Cats and Dogs of Chapel Hill :
Furry Tails About Town
by Beverly Dyer,
$18.00, full color, paperback, 62 pages
Published: 2005
ISBN 1-59715-008-8

To order by phone, call 866-942-8389

When Beverly Dyer’s feline companion, Breezy, died at the ripe age of nineteen, she discovered how special he had been in her life, having spent nearly twenty years of it with her. As she grieved his death, she found there was an empty place in her heart, a space for that next special cat. In an animal shelter besieged with dogs and cats without homes or owners, Dyer found an undernourished cat who’d recently given birth to four kittens. Within hours, she and her husband were the foster parents to Maya—the mother cat—and her kittens.

Now it is with her love of Chapel Hill, North Carolina and love of animals that Beverly Dyer has written Cats and Dogs of Chapel Hill: Furry Tails About Town. With the same sensitivity that pushed her to foster Maya and her kittens, Dyer has collected the stories of local dogs and cats in the hope of touch the hearts of those of us who adore and honor our furry friends.

It is difficult for a dog lover not to swoon when reading of Tan, a border collie who resides and works at Finley Golf Course. One of his main duties is to keep geese off the course, which he has become very talented at. Sometimes though, stray geese will sneak onto the grounds, and "Tan races to herd them into the pond and will swim behind the flock until they become frustrated and fly off."

Then there is the story of Kikimo, "a white Siamese mix with gem-like blue eyes siamese." The Animal Protection Society of Orange County (APS) was then situated on Airport Road and had a nasty rodent problem. So they hired Kikimo as a resident mouser. "[Kikimo] was very proud of her work and would leave at least one dead mouse every week on staff member Amy Eller’s desk."
If you walk into an animal shelter anywhere in the country, you will find that, most times of the year, it is full with dogs and cats who need homes. With Cats and Dogs of Chapel Hill: Furry Tails About Town, Beverly Dyer inspires us not to see just a jammed shelter roaring with anonymous meows and barks, but to realize how special that one mutt who catches your eye could end up being in your life.

To contact the author for readings and signings please email bev@beverlydyer.com or visit her website at beverlydyer.com.