The story behind the story.

 

Even before I wrote the manuscript for "Paulie Finds His Forever Home", I already knew how I wanted it to look. Since it was a true story, I wanted the colors to be easy on the eye as the readers followed Paulie on his journey. A watercolor theme was perfect for his book. The story starts off with a senior dog engaging in an activity that he really enjoys. On this particular day, this activity gets him into a serious dilemma. Throughout the book, I drop little hints on how a pet can end up as a stray. The book was to bring awareness on senior pets that end up in a shelter. The story takes place in a shelter and what normally happens when a stray is brought inside. Senior's are the hardest to find homes for. It doesn't need to be that way as I adopted Paulie when he was eight years old. Fortunate for him, he was in a foster home for a month before I adopted him. He was one of the lucky ones.

As the story was being written, I was involved in helping high risk dogs from being euthanized from severe kennel stress. I called this a "petdemic." When the story was about to be published, I decided to add two pages of tried and true suggestions on how to prevent pets from becoming a stray. The book is unique due to this feature. Below are some of the illustrations that are correct in detail when pets are brought into the shelter.