Hi all, I feel like I’m getting a little stale with all this dog business – next month, I promise to write about something more murder-y. In the meantime, though, my life has become considerably more dogged in the past couple of weeks, so I’m going to keep to the theme one more time. First off, though, I wanted to give a quick update on the children’s book I talked about last month. I ended up being less pleased with the printing job than I had anticipated, so I’m working with a local printer to produce a book with a more picture-book feel… Thus, Maya Picks a Puppy isn’t quite ready just yet, but will be available by mid-October. I’ll keep folks posted on dates.

And, onto other puppy-related matters. A little over a week ago, Ben and I became the proud foster parents of three 7-week-old pups from Mississippi. It’s anyone’s guess what their mix might be, but their mom is a sort of beagle-y/Dachsund sort of dog. Here are some pics of the little ones – Sage, Rosemary (Rosie), and Marjoram (Marji) – and you can decide for yourself what the babies might be.

This means that life for me has shifted from a sort of aimless non-routine to a much more regimented existence: up at 6:30 to feed Magnus the cat and then get the pups out. They’re staying in a puppy pen in our rumpus room – which is way more rumpus-y than we ever anticipated it would be, with three little ones running wild in there. The pups came to us with a bit of a cold, so meds and breakfast follow our first out, and then there’s an extended out and lots of wild play time to try and tire the little buggers out. It’s been just a week, but I’m already finding that it takes a lot more to wear out 8-week-old pups than it did 7-week-old pups. Still, I’m having a good time with the whole thing.

If you want to read more about the schedule or view more photos, you can check out my website, where I’ve put together a page with a daily diary of the pups’ antics. I’ve been doing a lot of research on early canine development, as well, so you can read about that there as well.

I’m fostering the pups through Coastal Humane Society, which is located in Brunswick. They will be up for adoption shortly, are smart as little whips, and already know ‘sit’ and are well on their way to being potty trained. You can check in with CHS if you’re interested in adopting one of the girls. Ben and I are seriously thinking about adopting one ourselves… Now it’s just a matter of figuring out which one. Can you say ‘Sophie’s Choice’?

For those unfamiliar with Coastal Humane Society, the shelter cares for about 3,000 stray or unwanted cats, dogs, rabbits, birds, rats – you name it, really – annually, serving fifteen towns in Midcoast/Southern Maine. The Lincoln County shelter also came under the management and ownership of Coastal Humane in June of 2016. In a nutshell? They’ve got a lot going on, and a whole lot of fur and feathers flying ’round the place on any given day.

Coastal Humane’s annual fall fundraiser is coming up on October 28th, and I’m pleased to say that Maine Crime Writers has stepped up and are donating a basket of signed books from our members as one of the prizes in their silent auction. There is also a raffle, for a whopping $10,000. No, that’s not a typo – it really should be that many zeroes. Tickets for the raffle are $100, and only 500 tickets will be sold for the $10K prize, so your chances are actually pretty good. If you are interested in purchasing – and supporting a great cause – you can comment below and let me know and I’ll hook you up, or you can just follow this link, and get your tickets that way. You don’t have to attend the ball to be a winner… If you’re in the area and feel like shaking your bootstraps, though, what better way than this? The hootenanny takes place at Fort Andross in Brunswick, starting at 7 p.m. on Saturday, October 28th. You can purchase tickets here.

Jen Blood is the USA Today-bestselling author of the Erin Solomon Mysteries and the Flint K-9 Search and Rescue Mysteries. You can read more about her at www.jenblood.com.