Fat Dog Farm: Tails of Farm Failures illustrates the many mishaps as Aleah and Andrew navigate city life to farm life. The book showcases the multi-species family and subsequent farm calamities. We all love a good failure, don't we? This is a humorous, inspirational tale of back-to-the-land dreams that encounter some challenging, but ultimately surmountable rough patches of reality. The tale begins in their urban home in Asheville, North Carolina when Andrew's brother suddenly drops off his dog, a Great Pyrenees mixed breed, named Samosa. As Andrew and Aleah navigate their relationship, life shifts from a downtown city space to acreage, thanks to Samosa. Aleah is the dreamer and optimist; Andrew applies the practical and financial brakes, which are needed often for the farm dream to mature. The story chronicles their first six years of homesteading in Tryon, North Carolina. What do you get when two suburbanites naively bring several farm species into their lives and hearts? Excitement, sad times, and failures, but a few successes, too. Each chapter relives the many fiascos that incur while living close to the land and caretaking livestock. The journey revealed becomes the muse for Aleah's first book.

Albert is an ageing labrador. He lives with his master, the Professor, an academic of some renown, in a small town somewhere in Germany, a community largely untouched by history and the larger world beyond. Much bereaved by the loss of his beloved mistress, the Professor’s wife, Albert leads a quiet existence observing the follies and foibles of the humans around him. The arrival of Fräulein Breitfuss, the new Head Librarian, a flamboyant young woman of dubious provenance, sends ripples through the slumberous town. The male populace is agog, the womenfolk suspicious… and Albert is not happy when she moves into the Professor’s life. Neither are the locals when she also attempts to shake the community out of its habitual lethargy with an Arts Festival. The affair between the Professor and the librarian takes a dramatic turn when the woman's unexpected and intricate past presents itself. Rendered homeless by the tragic end of the liaison, unable to renew love and fealty to a new master, Albert takes to the woods above the town, in imitation of imagined ancestors hunting in the wilds. Albert’s narrative weaves together episodes from the lives of a colourful cast of characters. Blending high farce and sombre realities, small vanities and impossible dreams, love found and love lost, the tale winds through a century of drama and conflict with a seemingly guileless innocence. Finally, Albert dimly perceives human lives as the tragicomic sum of accident, whim and fancy, rather than the orderly outcome of principles and high ideals. Fat Dog is narrated by Albert the Labrador, but is not a traditional 'pawtobiography'. As the tale proceeds, the canine voice gradually becomes merely that of a raconteur, allowing the events and episodes to unfold on their own, with occasional and detached musings on the human condition. It is an enjoyable read for any fans of fiction that offers a quirky insight into human nature.

Choosing the right dog food in a world with too many choices
Walking down the dog food aisle in a pet supply superstore can present you with an overwhelming number of choices. Reading about dog food on the internet can make your head spin with so many opinions and stories. And judging the content that you find on dog food packaging can be confusing and misleading. How can the average dog owner make an informed choice in accordance with her dog’s age, size and condition? In her latest book, author Linda Case describes how to make logical, evidence-based decisions for what to feed your dog amid all the options available.

You will learn
• How pet food marketers appeal to your emotions to persuade you to buy a particular type of dog food.
• To distinguish between scientific, evidence-based information and the anecdotal evidence which is so pervasive—and often misleading—in the dog food arena.
• Is there a scientific basis for dog foods designed specifically for puppies, senior dogs, canine athletes—even various breeds of dogs?
• How to read and evaluate all of the material included on a typical package of dog food from the ingredients and label claims (“Natural,” “Anti-Oxidant,” “Low Fat”),to the Nutrient Analysis and Nutritional Adequacy statements.
• How to avoid choice paralysis and the cognitive traps that can interfere with clear decision making.

What experts are saying about Dog Food Logic
Pet food is like a religion for many—but now those strong emotional ties can be backed up with fact. Linda Case separates fact from fiction, explains the complex terms and offers a guide to pet nutrition in simple to comprehend language. Unlike other books on this topic, there is no agenda here—except to present facts and then allow pet owners to make their own logical conclusions, letting the kibble drop where it may.
Steve Dale, CABC, columnist Tribune Content Agency; radio host Black Dog Radio Productions and WGN Radio (Chicago); contributing editor USA Weekend; special correspondent Cat Fancy; author Good Cat!

Dog Food Logic is the indispensable guide to the science behind canine nutrition that will help us to make wise, well-informed choices about how and what we feed our dogs. It takes the fear out of trying to understand proper nutrition and will empower us to determine what is best for the health of our dogs.
Claudia Kawczynska, Founder and Editor-in-chief of The Bark

Don’t read this book if you want someone to tell you what to feed your dog. This is a book for people who want to learn, in a reasoned and thoughtful way, how to figure it out for themselves. Dog Food Logic goes way beyond the usual textbook list of nutritional requirements to cover the pet food industry in all its glory: the history, the business, the marketing, and best of all, the science. Case deftly navigates the most controversial topics in pet food and presents the big picture without interjecting judgment about what approach is best. There’s something here for everyone: pet care professionals and dog lovers alike will learn something new from this informative, easy to read, and well researched book.
Jessica Vogelsang, DVM, CVJ, author, speaker, and CEO of Pawcurious Media