Introducing Skip

If you’ve read my books, you already know I have a soft spot for dogs—they tend to wander onto the page and claim a starring role before I can stop them. What you may not know is that for the past twenty years, dogs have been woven into the fabric of my life, offering companionship, comfort, and an endless supply of love.

Today, I want to introduce you to Skip.

Black and white dog with a large yellow ball.

Skip arrived fourteen months ago, tumbling into our family with the force of a joyful tornado. He is my seventh dog and my husband's tenth. We’d just said goodbye to our beloved Zoey after her long

illness. Truthfully, we hadn’t realized how unbearably quiet our house had become. We told ourselves we’d wait a few months before even considering another dog. Our hearts needed time.

Then we saw Skip’s photo on an adoption website.

A week later, this happy, loving, sixty-five pound whirling dervish—who seemed determined to bring life back into every corner of our world—joined our family. (Honestly, who could resist that face?)

He’s three years old, though you’d never guess it from the barely contained puppy energy vibrating through him. Yet he also has the soul of an older, cuddly dog who believes every nap should be taken in a full‑body snuggle. He’s a hunter of squirrels, mice, birds, deer — anything that dares to move on our property. Thankfully for all involved, he’s far better at the chase than the catch.

Skip is chaos and comfort, mischief and sweetness, and somehow exactly what we needed.

So, if a mischievous, squirrel‑obsessed dog shows up in my next book . . . you’ll know exactly who to blame.