings about life as a mom in a very furry, fun-filled home.

LUCKY ME: A Children’s Guide to Animal Companionship and Safety was published in 2009 by Summerland Publishing. ISBN: 978-0-97954444-9-1. Library of Congress #: 2009931296.

Buy LUCKY ME at these retail outlets:

1. Summerland Publishing

2. Amazon

3. Borders

Win LUCKY ME:

We will be giving away THREE autographed copies of the book! So come back on Wednesday to enter to win your copy.

Author Christ Drue Dunlap

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Author/photographer/mom/blogger Christi Drue Dunlap loves animals. Her blog, Life in the Fur Lane, finds humor and beauty in the chaos of having a child and many pets. She writes and blogs because “family and furry friends make her house a home,” she says. “And life without fetch playing and the occasional furball just wouldn’t be as love-filled and fun.”