Reading Dogs

Whenever I do an anthology with other authors I love to highlight a little about them and give you some peeks into their story. Today I get to share a bit from one of my co-authors from Embrace the Romance, an anthology that highlights pets of all likes. Below is the awesome Susan Grant as she shares a bit about Star Puppy, her contribution to this upcoming release.

Reading Dogs by Susan Grant

I can’t wait for you to meet Trysh, Rornn, Puppy, and the crew of Bezos Station, a city-sized space station in orbit above the planet of Barésh. Some of you may recognize these places—and even a few of the characters—from Star Champion (previously titled The Champion of Barésh) and Star Hero (expanded from the short story “Stray” from Pets in Space 1).

In my story, The Prince, the Pilot, and the Puppy. (Star Puppy), Puppy is a canine type of animal, a “yipwag” in the local dialect. They’re extremely smart. Like Earth dogs, yipwags are experts in predicting human behavior. Do you ever feel as if your dog can read minds? I know I do. It’s because they’ve made themselves experts in YOU. I often catch my border collie, Skye, watching me.

Skye is gathering information, storing it away to better predict my behavior. For example, it’s no surprise that when I get ready to leave the house, she already knows if she’s going to be coming with me or staying home. Hints can be gleaned from things as subtle as me not making as much eye contact (she’s not coming along). We humans are hardly aware of such faint signs, but dogs see our intentions like billboards!

In Star Puppy, Puppy is learning to read a lot more than human emotions and behavior. She’s learning to READ. It may not be as much of an evolutionary leap as we think. In the U.K. there’s a dog named Fernie who has learned to read signs. When this amazingly smart lab is shown the word “Sit” she will sit. Google her. It’s so interesting!

Please enjoy this short excerpt where Puppy is reading and wonders what her humans will think of that when they find out:

They stopped at the base of a ladder, where Her Trysh placed Puppy in Her Rornn’s arms for the climb up to the “observation cone”. It was Her Rornn’s favorite place on the station outside of Her Trysh’s bed.

Restricted Area, a sign said. Unknown to the Tall Ones, Puppy could already interpret the meaning of many of the symbols posted around the station. Bang-Bang might know more verbal commands than she did, but soon Puppy would be able to read. She couldn’t wait for the day the Tall ones figured it out.

She had learned a lot from watching her Tall Ones. For instance, Her Trysh was more likely to balk at ignoring signs such as Authorized Personnel Only than Her Rornn was: “I hope this doesn’t get us in hot water with the squad commander,” Her Trysh said.

My Rornn murmured in her ear. “I dream of a good long soak in hot water. But the face I see with me is not Colonel Amanpour. It’s you.”

Amazon: https://buff.ly/2xa41Kb | BN: https://buff.ly/2xabZTy | Kobo: https://buff.ly/2x9CMzc | iBooks: https://buff.ly/2xajI3R

About Susan:

When NY Times/USA Today bestselling author and Air Force veteran Susan Grant isn’t driving an 18-wheeler (a 747 jumbo jet) she loves writing romantic, action-packed stories featuring gutsy woman and honorable men. Flying to exotic places and trying every kind of food imaginable helps Susan bring her sci-fi worlds alive for readers. She is a winner of the prestigious RITA award for her book Contact, an alien abduction sci-fi romance.

Website: http://www.susangrant.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Author.Susan.Grant/
FB Handle: @Author.Susan.Grant
Twitter: https://twitter.com/flyerdreamer
Twitter Handle: @flyerdreamer
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Susan-Grant/e/B001IQWODQ/

Find out what happens next in Embrace the Romance, Pets in Space 2! http://www.petsinspaceantho.com/pets-space-2-embrace-romance-2/