Dogs in the Hood is a joyful addition to the world of children’s poetry books, celebrating friendship, humor and the lovable quirks of dogs. The first dog I remember having was before I was old enough to go to school. Because we traveled often with the U.S. Navy, we didn’t have another dog until my dad retired. By then my sister, Lydia and I were in high school, so we took some responsibility for caring for the dog we had, a cockapoo mix we named Poochie. Our younger sister was a toddler and couldn’t say his name and so he was forever called Pooshie.

He was a fun little dog and he went with us to live in the mountains east of San Diego. He had a hard time with all the stickers in the tumbleweeds and so he went back to town to his mother’s home. During college I didn’t have any animals while I lived in the dorm for five years, which included a grad year. The year after I graduated, I had a cockapoo named Fritzi, a very sweet dog. Years later my husband and I started raising rottweiler pairs and we did that until just before he passed away.

Those dogs were incredibly faithful and strong, well-behaved and gentle giants. The neighbors during those decades of dogs had a variety of dogs and we really got to know and cherish their personalities and quirks. Inspired by those years, this children’s poetry book captures the spirit of neighborhood dogs in verse that young readers will love. I spent a lot of time writing poetry during those days and was inspired to write The Dogs in the Hood. Enjoy!