Canarian Weekly
10-05-2013, 11:40
NIKKI ATTREE, the digital artist and photographer, who has supportedTenerife’s animal rescue centres for years, has come up with a novel idea – in more ways than one!
She has enlisted the aid of husband Richard and pet dog Gizmo to produce what she describes as a “wooftastic tail”.
It’s a book entitled Nobody’s Poodle, about a loveable ex-pat pooch uprooted from his home in cold, damp, muddyEngland to start a new life inTenerife.
And it’s actually “penned” by Gizmo, himself a rescue dog, who writes, from a canine point of view, of course, about settling down in a new country and coping with the cultural differences.
He has also had to learn the language! As he explains: “Although woof-speak is universal, mas o menos, there are still some differences which need to be understood.
”otherwise, a dog can have muchos problemas with his furry Latin amigos.”
The ex-pat/travel genre has been popularised by some successful books, but until now the take on it by a man’s best friend has been little explored.
Nikki says: “We’re familiar with Driving over Lemons, but there hasn’t been a Bouncing over Bones.
“Most of Tenerife’s ex-pat Brits know and love Joe Cawley’s More Ketchup than Salsa, but we’ve all been waiting for More Saliva than Salsa.”
But Nobody’s Poodle is much more than an ex-pat diary, though. It’s a gripping story, with a plot that is the mutt’s nuts, so to speak.
Gizmo, the intrepid hero is probably more street Doodle than swanky Poodle, but he’s very much his own dog.
He’s all about standing up for the underdog, and it gets him into a fair few scrapes on the mean streets of Costa del Scorchio.
He’s also something of a canine philosopher, and along the way, readers will learn a lot about their universe.
For instance, not many people know that dogs invented the idea of sharing information via a network (their “SmellNet” predates our internet by several millennia), along with on-line messaging (“SmellMail”), social networking (“SmellBook”), and wi-fi (“Wiffy”).
Dogs realised a long time ago that time was more like a small, round thing rather than a long, thin thing.
More like a dog chasing its own tail, rather than an endless piece of string, or an infinitely-long ladder – or whatever else humans think it’s like.
Gizmo explains that dogs are like Zen Buddhist monks. They live in a present-tense universe, they’re dogged, and they’re stoic, accepting whatever life throws at them.
That’s just as well considering some of the smelly stuff that gets thrown his way and just misses the fan.
The book, full of twists and turns with a cast of wonderful woofers, and some beautiful illustrations, will make you laugh and it will make you cry.
It’s a book for dog-lovers of all ages, an insight into the canine universe, and a celebration of their Zen-like stoicism in the face of human stupidity, indifference, and cruelty.
It was was inspired by Nikki’s educational and promotional work withTenerife’s animal-rescue shelters.
She hopes to donate some of the profits to help them, so make sure that you order your copy – and tell all your friends about the book.
It is available from Amazon as a paperback/Kindle e-book priced six euros and four euros respectively.
To sniff out more information, visit the website www.NobodysPoodle.com
More... (http://www.canarianweekly.com/gizmos-tail-unexpected/)
She has enlisted the aid of husband Richard and pet dog Gizmo to produce what she describes as a “wooftastic tail”.
It’s a book entitled Nobody’s Poodle, about a loveable ex-pat pooch uprooted from his home in cold, damp, muddyEngland to start a new life inTenerife.
And it’s actually “penned” by Gizmo, himself a rescue dog, who writes, from a canine point of view, of course, about settling down in a new country and coping with the cultural differences.
He has also had to learn the language! As he explains: “Although woof-speak is universal, mas o menos, there are still some differences which need to be understood.
”otherwise, a dog can have muchos problemas with his furry Latin amigos.”
The ex-pat/travel genre has been popularised by some successful books, but until now the take on it by a man’s best friend has been little explored.
Nikki says: “We’re familiar with Driving over Lemons, but there hasn’t been a Bouncing over Bones.
“Most of Tenerife’s ex-pat Brits know and love Joe Cawley’s More Ketchup than Salsa, but we’ve all been waiting for More Saliva than Salsa.”
But Nobody’s Poodle is much more than an ex-pat diary, though. It’s a gripping story, with a plot that is the mutt’s nuts, so to speak.
Gizmo, the intrepid hero is probably more street Doodle than swanky Poodle, but he’s very much his own dog.
He’s all about standing up for the underdog, and it gets him into a fair few scrapes on the mean streets of Costa del Scorchio.
He’s also something of a canine philosopher, and along the way, readers will learn a lot about their universe.
For instance, not many people know that dogs invented the idea of sharing information via a network (their “SmellNet” predates our internet by several millennia), along with on-line messaging (“SmellMail”), social networking (“SmellBook”), and wi-fi (“Wiffy”).
Dogs realised a long time ago that time was more like a small, round thing rather than a long, thin thing.
More like a dog chasing its own tail, rather than an endless piece of string, or an infinitely-long ladder – or whatever else humans think it’s like.
Gizmo explains that dogs are like Zen Buddhist monks. They live in a present-tense universe, they’re dogged, and they’re stoic, accepting whatever life throws at them.
That’s just as well considering some of the smelly stuff that gets thrown his way and just misses the fan.
The book, full of twists and turns with a cast of wonderful woofers, and some beautiful illustrations, will make you laugh and it will make you cry.
It’s a book for dog-lovers of all ages, an insight into the canine universe, and a celebration of their Zen-like stoicism in the face of human stupidity, indifference, and cruelty.
It was was inspired by Nikki’s educational and promotional work withTenerife’s animal-rescue shelters.
She hopes to donate some of the profits to help them, so make sure that you order your copy – and tell all your friends about the book.
It is available from Amazon as a paperback/Kindle e-book priced six euros and four euros respectively.
To sniff out more information, visit the website www.NobodysPoodle.com
More... (http://www.canarianweekly.com/gizmos-tail-unexpected/)