A Little Dog’s Adventures in a Big Dog’s World: Following Winnie on the Path of K9 Scent Work and Life by Suzanne Catalano

A Little Dog's Adventures in a Big Dog's World: Following Winnie on the Path of K9 Scent Work and Life by Suzanne Catalano
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This love letter from a dog owner to her beloved pets, both past and present, is a wonderful recounting of partnership and healing!

A Little Dog’s Adventures in a Big Dog's World is author Suzanne Catalano’s personal experience narrative about her introduction and participation, with her dog Winnie, in the canine sport of scent work. Not a how-to manual, but more a loving tribute to an activity in which she and her puggle (Beagle-Pug mix) have had a successful and satisfying partnership. I was not familiar with this sport, but I have dogs, and I found Catalano’s stories warm, engaging, exciting at times, and always inspirational. Many of her thoughts mirrored precisely how I felt about my relationships with my dogs. Often, I felt like she was reading my mind!

The stories she shared about the actual nose work training and trials were as engaging as they were fascinating. The descriptions of how odor works and travels were new to me and eye-opening. Who knew?!

I liked reading about the AKC events, which I’ve seen promoted in their newsletters but didn’t know what they were. But I was even more surprised to learn about how the sport originated with the National Association of Canine Scent Work.

I recommend A Little Dog’s Adventures in a Big Dog’s World to readers who love dogs, have dogs, or just like dogs. Anyone that has dogs will recognize many of the dog behaviors Catalano talks of as those of their own pups, and smile. But the pure joy of the author’s relationship with her dog, Winnie, clearly comes through in every aspect of this book and is, perhaps, the best part of the reading. Winnie and Suzanne are a delightful pair.

By the way, Peaches and Stoli, the resident basset hounds and security team here in Texas, say “Tell your dog ‘Hi!’”

I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving an Advanced Review Copy from Reedsy Discovery.

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