It's easy to sound good. All you do is leave in the parts where you act tough and forget the parts where you get shoved around.

I had a big Akita, Yoshi, who was fabulous. I loved him. We lost him when he was 12, and I've never been able to replace him. Normally, most people lose a pet and get another and keep going on. But it just felt wrong to me; it felt disloyal.

First and foremost I am a commercial writer, and I hope to entertain people. But having said that, I'm in love with the relationship between humans and dogs, and the more I learned about what our military working dogs are doing, I wanted to at least share with people what an important role these animals have in all our lives.

Pike put down the cat. He slid from Pike's arms like molasses and puddled at his feet.

If my vision was good enough, I'd be an astronaut.

Everyone knows dogs. Most people love dogs. I think most American families probably have a dog, but I don't think people really realize or understand just how wonderful and special dogs are.

L.A.'s magic has let me see every level of the dream.