Amazon review

My grateful thanks are due to DMS Usher for this review on the Amazon website:

What an adorable book from new author Malcolm Orr. I first spotted the advertisement for this book prior to its recent launch and considered that it looked interesting enough for a fun time read and for just under a fiver!

Although no longer a dog owner myself (my last dog was a Border Collie over 30 years ago !) However, circumstances have not allowed me to keep a dog since - although I do own two cats! That said, I have always taken a tremendous interest in everyone else's dog, and particularly those of my friends - I still like to think that I understand them sufficiently !

I'm convinced that most pet lovers would like to consider that their pets actually think and converse in a similar way to ourselves. So with this in mind, it's exactly what brought this superb little book to my attention. I thought, after reading the pre launch review that it would serve as a decent little light read on a recent flight to India! I can tell you now, I was NOT disappointed !

The book chronicles a series of letters by Chloe, a psuedo border collie who originates from the outskirts of Perth Western Australia. She tells her true stories and of her eventual long journey by Silver Bird to a new land called England to be reunited with her 'old humans' following an enforced six months quarantine with her old friends in Aus!

Chloe gives her true account of life on this side of the pond, with the differences and comaprisons back home by way of a series of hilarious letters (purportedly written by her!)

This book is more than just a funny read, - and as I said at the top - it never disappoints. On the contrary, I think I had a smile on my face from beginnig to end, as I read of her (sometimes) hysterical accounts, which occasionally caused me to laugh out loud. Much - no doubt - to the person in the seat next to mine's annoyance!

Her biographical letters to her friends back in Australia are an absolute joy and I can only urge anyone, whether you own a Border Collie, Alsatian, Daschund or Minature Poodle, to just grab a copy as soon as you're able! You cannot fail to enjoy her experiences and you may even be amazed at her ability to adapt to a totally different lifestyle to the one she once knew!

Blimey, we're in the Australian newspapers!

So it seems I got it wrong before - there's another Chloe who visits fellers in hospital out in Perth, would you believe it? So I wrote to her and they put it in the Western Australian Post 



In case you can't read what I wrote here, I've written it again below (no doubt it was edited a bit): 

  

Dear Chloe/Dr. Feelgood.

 

An old pal of mine in W.A. sent me a press cutting about you, and I was so gobsmacked that I decided to drop you a line. Apart from the obvious things which any self respecting dog would own up to, like quality tucker and chasing cats, we seem to have much in common.

 

For a start I am called Chloe the same as you, although my humans use much ruder names to address me when I have committed terrible household crimes, like shedding my fur all over the best settee, or making muddy footprints on the Wilton shagpile in the lounge.

 

Secondly, I am West Australian like you. I am a Bitzer from the bush, born in a tin shed up there in Gidgegannup in the hills behind Perth. I was raised on this 5 acre property where I had a right royal time chasing chooks and digging up my humans` ornamental flower beds. But 5 years ago they decided to go walkabout to this strange place called England, and a few nmonths later I was crated up and sent off to join them.

 

Thirdly, my humans have got a son called Paul who spends his days in a wheelchair on account of being paralysed as a result of a car accident. He lives in Melbourne now so I don't see him, but I do know how tough life must be for him and for your mate Terry. I also know how much we dogs can do to help blokes like them, and I reckon that what you have done for Terry and the other blokes you visit is awsome. Incidentally, some of them might remember Paul (Cumming as he then was) when he lived in Perth and played in a band called "The Shuffling Hungarians", whatever that means.

 

So what a set of coincidences! You may well ask how I come to be in this rain-soaked land when I could be back in W.A. baking my bum in the sun and snapping at passing flies. Well its a long tragic tale involving men in white coats, transportation in a big silver bird, and a whole load of new experiences which would make your fur turn white. If you want to know more about this crime against dogkind read my book, "Home Thoughts On Abroad", available from Amazon .com, amazon.co.uk or the publisher Austin and Macauley (see their website). The book won't win the Nobel Prize for literature, but it may give you and your humans a chuckle when they sit down to sink a slab or two at beer o`clock. My male human is hoping to cash in on an offer from Hollywood for the film rights. In your dreams I say, but if it happens, its a case of move over Lassie and make way from the glamour girl from Gidge.

 

Well I must go now as it looks like I might score a walk on the beach. Go well old mate, and give all those blokes you visit a big lick from me.

 

 

It seems the bloke from the paper was so chiffed with my letter, he even ran a piece on me which gave him an excuse to fill the page with my lovely face!

 

 

Instinct helps Chloe to help residents

G'day - and you might be wondering what I've been doing to help residents, but it's not me, it's another Chloe in Western Australia - we're everywhere!

Anika Hume of the Mudgee Guardian has penned this piece which I thought was worth sharing with all my readers.

Residents of Pioneer House’s dementia wings are relearning memories thanks to some help from a furry friend.

Chloe, a white three-year-old Maltese Shihtzu cross, has been living at the residence up to four days a week since she was eight-weeks old and spends most of her days bringing joy to the faces of those who struggle to remember their life before the lodge.

Working primarily in Braeholme (Pioneer House’s high care dementia unit), D wing (low care dementia unit) and A wing (high care patient unit), Chloe has become an important part of the furniture - and the therapy program - at the residence.

“As a little puppy, she brings out the warmth in the residents and makes them feel at home, but she also helps prompt and bring back their memories of pets they have had or have been around throughout their life,” Chloe’s owner and Pioneer House Recreational Activities Officer Rhonda Brooke said.

If you have a copy of the Mudgee Guardian of 25 March, you can find the full story on page 7.

Some photos of the author

G'day!

It strikes me there are too many pictures of the humans up here and not enough of me - the portraits by uncle Chris are way too far down the page. So here are some to let you know just how beautiful I really am!

Rounding up sheep (just out of shot, of course - see them go!)

Rounding up a ball (ailing somewhat)  

Rounding up my shadow

Rounding up my humans!

Holsworthy dog’s claim to fame in latest book launch

Crikey, my picture's in the paper again! This time in the Bude & Stratton Post (16 February, 2012 edition).

In case you don't have your glasses, it says:

With Uggie, the canine star of ‘The Artist’ being nominated for a Golden Collar Award. could it be the turn of a Holsworthy dog to win a canine Booker Prize?

In Home Thoughts On Abroad, which has just been published, a 12-year old collie called Chloe has ‘written’ about her life since being transported from her five-acre home in Gidgegannup in the bush near Pert, Western Australia, where she had spent the first seven years of her life, to her new home in North Road, Holsworthy.

Her owners, Malcolm Orr and his wife Jeanette, who hails from Bude, returned to England in 2007 for family reasons after 27 years in Australia. They had to leave Chloe behind for six months in quarantine until she was able to fly to Heathrow.

Out of gratitude to the neighbours down under who had looked after her, they kept in touch through letters supposedly written by Chloe describing how she was adapting to her new life. Until arriving in Holsworthy, she had never lived in a street nor been taken out on a lead.

The letters, laced with generous doses of humour and Australian slang, were so enjoyed by his friends that Malcolm was persuaded to go into print. An enjoyable read for all dog lovers, it was published at the end of January. Copies, priced at £4.99, are available from the Holsworthy Information Centre and all good bookshops.


(Don't forget: Home Thoughts On Abroad is available from Amazon, Waterstones, W H Smith, The Book Depository, Hive, Lovereading, Mighty Ape (Australia) or direct from the publishers Austin & Macauley at a £4.79.)

The price of fame!

Greetings to my friends and fans,

                                                        

Well what do you know? Who would have thought that a Bitzer from the bush would become the glamour girl of Gidge. Yes my recently published book has brought me all the trappings of fame, well one or two of them anyway. So its goodbye Rin Tin Frigging Tin, you are history sunshine.

Move over and make room for Chloe the Wonder Dog, a new superstar is born.

My humans are running round like headless chooks as a media feeding frenzy descends on our house. Well, perhaps I am letting my Aussie love of a good yarn run away with me a bit. In fact we have had a camera wally from a paper called the North Devon Journal call in and do a bit of a Ron Sullivan, making us all sit in stupid positions which made our bums ache, and then flashing light bulbs at us until we could not see. But I must say the results were quite good though not in the same league as David Bailey O'Sullivan, who immortalised me on several occasions in the good old days in Oz. I gather from a phone conversation earlier today that another snapper from the Cornish Gazette is expected this afternoon for a photo opportunity. I hope my stupid humans are making a decent dollar out of all this and that the added income to the family budget will be reflected in the quality of tucker in my foodbowl.

    

Of course the anticipation that these guys will turn up and start looking at our kennel as a possible future feature for some fancy ideal home magazine, drives her indoors into a frenzy of cleaning, and all possible traces of my messy habits (e.g. dog fur on the Ercol 3 piece suite, bonio biscuits burried down the side of armchairs), have to be eliminated, and my male human is sent off to put clean clothes on (the first time this month).

    

But I digress from my theme (too much listening to her indoors on the phone). The word on my book is out there, and I am confidently expecting a call from Hollywood any moment now. I am also wondering if the Sun will ask me to be a page 3 pin-up feature, but my boss man says my legs are not sexy enough, even with my harness on. He must have funny tastes is all I can say!! Unfortunately the mean buggers have not allowed me to have a mobile phone, so there is no chance of some journo hacking into my private conversations, and me being able to sue them for vast quantities of dog chocs.

    

Of course being a celebrity has its downside.People keep stopping me in the street and asking me daft questions, like how has my life changed since I became famous? Well I have to say sadly it hasn't much. I still get chased off the settee whenever I try to roost there; I still get the same old booring diet of chicken breast and dog biscuits ("No don't give her that, it's too rich!"); I am still banished to the garden if I break wind ("I told you not to give her that rich food!"); and I still get yelled at when I try to give passing seniors with heart conditions a savage serve from the safety of my front garden. Meanwhile my humans seem to be basking in the glory of my success. Her indoors has bought at least three new outfits in case she has to be interviewed on radio, and my boss man sees it as a great opportunity to get stuck into a few bottles of Nigerian Chardonnay.

     

Well thats it for now. We stars have got to get plenty of rest to protect or natural beauty. Someone mentioned the possibility of giving me Botox. If they  are anything like Bonios, I'm all for it, but I have my suspicions that they might involve men in white coats sticking things into me, so I am keeping a low profile on that one.

                                          

Lots of love and licks to everyone.

                                                          

Chloe

Blimey, we're in the papers

Thanks to Mike Southon of the North Devon Journal for printing a picture of me with two other galahs who I see around the house occasionally.

In case you haven't got your reading glasses handy, it says:

A collie cross called Chloe has "written" a book on her adventures from Australia to Holsworthy.

Home Thoughts On Abroad chronicles the 11-year-old dog's journey to England after spending seven years living on a five-acre home in Western Australia.

Her owners, Malcolm and Jeanette Orr, returned to North Devon after 27 years in Australia because of family reasons.

They kept in touch with friends down under who had looked after Chloe during her six months quarantine through a series of letters written from their pet's perspective.

Malcolm said: "The book comprises a series of letters, ostensibly written by her, which from the dog's perspective, tell friends back in Australia of her personal experiences, and of our joint efforts to settle back into a new and very different life here.

"I did not set out to write the letters with a book in mind, but as a means of keeping in touch with some very good friends."

The Red Arrow book, Home Thoughts On Abroad, was published by Austin & Macauley this week.

WRITE STUFF: Malcolm and Jeanette Orr with their dog Chloe.

Picture: Mike Southon. To order this photograph call 0844 4060 269 and quote Ref: BNMS20120131E-002_C