Book Tour: Dog Eared by Jojo Debrazza, plus Guest Post; The Highs and Lows of Training a Dog...

Welcome to the virtual book tour for Jojo Debrazza's new children's book, Dog Eared!

Follow the tour to read reviews, excerpts, and book spotlights:

https://saphsbookpromotions.blogspot.com/2018/05/book-tour-schedule-dog-eared-by-jojo.html

Publication Date: April 10, 2018

ASIN: B07C47Z4V4

Length: 140 pages

Genres: Children's Fiction

Amazon

Goodreads

The Highs and Lows of Training a Dog

  

In Dog Eared, Sophie has to find a way to train her new dog, Lector, before her half-sibling is born. I’m no expert dog trainer but I’ve had experience of training an unruly dog. That dog is a mini-labradoodle called Fozzy. She came into my life bringing a lot of fun but also a whole load of chaos and destruction. She is the inspiration behind Dog Eared.

Like Sophie, I found the journey to having a perfectly trained pooch was not always an easy one. Here are four times when training Fozzy didn’t quite go according to plan:

1.      The first thing she did at her dog training class was pee on the floor. She knows how to make a good first impression.

2.      She spent most of the dog training classes hiding under a chair and refusing to take part. I thought these were obedience classes, not disobedience classes.

3.      She made me cross the road because she didn’t want to walk past a suitcase. She knows her own mind.

4.      The first time we let her off the lead, she bolted because she saw a bike. Now she chases them out of the park instead.

Top tip for anyone training a dog:

Persevere. It will be worth it in the end and you’ll have a well behaved, loving, loyal, and furry best friend.

About Dog Eared:

Dogs can’t read. Right?

When Sophie’s grandfather moves in to a retirement home, Sophie is delighted to take over responsibility for his super obedient dog, Lector. Her grandfather also gives her two journals for Lector and tells her how important they are. But listening isn’t one of Sophie’s strong points.

Sophie’s dream-come-true turns into a nightmare when the usually well behaved Lector turns super-bad overnight. After midnight on his first night with Sophie, Lector gets himself into all kinds of trouble and leads Sophie into a run-in with the local bully. Dogs in the town have been going missing too. Could there be a dog snatcher on the loose?

Sophie desperately needs Lector to return to his former obedient self, especially when her dad and step-mum-to-be announce, to Sophie’s horror, that they are having a baby.  Lector’s future with the family is in danger. If Sophie can’t retrain Lector before Sophie’s new half sibling is born, he’ll have to be rehomed.

Can Sophie discover the magical secret to training Lector, and keep him away from the dog snatcher, before it’s too late?

Read an Excerpt:

“I don’t think any of us were expecting this.” Sophie’s dad nodded toward Lector who was now trying to chew the bottom of a kitchen cupboard door. 

“He’s not normally like this,” she said hoping her dad wasn’t regretting his decision to let her have Lector. “He’s a good dog really. Maybe he’s missing Grandpops?” 

“Possibly,” said Sophie’s dad. “But he’d better get over it soon or else we’ll have no house left. You should’ve seen the state of the front room this morning. Emma was not pleased.” 

Sophie was careful not to let her dad see her rolling her eyes. Emma had been nice as pie earlier. She should have said if she was upset. “I saw the sofa, I’m really sorry about that,” Sophie said. 

“It wasn’t just the sofa,” Sophie’s dad pulled Lector away from the cupboard. “He ripped up all the magazines and papers that were on the coffee table to shreds too. With all the tiny bits of paper and foam from the sofa, it looked like it had snowed in the front room last night.” 

Sophie pulled Lector away from the cupboard again. “No Lector.” She turned to her dad. “Strange. He never chewed anything at Grandpops’ place and he had the run of the whole bungalow.” 

Sophie’s dad finished buttering a slice of toast and slid the plate towards Sophie. “Well, it’s all new for him, living here and being without Grandpops, so we can’t be too hard on him. We’ll have to keep him in the kitchen tonight though. He can only destroy so much in here and these units are falling apart anyway.” 

Sophie ran her fingers over the rough wood where the laminate was missing on the corner of one of the cupboard doors. She’d peeled it away as a small child. “Okay,” she said. Sophie wasn’t keen on confining Lector, but her dad had let her keep him rather than rehoming him to a stranger and she needed to make sure he didn’t regret his decision. 

Spotting an opportunity, Lector jumped up at the worktop in the direction of Sophie’s toast. 

“No,” said Sophie. “Off.” 

Lector’s front paws were on the edge of the worktop. He stretched his neck towards the toast. 

Sophie lunged towards him and reached for his collar, but it was too late. Lector had the toast in his mouth. He jumped down and danced around the kitchen as if the toast between his teeth was a fantastic prize. His tail swiped against the washing machine painting it muddy brown. Sophie’s dad grabbed Lector by the shoulders. 

Lector dropped the toast onto the kitchen floor.

Meet the Author:

Jojo is a writer from St Neots in Cambridgeshire, England—although she mostly lives in her head, a carefree happy place where everything is bright and fluffy. 

Her debut novella, The Charm, was published in 2014 and the sequel, Mind Games, in 2016.

Jojo likes to take photos of her dog and post them to Instagram and Twitter @jojodebrazza

More Jojo Debrazza stuff can be found on her facebook page, and her blog: https://jojodebrazza.com

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