When I wrote about media and technology, I had a lot of lonely, even intimate book talks. Since writing about dogs, I have a lot of company at book signings.

I've had people turn up to book signings with knives, with guns.

I've learned at the book signings that everyone has obstacles.

Dogs and other animals - goats, donkeys, cows, a grumpy rooster - continue to change my writing life.

When you write about animals, of course, you are really writing about the people who love and live with them. Animals mirror and reveal us. Dogs in particular are often reflections of us, and what we need them to be.

I've loved traveling around the country and meeting people at book signings.