by Kat Latham
A couple of weeks ago, I had a dream about my parents’ dog, Gina. In my dream, she was no longer an elderly, arthritic, deaf, incontinent, grumpy mutt with only one eye (and it blind). She transformed into the enthusiastic puppy she’d been when I first bought her for my parents to help my dad get over his grief at our other dog’s death.
I knew when I woke up that Gina was gone. My parents called several hours later to break the news. Because of the time difference between where I live (London) and where they live (southern California), there’s a good chance I dreamt of Gina as she was falling into her final sleep.
Gina was brilliant, and I’m not just saying that because I loved her. She was the smartest dog I’ve ever seen and fiercely protective of her family—not always a good trait, but it did come in handy when I was walking her once and a strange man kept trying to approach me despite my warnings that I didn’t want him to come any closer.
Her personality was as distinctive as any of my other family members’—that is to say, very distinctive. Perhaps because of the bond I formed with Gina, I love when animals feature in novels. I don’t just mean when a hero or heroine owns a cat/dog/parrot/monkey/fill-in-the-attention-grabbing-pet-here. I mean when a pet is so well developed that they become a character themselves.
My all-time favorite animal character in a romance novel is Hairy, the Chinese Crested from Take a Chance on Me by Susan Donovan. He’s so integral to the plot that he has his own point of view—the cute little guy thinks of the hero as Big Alpha and the heroine as Soft Hands. He even solves a murder.
Hairy is as clever a foil for the hero as the heroine is. The hero, Thomas, is a rugby-playing lawyer who works with a special team of cops targeting people who’re trying to hire hit men. Hairy is a six-pound, shivering, nearly hairless pedigree dog who wears a maxi-pad because he pees when he’s nervous. And he’s often nervous.
He’s also lonely and traumatized, having seen his owner get murdered, and when he moves in with Thomas he instantly develops an attachment with Thomas’s boxers.
One of my favorite scenes is when Thomas succumbs to Hairy’s cries and takes him out of the cage he’s been sleeping in, allowing him to sleep with Thomas instead. And Hairy decides the most comfortable spot is Thomas’s chest (really, who doesn’t like to cuddle up against a big man’s chest?).
At that point, the circling began—tight and fast little spins that went on and on until Hairy apparently thought he’d rearranged Thomas’s chest hair to perfection.
Hairy plopped down with a sigh, dropping the pair of boxers next to Thomas’s head. The dog curled up and managed to bury his pointy snout in the cozy hollow beneath Thomas’s chin.
Thomas lay perfectly still. He tried to relax his fists and breathe normally. He felt the dog’s warm skin against his own and looked down his nose to watch the dog’s shock of white Billy Idol hair rise and fall with each of his own breaths.
This was plenty weird, Thomas realized, but not in a completely bad way. Just odd. Unusual. But not utterly awful. He tried to ignore the fact that he had an ugly dog sleeping on top of him and closed his eyes.
Sometime during the night, Thomas begins having naughty dreams about his vet, Emma.
At this point, Thomas began to surface from the bizarre dream world to a waking state, pulled along by the most outrageously delicious physical sensation he’d ever experienced. Emma—sweet, soft, sexy, unbearably female Emma—was nibbling on his unshaven face, giving little fleabites to the tiny hairs growing along his jaw, moving to the stubble on his upper lip, heading toward his mouth for what promised to be a hot, passionate kiss…
Thomas woke with a shout, staring into the bug-eyes of the mutant.
Whoa, relax, Big Alpha! We need to get you together with Soft Hands—and soon.
Hairy yawned.
I slept great. How about you?
Susan Donovan develops Hairy so well that I bonded with him as much as the other characters.
Do you have a favorite animal from a novel? What does it take to make an animal a successful character? Comment and enter to win a copy of Jill Shalivis’s THE SWEETEST THING!
Kat Latham has been reading romance for a couple of decades. With degrees in English lit and human rights, she loves stories that reflect the depth, humor and emotion of real life. When she’s not writing contemporary romance novels, she can usually be found blogging or tweeting overly personal information. She loves meeting other readers and writers online, so follow her on Twitter or check out her blog and say hello!
I really like Albert, the dog in Lisa Kleypas´s Love in the Afternoon. What I found especially cool, is that there is a picture of him in the book. As the heroine Beatrix is a real-animal-lover, there are a lot of other animals too.
Ghost in Redenption by Shelby Morgen
I always enjoy the dogs that Jennifer Crusie includes in her books. Her canine characters — with all their quirks! — are interesting by themselves but also help build her human characters through their relationship to the dog.
Your family must have given Gina such a wonderful life!
I am particularly fond of animals in stories, they give stories that extra spark and never fail to entertain. I would have to say I adore all the dogs in Kristan Higgins’s novels. They are all have so lively and colourful. I think it’s important for an animal character to be successful is to have a presence/voice, maybe not a physical one but one that contributes to the characters’s well-beings; bonding with them on an emotional level, being a source of comfort and bringing joy.
I just finished reading Lost and Found by Jacqueline Sheehan and at times she had you see through the dogs eyes and thoughts – loved it. But then I pretty much like all books that have some animals included 🙂
How To Bake A New Life by Barbara O’Neal has a unique and precious dog who is sensitive, and caring. Love this post since dogs play a great imortance in my life.
In Cherise Sinclair’s Master of the Mountain, the heroine Rebecca is terrified of dogs. She was brutally attacked and scarred by a vicious dog when she was a child. The hero, Logan, has a huge dog named Thor. Rebecca is of course scared of him. Once Logan forces an introduction between the two they become fast friends and she is able to confront her fears. I love that dog. He is a sweetheart under that scary exterior.
Love when authors use animals in the story. JoAnn Bourne, Eloisa James and Kristin Higgins all come to mind with memorable pets within their stories.
I loved TAKE A CHANCE ON ME and agree totally about the cute “crestie” dog. It’s my favorite breed, and I have a crestie character in each of my books — as well as having a crestie logo named Smokey. There’s something so great about a big, tough hero falling for a tiny, often goofy-looking dog. 😉
I love books in all genres that feature dogs. I think the “Chet & Bernie” mystery series is great because the books are written totally in the point-of-view of the dog, Chet. I listen to the books (first one is DOG ON IT) on CD, and the narrator does a wonderful job of reading in Chet’s POV. 😉
— Marcia James
Jennifer Crusie does dogs well, for sure, but I must admit a particular fondness for the Baluchistan Hound in Georgette Heyer’s Frederica – the architect of much mischief and foolishness. Elizabeth Goudge always had strong animal characters in her novels – Rolf the lion in the Little White Horse, the evil cat in Towers in the Mist. They always managed to bring an element of magic to her books.
I like animals soI like to read stories with animals as a part of the story. I especially like it when the dog makes comments to himself about his master. As a child, I read and re-read Black Beauty and any other horse story.
Oh, my gosh! Hairy is my favorite, too! How fabulous was he? And I loved how we got to read from his POV. Aweosme! He was a big reason why Take A Chance on Me is one of my favorite books! He was to adorable 🙂
The reason I picked up my first romance read, “Anyone But You” by Jennifer Crusie, was Fred, the dog on the cover.
I love animals featured in stories, and when they feel like another character in the book, that’s even better. Eloisa James’ A Kiss at Midnight has numerous animals featured in the story, including Kate’s stepsister’s three little dogs that she’s forced to take with her on her visit to the castle. They might not have as big a role as Hairy seems to, but they do have their own little personalities.
In reading the blog today I was reminded of my dog Sandy which I had to put down on Memorial Day..he was a Schnauzer/Poodle mix ..a Snoodle they called him at the pet store where I bought him 19 years 8 months ago…He was the smartest dog I ever owned and a real part of my life for almost 20 years. I dearly miss him. I agree that dogs can understand us almost better than other people can. I always enjoy reading stories with animals in them. It’s even better when the animal has an important part in the story.
Andrea Kane had 3 dachshunds in her last two books, Eloisa James had a dog in A Duke of Her Own and Deanna Raybourne used a cranky pug in her Silent series.
The first animal I thought of was the ferret from Lisa Kleypas’ historical series. Julie Garwood had a lot of interesting dogs in her historicals too.
I really liked Albert the little dog in Lisa Klepas’s book, Love in the Afternoon. It makes the characters seem more real and interesting on how they deal with pets.
I do remember some animals I really enjoyed but right now I cannot think of the names of the books. I do know I always think they enhance the story line. They must be special in some way.
It’s important that the animal not be just there for window dressing but that the characters actually interact with it. Otherwise it just seems like a fake play for sympathy to include an animal. My favorite is Grendel from the Kate Daniels series by Ilona Andrews. Normally he looks like a dirty and smelly standard poodle, but when Kate gets attacked, he turns into a vicious hellhound to defend her.
Love suss an bold, animals from Jen cruise books are funny
Love jill books thanks
Thanks for the excerpts. Funny. At the moment, all I can think of are the characters we have living with us in our house. They are all very individual personalities. I read COWBOY TROUBLE by Joanne Kennedy last year and it had a couple of dogs that had definite personalities and were important to the story.
I think animal characters add much to a story.
I like Angus the little dog from Kristan Higgin’s Too Good To Be True.
I don’t have a favorite because I’m not a big fan of animals in books.
The dogs in Kristin Higgins’ books come to mind first. My favorite animal was a horse the hero talked to as if it was a devoted confidant and the horse would respond by being stubborn and ornery (much like the hero). I don’t recall the title, but I know it was set in colonial America. I appreciate the addition of an animal when the interactions with it demonstrate an otherwise unseen characteristic of the H/h. If an animal is only added to be a superfluous bit of fluff, then I’m not so fond of them.