Our friend Ruth Whiteside is a designer, author, poet, and illustrator, and she and her golden retriever Sundance are regulars at our local off-leash dog park. When our basset hound Charlee's puppies were born in April 2007, Ruth posted a poem entitled "A Toast to 6 Tails" on the notice board at the park, telling the delightful story of Charlee and Buddy (the sire basset hound belonging to our volunteer Park Steward, Steve) and their new family.

"A Toast to 6 Tails" became so popular with the locals that Ruth went on to write, illustrate and publish an entire book of Dog Poetry called "I Know the Way to the Dog Park." This delightful book is full of poems about all kinds of dogs. In the DVD "A Basset is an Asset," we asked Ruth to read the story of Buddy and Charlee from her book in front of the camera. Sundance made a brief appearance to help out with the proceedings. Sundance also enjoyed watching the DVD. We have noticed that not all breeds of dogs can see the television, but the golden retrievers are all very good at it!

If you are interested in acquiring a copy of Ruth's book, please email us and we'll arrange for a copy to be mailed to you.