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by Katerina Lorenzatos Makris ~

Ever adopted a “teenage” pooch so rambunctious that they drove you a little nuts? That’s what happens to Susanna in Rescue Diva’s new, short romantic fiction story, “Love School.” In fact Tolkien is so high-energy that Susanna has a hard time bonding with him, which is a first for her, a long-time dog fanatic.

Solution? Puppy school, to help Tolkien learn how to behave.

What Susanna doesn’t expect, though, is what she will learn in those lessons—not just about canine behavior, but about herself, and… when Tolkien leads her to an attractive man in the classes, about love and romance.

As the author of “Love School,” I had fun weaving into the fictional plot a few real events from the life of Homer, our cover model for “Love School.” He is currently available for adoption at Canine Adoption and Rescue League (C.A.R.L.) in Santa Paula, California.

For more about Homer, read our article “Sweet puppy’s mom killed by car—now seeks forever family.”

When you read the article and also the fiction story “Love School,” you might get a kick seeing how a little bit of Homer’s true tale gets told in the fictional one.

PLEASE SHARE OUR BOOKSTORE — HELP US SELL MORE to DONATE MORE! 🙂

Here’s more on our fiction story “Love School”:

Getting dumped once would be bad enough, but in the past couple of years Susanna has survived two devastating relationships with guys who loved her then left her. Or at least they pretended to love her. But they definitely left her. In the dust.

Adopting Tolkien seemed like a great way to help get her mind off the heartbreaks. Sadly, his mom had been killed by a car. Orphaned infant Tolkien and his 9 siblings barely escaped death when they no longer had a mom to care for them. But thank heavens rescue groups saved and fostered them. Meeting Tolkien when he was five months old, super high-energy, and crazy playful, Susanna thought he’d be a great cure for her blues. And she did love him dearly, but the two of them just weren’t quite connecting.

In the puppy classes, all of that begins to change…

BROWSE OUR BOOKSTORE FOR ROMANTIC TALES… ALL ABOUT ANIMAL RESCUE!

Sample of “Love School”:

Six people lined up with their furry students. None of the pups seemed to weigh more than twenty pounds. Suzanna’s heart sank. Tolkien had a fascination, to put it mildly, with small dogs. If she got in line behind or in front of any of them, he would spend the whole lesson sniffing, pouncing upon, and doing everything he could to get them to play.

Just when she was considering departing class early, a tall guy walked in with an enormous, dove gray, super hairy pooch. The pup dragged the guy across the room, making jagged detours to the left and right for sniffing purposes, sometimes leaping up into the air, barking exuberantly at all the other dogs and people, with long pink tongue lolling out.

Susanna whispered a grateful prayer. Finally, another terrible dog. Tolkien would no longer be the only problem pooch. Now he had an equivalent trouble-maker classmate.

“Hi,” said the gray pooch’s person. “Do you want to go ahead and line up? Heidi and I will get in line behind you.”

For a moment Susanna didn’t realize he was speaking to her. She was too busy experiencing tremendous shock at the fact that Tolkien had rolled over onto his back to meekly accept the attentions of the gray dog. In the whole month while she’d had Tolkien, Susanna had never seen him do any such thing. No submissive postures, ever, for anyone. Till now.

“Wow,” she gasped.

“Heidi, stop that!” the guy scolded. His dog playfully mauled Tolkien, tugging at his upturned paws, bopping his nose, and nibbling on his neck. Tolkien grinned from whisker to whisker.

“It’s OK,” Susanna said.

“Well, I don’t like her being so pushy,” the guy replied. “She can be overwhelming.”

Heidi glanced up at her person. Then as if to prove him wrong, she flopped over onto her back right next to Tolkien and began kissing him under the chin.

“Wow. I’ve never seen her do that,” said Heidi’s dad.

Tolkien melted into a puddle—just a big limp pile of happy dog on the floor.

“Well, I’ve never seen him do that,” Susanna echoed.

The instructor appeared next to them. “Everything OK here?”

“Uh… yeah…” Susanna murmured. “Weird, but OK.”

“Weird? Hey, your dogs have hit it off. That’s a great thing. But let’s get them in line so that they can work on heeling with us.”

By then Heidi and Tolkien were involved in joyful wrestling, taking turns to see who could hold the other down the longest, and had gotten their leashes completely tangled.

“Wait, lemme fix this,” said Heidi’s dad.

Susanna tried to help. While struggling to keep hold of Tolkien’s leash in one hand, she reached toward the tangle with the other. In the process, her hand brushed against the guy’s hand.

“Oh sorry!” The guy glanced at her.

For the first time, Susanna got a look at his face.

“No… no problem,” she stammered.

But it was a problem. Heidi’s dad was attractive. Sultry dark eyes, curly black hair and generous mustache. A little sloppy-looking, with lots of beard stubble and a faded, ill-fitting T-shirt, but Susanna preferred males on the unkempt side of the fashion spectrum.

Attractive. Yep. This was bad. She wanted nothing to do attractive males. Ever again. Or any males. She was done with males. Done with attraction, period. Done with love. Nothing but trouble there.

READ THE FULL STORY! BUY “LOVE SCHOOL” FOR JUST $2—ALL PROFITS GO TO C.A.R.L., THE GROUP WHO SAVED OUR COVER MODEL HOMER!

Rescue Diva proudly helps needy animals in the U.S. and around the world, such as:

~ Diva assists Kefalonia Animal Trust (KATs) in Greece to provide free spay/neuter for hundreds of animals per year, which is one of the best ways to prevent the abandonment and misery of puppies like Noah and Kyla.

~ Diva donates to Center for Animal Protection and Education (CAPE), Praying for Paws, Southern California Siamese Rescue, Aniplant (Cuba) and many other groups.

~ Diva does in-the-trenches rescues of angels like Robin, Chance, and Tiger, with help from San Diego Animal Support Foundation; of Marisol and Lisa, with help from Last Chance at Life; of Mandi (Diamandi), with help from Graeske Hunde, and of Roki, with help from Stichting AAI.

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About the author:

Katerina Lorenzatos Makris is a career journalist, author, and editor. Her fiction includes 17 novels for Simon and Schuster, E.P. Dutton, Avon, and other major publishers (under the name Kathryn Makris), as well as a teleplay for CBS-TV, and a short story for The Bark magazine.

Katerina has written hundreds of articles for regional wire services and for outlets such as National Geographic Traveler, The San Francisco Chronicle, Travelers’ Tales, NBC’s Petside.com, and Animal Issues Reporter.

Together with coauthor Shelley Frost, Katerina wrote a step-by-step guide for hands-on, in-the-trenches dog rescue, Your Adopted Dog: Everything You Need to Know About Rescuing and Caring for a Best Friend in Need (The Lyons Press), coming soon in digital format!

Katerina has written hundreds of articles for regional wire services and for outlets such as National Geographic Traveler, The San Francisco Chronicle, Travelers’ Tales, NBC’s Petside.com, and Animal Issues Reporter.

Together with coauthor Shelley Frost, Katerina wrote a step-by-step guide for hands-on, in-the-trenches dog rescue, Your Adopted Dog: Everything You Need to Know About Rescuing and Caring for a Best Friend in Need (The Lyons Press), coming soon in digital format!

Together with coauthor Shelley Frost, Katerina wrote a step-by-step guide for hands-on, in-the-trenches dog rescue, Your Adopted Dog: Everything You Need to Know About Rescuing and Caring for a Best Friend in Need (The Lyons Press), coming soon in digital format!