Wednesday, October 13, 2021

Dogs are AMAZING: a guest post by Susan McCormick

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: Those of you who loved Susan McCormick's last appearance here at JRW will be delighted to know she's back today, with pics of Albert the Newfoundland, some delightful dog facts, and most importantly, the third in her cozy FOG LADIES mysteries. The new book, THE FOG LADIES: IN THE SOUP, tosses the old dears right into it:

 "There was a man in the soup." When the Fog Ladies volunteer at a San Francisco soup kitchen, these spunky elderly friends plus one overworked young doctor-in-training envision washing and chopping and serving. Not murder. Now the soup kitchen is doomed, and the mysteries have just begun. Was the death rooted in a long-ago grudge? Can they save the soup kitchen? Will they find the killer? Could the Fog Ladies, too, end up "in the soup"?

 How can you not love that description? But you'll have to click on of our links to find learn about THE FOG LADIES: IN THE SOUP, because Susan is here to give us what we really want - a chance to win a copy AND talk about dogs!

 

A dog plays a huge role in my new cozy murder mystery, The Fog Ladies: In the Soup, so I am dedicating this guest blog post to dogs. The book also features a cat who spends his time lying in the sun and giving Frances Noonan suspicious looks, so I will not say much more about him. But the dog… Book 1 featured a high-strung Bichon Frise who yapped through the book and ended up saving the day. Book 3 has Boris, a small fluffy black thing, who has digestive issues and a hero’s heart. 

I am a dog person through and through, having loved Earl, an English mastiff, and Edward and Albert, two Newfoundlands. Dogs are amazing. Here are some fun facts.

 

People have 9000 taste buds. Dogs have 1700. This could be why they are satisfied with eating kibble.

 

A dog’s sense of smell is 10,000 to 100,000 times better than ours. Trained dogs in Seattle can smell orca scat in the vast waters of the Puget Sound. Alexandra Horowitz, a dog researcher at Barnard, says people might detect a teaspoon of sugar in our cup of coffee, but a dog can detect a teaspoon of sugar in two Olympic-sized swimming pools. This allows them to detect changes in our hormones to know when we are happy or sad and to detect changes in our body’s chemistry in the form of volatile organic compounds to warn us about low blood sugar or lung cancer or bladder cancer.

 

As far as sight, People have more color detecting cells (cones), but a dog has more light sensitive cells (rods) and a larger pupil to let in more light, so dogs see much better in the dark than people. Rods also detect motion, so dogs see tiny movements better.

 

In addition, like many animals, dogs have a layer of tissue behind the retina called the tapetum lucidum that reflects light back through the retina like a mirror, doubling the chances of the light hitting the eye’s photoreceptors. This is why a dog’s eyes glow in the dark.

 

Dogs’ guts seem indestructible, until they get a blockage. See my guest blog post last year about “Things MyDog Has Eaten” and all the replies to see just how indestructible.


A dog’s sense of touch is about the same as ours. So keep giving those chest thumps, those ear scritches, those tummy rubs. A dog lives for this.

 

 

 

Dogs have innate abilities, skills they were born with and can’t undo. Root out rats. Herd sheep and children. Chase birds. Retrieve balls, sticks, the occasional picnic basket. 

My dogs, Newfoundlands, are ideally suited for water rescue: they are waterproof, have webbed toes and swim a beautiful breaststroke, have large lungs to aid swimming, and have excess fur on their neck for the drowning victim to grab.

 

 

Dogs are amazing. The Fog Ladies, and Boris the hero-dog, think so, too.

What’s the most amazing thing your dog has done?

 

Susan McCormick is a writer and doctor who lives in Seattle. She graduated from Smith College and George Washington University School of Medicine, with additional medical training in San Francisco and Washington, D.C. Susan served as a doctor in the U.S. Army for nine years before moving to the Pacific Northwest. In addition to the Fog Ladies series, she also wrote Granny Can’t Remember Me, a lighthearted picture book about Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. She lives in Seattle with her husband, two sons, and, until recently, her giant Newfoundland dog, Albert. You can find her on Instagram (with yes, more Albert pics) follow her on Twitter at @smccormickbooks and friend her on Facebook.

58 comments:

  1. Congratulations on your new book, Susan . . . I’m looking forward to reading it.
    Thanks for this delightful piece on dogs . . . .

    Dogs are definitely amazing . . . Rex used to snitch the bologna off of the sandwiches as I was making them, something that still makes us laugh. Our Goldens loved climbing the back yard fence to go wandering around the neighborhood. I was always the one who had to chase them down [I think it was their favorite game] because John was working the night shift. But they were wonderful with the children . . . .

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    1. Isn't that a great gift, that you can still laugh years later??

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    2. So much fun! You’d think Rex wound just take the whole sandwich, mustard and all!

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    4. Yes, Lucy, being able to laugh years later is a great gift.

      Susan, Rex just carefully lifted off and ate the bologna; he left everything else . . . .

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  2. Susan, welcome back to JRW and congratulations on your new book, it sounds delightful. I remember your last visit when everyone told stories about what their dogs had eaten. Don't you love it when a dog is the hero of a story?

    I got my first German Shepherd before I met my husband. I'd have to say that he screened my dates. He was so smart and devoted. I took him to K-9 training eventually doing the off-leash and even the police dog obstacle course. It's a big responsibility to have a dog like that. He was already 6 years old when our son was born and they became great friends. Wherever we went, this dog carried a softball, just in case we met someone who'd throw it for him. I could set the hors d'oeuvres out on the coffee table, then go up and shower. He did not steal our food.

    I've written a lot here about our current dog, Kenai. He is also a GS dog. He does NOT bark. He hides when people come to visit. I don't think this one ever would fit the family protector ideal. He's old now and not very mobile but he's still a good friend to have around.

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    1. I am not that good of a trainer Judy, I love hearing about your dogs. Lottie played with a huge GS last week. It was hysterical!

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    2. I’m always amazed when a dog goes against nature and bucks the breed. Albert the Newfoundland could swim, a beautiful breast stroke, but he did not. We live near a lake, but he hated the water. Just like Kenai hides.

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    3. Lucy, that first GS dog had some friends around the condo complex including a pair of tea cup poodles. He'd lie down and they'd jump all over his face. It was hilarious!

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  3. Welcome Susan! I can't remember whether Lottie had eaten four pairs of my expensive glasses last time you visited? Luckily for all of us, she is growing out of chewing (finally!) We are still waiting for amazing things to come:)

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  4. I've never had a dog but I've met a few I liked. Your dogs are impressive, and I'm sure they're very well behaved!

    Are Newfoundlands regularly used for water rescue? That's fascinating, as is what you said about their sense of smell. Best of luck with the new book!

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    1. Newfoundlands can pull a boat to safety by a rope, and a drowning victim can grab their neck fur and be swum in. They are powerful swimmers and born saviors. That’s their job.

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  5. Congratulations on your new book Susan ! I’ve read the two firsts and I’m looking forward to read this one.

    I’ve not had dogs for the last two decades but what I appreciated the most is their ability to feel and help in difficult times.

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    1. Alma Gordon in the book has gone decades without a dog. When Boris becomes part of her life, she wonders how she went so long without a dog. Maybe there’s a dog in your future. 🙂🐾

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  6. Susan, I adore Newfs! And somehow I lost track of the Fog Ladies and here you are on #3! I need a book-tracking dog :-)

    Nemo the wonder mini-dachshund still makes us laugh after 14 years. And his most amazing feat was learning to get along in a household with four cats. As a youngster he could not relax if there was a cat in the house, but the old boy has mellowed.

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  7. I was fortunate enough to get a copy of the last Fog Ladies from your last visit, Susan. It was such a treat! I immediately grabbed the first book and now am delightedly looking forward to picking up this one. While my own dogs could provide lots of stories, I'll share instead that the university where I work hosts a Canine Cognition lab within the department of evolutionary anthropology. In 2019 they launched a pilot program putting puppies from the program (which trains service dogs in addition to research on cognition) into dorms. I got to hang out with the puppies when my students would bring them to advising meetings! https://youtu.be/TWNtMPe-AWg in case anyone wants puppy content today.

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    1. That is a fantastic idea!!! Everyone needs a dog, and no one more than a far away student in a dorm.

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  8. Congratulations on your new release! I love the premise and setting.

    Amazing? The late, great, Toby, our 60 pound standard poodle, pulled open the zipper on a bookbag and consumed a bag a fried chicken, bones and all. The vet assured me he was part goat, and if we fed him asparagus, the threads in the stalks would help draw out the chicken bone fragments. He was fine, as he was after consuming an entire roll of Ace wrap.

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    1. Wow.
      And I’m imagining the asparagus dog urine smell.

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  9. SUSAN, welcome back!

    I enjoyed reading all 3 Fog Ladies books, including this new one.
    I loved the shock the ladies had as tiny Boris quickly grew and grew into a bigger Newfie puppy in their apartment. And it was great that Boris was definitely the hero dog at the end of the story!

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  10. Aw, Newfies are fantastic pups! Looking forward to the latest Fog Ladies!

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  11. Susan, welcome to Jungle Reds and Congratulations on your new novel.

    Dogs are really amazing. Many relatives have dogs. One relative adopted a senior dog from a rescue center for dogs, which was the first time because in the past they got their dogs from a breeder. Another relative got a rescue dog who had been abused. The third relative and her family had this beautiful white Eskimo dog - Sayod ? from a breeder and that dog died of cancer. They did not get another dog for a long time then when their youngest volunteered at an animal rescue center for several years, they finally adopted a dog from the rescue center.

    There are wonderful dogs who are service dogs. I have seen guide dogs for blind people. There are hearing dogs for Deaf people. I am thinking of getting a hearing dog myself.

    Look forward to reading your Fog Ladies novel. I will see if my library has a copy.

    Diana

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    1. Such a wonderful thing to get all your dogs from the rescue center! We rescue the dog, but dogs really rescue us.

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  12. Fascinating dog facts, Susan - thanks so much and congratulations on the new novel! I'm a huge fan of *other people's* dogs. And cats. Usually.

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    1. Other people dog’s are lovely. Though you miss out on the steady breathing at night.

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  13. We had a little Yorkie named Teddy Bear who suddenly started nipping at my left breast whenever I was cuddling with him. That was not typical behavior for him, and it turned out that I had cancer in that breast. After treatment, he never did I it again.

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    1. That is absolutely amazing! Kudos on your recovery, special pets for Teddy Bear.

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    2. That is an amazing example of what a dog can do.

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    3. That is amazing, Celia! So glad for Teddy.

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  15. Oh, Celia! Amazing that Teddy Bear could diagnose such a thing.

    Hi, Susan! Nice to see you here again, and congrats on the new Fog Ladies book. Your dog photos are so charming, by the way.

    I got to spend last weekend with two of my granddogs in Michigan (the other one is in Kenya). Barli, the older one is a nearly unheard of almost-11 year old Bernese Mountain Dog, and the other is the same breed, but a pandemic puppy. LunaLulu is an exuberant goofball to Barli's sedate and dignified elder stateswoman status. Berners are such benevolent beings, and exquisitely tuned to their humans feelings. It's been great for my grandson in this last couple years to have two dogs to cuddle and wrestle with.

    But they can't swim a lick unless they're snapped into flotation devices. Which is funny since they are so closely related to Newfies.

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    1. It is so cute to see a dog in floaties! And those doggie life jackets.

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  17. We had a million Irish Setters growing up--Rusty, who lost a front leg chasing cars and afterward, chased them just as earnestly on three legs. Penny, who sacrificed her life running in front of a car that would have hit my sister on her pony. And Roderick St. John, who knew how gorgeous he was, and just sat there and let people look at him. Seriously.

    Hallie, kinda with you. Other people's dogs are sometimes nice. I KNOW it's impossible to compare the two situations. And I love hearing the stories and seeing the photos and videos!

    I did have a nice time with Haven, the sniffer beagle at Logan Airport. She was hilariously determined. She was trained to sniff out thirty-seven different kinds of fruit in the luggage of international arrivals and she was insanely good at it. She'd alert on a backpack or something, and the agent would approach the traveler and say: DO you have fruit? AnNd the traveller would ALWAYS say no.
    And the agent would say: Haven says you do.
    They'd search, and Haven was always right. Fruit cups! Bananas!
    The sheepish passenger would say: Oh, I forgot about that.

    Your books sound wonderful!

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  18. I love all of this. Dogs are amazing. I have a greyhound and here are some fun facts:

    - A greyhound can see up to .5 mile away and the position of their eyes on their skull gives them a 270-degree field of vision, which allows them to literally see what's behind them.

    - Greyhounds have been clocked running up to 45mph (but adore lounging, earning them the nickname "45mph couch potato). It takes 3 strides to reach maximum speed, but they aren't able to keep it up for long (sprints, not endurance running). They also have an "inverted S" chest shape and a flexible spine, which assists in running at high speed.

    - A greyhound's paw pads are natural shock absorbers.

    - When running, there are two points in a greyhound's stride where no feet are on the ground, which also helps speed.

    This eyesight/speed combo (in addition to an instinct to hunt small things), helped Koda kill a rat in our back yard that we'd been trying to get rid of without using poison. One second he was at the back gate greeting us, the next he was in the middle of the yard. Bye-bye rat.

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    1. Fascinating, Liz! And good for Koda! Our late German shepherd, Hallie, really wanted to be a ratter. She did get one--snap!

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  19. Susan, I thought of you yesterday: I met a woman walking her Newfie down to the Saco river for a swim (there are a network of trails in the town park alongside the river that are very popular with dog walkers. Brutus was very gentle and friendly to my Shih Tsu/terrier mix. 145 pounds versus 12 pounds. Hard to believe they're from the same species!

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  20. Yay, more Fog Ladies! Congrats on the new book, Susan. I'm looking forward to Boris the Hero Dog! I loved all your dog facts. Interestingly, my husband and I recently had our Covid boosters, a couple of days apart. The day I ran a fever our older GSD wouldn't leave my side, even whining and licking my face (not her usual behavior at all.) Two days later she did the same with my husband. She knew something wasn't right and was worried. Was it our behavior or our smell? I suspect the latter, or a combination.

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    1. So interesting! We put off volatile organic compounds through our skin, and some are disease specific, like when someone is about to have a seizure or when your blood pressure is low. I bet that's what your dog sensed!

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  21. Yay dogs! We've had terriers and terrier mixes throughout our marriage. Airedales, Airemutts, a border terrier mutt who had my heart, and now Jack the corgi/Jack Russell/??? mix. All have been hard headed, independent, affectionate, quirky, mischievous, you name it. Some were notorious pizza thieves. Some enjoyed being in the water, others not at all. Some were my personal security guards, even with my husband. Loved them all.

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  22. Susan, congratulations on the new book. I'm not familiar with the previous ones, but now they'll go on my TBR list.

    I've had dogs all my life. A few pure breds,mostly mongrels and rescued dogs. My current canine companion was a shelter dog. I worried about how he'd do with cats, as we had four. I was surprised that he didn't just tolerate them, he adored them. Thanks to Jax I acquired another cat. This one was out in the pasture and Jax was determined it needed rescuing. And Guy kitty makes sure he snuggles his rescuer every night. It was definitely an eye opener for me.

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  23. I am reminded of a children's picture book, the Lighthouse Dog. Are you familiar with it? Written by Betty Waterton with pictures by Dean Griffiths. It seems to take place, perhaps, in your neck of the woods and the dog looks to be a Newfie. One of my favorites.

    As for my dog, one of the oddest things she ever did, and only did it once, thank goodness. She was young but pretty much house trained. I was in the bathroom, on the toilet and she came rushing in, squatted down and peed. Once I got over the shock I decided it was pretty hilarious.

    Looking forward to reading the new book!

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  24. I looked up the book. That is indeed a Newfie. What a cute book.

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  25. Susan, enjoyed your first book and look forward to catching up! Both dh & I grew up with dogs all our lives, then had cats, too after we left the family homes, as BOTH our mothers used to be afraid of kitties! Besides the crazy things our dogs have eaten and done through the years, an amazing story about my childhood dog Cindy, who was a collie that looked like Lassie: When I was 10 and Dad was transferred to NYC, we had to leave Cindy with an aunt who lived in NOLA, for several months until we closed and moved into our new house on Long Island. Meanwhile, after a few wks. my aunt called, distraught, because the dog disappeared. The next day a former neighbor in the suburbs where we'd lived in Metairie called to say Cindy had trekked all the way from my aunt's to our old house, over 30 miles away, looking for us! He kept her til we finally moved into the new place and we were soooo happy to see her get off the plane and join us, all the way to her new home across the country! She was a wonder-dog, for sure!

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  26. I don't have a dog now, but I had a black lab that was a special needs dog. I got her as a puppy. She had a rear left that was shorter than her other legs. It didn't stop her from doing anything. She would climb over anything in her way and stairs were no problem. She was a great girl.

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