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Fearless: A Dog Story
Eleven-year-old Jessie Nelson fears her soldier Mom won’t make it home from the War in Afghanistan. So, Jessie and her dad move in with Grandpa for the summer in small-town southern Minnesota where a historic tornado has made the townspeople fearful. With new friends in tow, Jessie and the boys stumble onto an old barn with terrified dogs inside. Jessie wants to save them all but knows she can’t. So, she saves one — the one dog cocking its head to the side and watching Jessie with its melty eyes. Soon Jessie learns the dog suffers from PTSD and needs TLC in order to trust again. Jessie hides the fearful dog in her bedroom until another tornado strikes and changes everything.
From author Kristin Johnson for Readers 8-12.
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Whiskers and Horses
Do horses have whiskers?
Oh yes, around their mouth, nostrils and eyes. Whiskers are sensory organs with their own nerve and blood supply. They provide sensory information that helps protect horses, helps them navigate their world—for instance, in the dark, whiskers help prevent them from bumping into things and injuring themselves—and even helps them while they graze. They are very much like an extra set of eyes, or hands.
For instance, horses use the whiskers on their muzzle (mouth and nose) to tell them how close their lips are to water. You’d think that if the water is right in front of a horse’s nose or eyes she could see it, right? Wrong!
Here’s why. Horses are prey animals. That means that Nature placed their eyes on the sides of their heads, giving them almost a complete view of everything around them—except right in front of their face and nose.
When a horse lowers her nose to investigate something new, people might think she is smelling the object, and if her nostrils are flared, she might be. But she’s also using her whiskers to receive special signals that help her figure out what it is, including information about texture and temperature.
Have you ever tried to look down and see your own lips? That’s pretty hard for most people to do, and that’s what it’s like for horses when they look down their nose. I bet you tried it just now!
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How Buster Came To Live With Us
The Buster the Very Shy Dog series was inspired by my real pets and their relationships with one another. Not all of my pets have been book-worthy, but I have had a number of dogs and cats with big personalities.
I already had one dog and four cats when I went across the street to visit the neighbor dog’s litter of puppies. I had no intention of bringing one home. At the bottom of the pile of scrabbling furballs was a small, shy, tailless puppy that took my heart. But how would my other pets treat him? I asked my neighbor if I could take the little puppy home for a minute to see how he would fit in to the household. She had eight puppies to give away and was more than happy to allow it.
I plunked the puppy down in the middle of the livingroom. He seemed relieved to have a break from his siblings climbing all over him. The cats circled him and left, apparently deciding that since he was smaller than they were, he posed no threat. Phoebe sniffed him thoroughly while he watched her with admiring eyes. She strolled back into the kitchen with a glint in her eye. No doubt, she was ready to relish the role of big sister and was already thinking of ways to trick him into doing what she wanted. He had been accepted into the family. I named him Buster, after Buster Keaton, my favorite actor.
Even when he grew up to be bigger than all of them put together, Phoebe and the cats always bossed him around. I think Buster still felt like the tiny puppy he was when he first arrived.
