Saying Goodbye

My husband and I had to say goodbye to our oldest dog, Luke, this week. We adopted Luke when he was just a puppy. He came from a wonderful family who lived on a farm, and we chose him out of the puppies.

 

He lived fourteen years and five months. He had a wonderful life. He was loved, spoiled, loving, and caring and was one of my best friends.

 

Luke was the epitome of what every human being should be.

Love

Unity

Kindness

Endearment

 

That’s what Luke was. He loved all people and all animals. He never chased a squirrel or bird. He loved attention. And everyone loved Luke.

 

Luke is one of the “Border Buddies” in the children’s chapter book series I wrote. The third book in the series was recently released. I will continue writing these books in honor of Luke.

 

Before Luke crossed the rainbow bridge, I wrote something for my blog but hadn’t posted it yet. So here it is:

 

Have you met the border buddies yet? They’re my dogs and the stars of the Border Buddies series chapter books for early readers! The third book in the series was recently released.

 

A few years ago, I came up with the idea for this series because my two border collie dogs have such amazing personalities, and I thought it would be fun to have them star in children’s chapter books.

 

The first book, Border Buddies, introduces the dogs and follows them on an adventure in the woods. While my dogs were never lost in the woods alone, I wrote things based on experiences we had while walking them on the local nature trail (i.e. Luke not wanting to get near the little stream but Cole going in full force; Luke wanting to sniff around and rest while Cole wants to chase squirrels and bark up trees at birds, and so on).

 

As I was writing the first one, before it was even published, we fostered and adopted Hitch, a Mountain Cur mix. Naturally, I had to include Hitch in the series but without taking away from the border buddies too much. So the second book, Border Buddies Get a Brother, is to welcome Hitch into the family. Fun fact: how Cole acts towards Hitch in this book is basically how I see him acting if dogs could talk because Cole did NOT like Hitch when we first got him. Now they’re best friends.

 

The third book in the series, Border Buddies Help A Friend, is about the border buddies helping a friend who visits and hates winter. I got the idea because one of my greatest friend’s dog hates winter, and she made a joke one day about the border buddies (who love snow) getting Daisy (her dog) to like the snow.

 

These fun and furry tales are only seven chapters long and easy for young children to read. They can be found on Amazon and Barnes & Noble online. The border buddies also ask that you leave a friendly review on Amazon and Goodreads after reading them!!

 

In honor of Luke, the first book in the series, Border Buddies, will be FREE for your eReader from April 13^th to April 16^th. Luke would love for you to read and leave a positive review on Amazon and Goodreads. And it would mean the world to me.