Lurchers are addictive!

The publication of our new book Worzel Wooface is getting close, and we're so delighted that children's author Cathy Cassidy has provided the lovely foreword, that we thought we'd share it now.

I dreamed about Lurchers long before I was owned by one; for years I would draw pictures of my dream dog, all scruffy, skinny, long-legged beauty, ears ruffled by the breeze. Eventually, I had a Lurcher of my own ... a rescue dog, a dishevelled Deerhound cross, who looks a little like a toilet brush on legs.
     Nobody told me that Lurchers are addictive. I began to haunt online rescue websites, and we eventually acquired a second rescue Lurcher as a result: a cheeky, piebald creature with a soul of pure joy.
     I am pretty sure you can never have too many Lurchers ... but my husband says you can. Two is his limit. I tried to go cold turkey on the Lurcher rescue websites and failed. Before long, I had fallen in love again; this time with an unruly pup with sticky-up hair the colour of a field of wheat, and a wayward glint in his eye. “Look at this dog!” I said to my husband. “No!” he said, before I could even begin to suggest we adopt him. We didn’t get to adopt Worzel, but he was too gorgeous to stay in rescue for long, and soon he had a home.
     I pined for the haphazard dog with the sticky-up wheaten hair. I missed his pictures; the glint in his eye. And then I discovered that Worzel had a blog. I could read about his adventures, share the chaos, the mayhem, the fun. It turned out that Worzel was not just a pretty face; he was a lurcher of great talent and charm, and his blog was not just a hit with me but with readers all around the world. It wasn’t long before Worzel had a Facebook following, too, and then a book deal ... and he took it all in his considerable stride.
     Worzel is the most wonderful dog I never had. He’s trouble on legs, a master of through-a-hedge-backwards chic and forgive-me-please melting dark eyes. He is faster than the speed of light, a canine whirlwind, and his ears are a law unto himself. He has mastered the art of living with cats and teenagers, and has a talent for chaos and fun. It has been hugely entertaining to share in his adventures, and now you can, too ... trust me, a few pages and you’ll be hooked.
     Like I said, Lurchers are addictive, and Worzel is the most endearing and awesome Lurcher ever.
Cathy Cassidy

Coming soon! The quite very actual adventures of Worzel Wooface by Catherine Pickles.

Worzel Wooface is a Hounds First Sighthound Rescue dog who likes walking, spending time with his family, and chasing crows when given the opportunity. His current hobby is chewing wellies on unmade beds.

Worzel is an enormous Lurcher with 'issues.' When a disastrous turn of events means he has to be re-homed, his life changes dramatically. Now, as well as dealing with his own issues, he's got to deal with a distinctly imperfect family. And cats. Shed loads of cats; some of whom aren't that pleased to welcome him into their home ... More info.

Q&A with Stanley Coren

Stanley Coren, renowned psychologist, and author of our upcoming book Gods, Ghosts and Black dogs, took the time to answer a few questions about storytelling, folklore and, of course, dogs!

Image courtesy Lionel Trudel

What’s your favorite piece of folklore involving dogs?

The neat thing about folklore is that it is always changing and evolving. I sometimes hear someone telling a story, and I don't recognize, until about halfway through, that they are telling a variant of the story that I already know. Yet I still find it special because they are adding something to it, changing parts of it, so that is new and novel. So, the truth of the matter is, I have no particular favorite piece of folklore, since none is set in stone. My favorite at any point in time is the one that I am listening to then.

What’s your own relationship with dogs? Do you have any dogs at the moment? What are their names, and what are they like?

I have had dogs all of my life, and I enjoy training them as well as just hanging out with them. My only real, continuing sport activities have to do with dogs. I compete with them in obedience competitions, rally, tracking and other such doggie activities. Then, afterwards when we go home, I flop down on the sofa, and my dogs form a warm and fuzzy pile of life beside me.

Stanley with his Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, Ripley. Courtesy University of British Columbia

Right now I have two dogs. The adult is a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel named Ripley. Although he holds titles in obedience competition and rally obedience, he is basically just a love sponge. My puppy is a Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever named Ranger. He is at that puppy stage where he is less a dog and more like an orange, furry alligator, chewing on anything he can reach. He is great fun and it is good to have a Retriever back in the family since they tend to have the work ethic that I like in dogs, and are clever enough to figure out what they need to do next, even when I am unclear in my instructions to them.

You’ve travelled a fair bit, collecting stories – what’s the most memorable setting you’ve been in where you’ve been told a story, and why? Did it affect the story?

Several of my stories come from the American South, and were told to me by people who did not have high levels of education, and only limited worldly experience outside of their own home region. Still, these were people who loved and understood dogs, and who drew a lot of joy from being around them. More than one of these stories was told to me while we were sitting on the porch, sipping bourbon, which may or may not have been legally produced. So although the setting did not necessarily affect the nature of the story, it is true that whenever I sip a little bourbon I often find myself fondly remembering some of those tales that were told to me on sunshiny days in the south.

What was it like getting to meet so many different people from different backgrounds, and hearing their stories?

I love meeting people! Although I have met many different folk from many different cultures, and of many different races and ethnicities, I don't know whether it is their differences that fascinate me, or their underlying similarities. Regardless of background or upbringing, it is always fascinating to see how their eyes light up when they are telling a story, or talking about a dog who they have lived with and loved. When you sit down with a person and share either a story, or a personal reminiscence, the barriers between you crumble. If you have told the story to someone, or listen to a story that they have told you, you are no longer strangers, and you can share in the warmth of being with somebody you are comfortable with.

From a psychological standpoint, do you think that we, as humans, have a need to tell and hear stories, and why do you think that is?

As a psychologist I think that we love to hear stories told by other people because we feel that we are sharing something with them, and they are giving us a glimpse into their life or their history. The story that we hear in our minds is not necessarily the story that the storytellers are telling. Since there are no images but only the sound of their words, we can paint the pictures in our mind and make them as exciting and as fanciful as we choose. And not only the listener benefits, but the storyteller does also. When I tell a story I love to see the expressions on the faces of the people I am telling it to, when they suddenly realise where the story is going, discover the strange twist that bring the tale to a conclusion, or learn about the clever way in which the major protagonists solve some apparently impossible problem. Perhaps even better is the fact that in many cases we are ‘paid’ for telling a story. If the story is interesting and fun it is very often the case that one of your listeners will respond by telling a story of their own. You get to take their tale and add it to your collection when you leave, and in that way you take a bit of them home with you in a much more intimate way than if it was merely a photograph taken at the time.

Do you think we’re influenced by the stories we hear, and do you think we influence the stories we tell? 

Some stories are merely fun and entertaining, and have no greater influence on us than watching the next episode of a favorite television series. Still, sometimes stories make you think, and most often make you think about important things, such as right and wrong, or the meaning of friendship, or what may be behind our deeper religious and spiritual beliefs. However, if stories do nothing more than entertain someone for five or 10 minutes, that is value enough. One well known clinical psychologist once told me that if a person finds just half a dozen things every day that make them smile or laugh, then that person can be said to be having a good life. So if one of these stories produces a smile or two I suppose it’s a contribution toward improving a person’s quality of life, at least for that day.

What made you want to compile these stories into a book?

There are many reasons why I gathered these stories into a book. I collect stories the way that other people collect stamps or coins. Still, stories are different than physical objects. If you have a collection of fine postage stamps you may be able to derive some joy by browsing through your albums. However, a story really only gives you joy when you hear it, or get to tell it to someone else. So, for selfish reasons, I wanted the joy of being able to tell the stories to a lot of other people in the hopes that they would enjoy them the way that I do. I also wanted to show that these folk tales and myths are not objects that came from the distant past, or from primitive cultures that don't share access to television or the Internet, but rather are things that ordinary people today still tell, and pass on. This means that part of what I wanted to do when presenting these stories was to say a bit about when and where I was when I first encountered this particular tale, and who it was that told it to me. Sometimes, the people who tell these tales are just as fascinating as the story itself.

You say in the book’s introduction you get the feeling that the universe isn’t composed of atoms, but of stories – can you elaborate on that?

If you ask the average person about their life and their world they will not tell you that they live in a house which is composed of bricks, which are composed of molecules, which are themselves composed of individual atoms. They will instead tell you a funny story about what one of their children did today, or the strange situation which their wife or husband found themselves in yesterday, or another tale about how their Aunt Sylvia taught them to make the same kind of meat pie that they are serving tonight for dinner. The stories that we tell, or remember, make up the fabric of our daily being – not atoms.

Who do you think will enjoy these stories – what ages? Are they well suited to being read aloud? (we can tie this one in with your excellent reading!)

I believe that these stories are pretty much for all ages. All of the stories that I tell were told to me by adults, so obviously they are enjoyable for adult-aged people. However, many of these are the same stories that we tell to children, and children love them. Children love being read to, and I tried to write the stories in a conversational tone which would make it easy to read them to someone else.

Can you tell us a story or a tall tale about a dog in your own life?

This story has to do with the first time that my beloved Cairn Terrier, Flint, encountered the great dog beast in the sky. In Vancouver, British Columbia, electrical storms with lightning and thunder are relatively rare, and Flint must have been around a year and a half old when he encountered his first. I was sitting at my dining room table surrounded by many sheets of data from a research project when suddenly Flint froze. He spun around, looked up, and then dashed for a window with such fervor that I stopped my work to watch him. A moment later, my own less sensitive human ears picked up the rumble of distant thunder.  Flint was growling and making a low throaty noise, much like the sound of thunder. Suddenly, there was a bolt of lightning, followed by a burst of thunder, to which Flint responded with angry barking. 

Many dogs have a fear of thunder, which sounds to them like the ferocious growls of an enormous dog, or some similar animal who is threatening to attack them, and that beast that they think they are about to encounter is far too large to fight off or defend against. The idea that thunder was the sound of dogs growling has made its way into a number of myths. My favorite comes from a tribe of Plains Indians in the Northwestern United States, who told stories of the Fire Cat: a puma, who is the sun’s pet. When the sun is shining, Fire Cat sleeps and absorbs some of the sun’s fire and heat, but when the sun disappears because it is obstructed by storm clouds, Fire Cat becomes angry and unleashes the fire he has stored in the form of bolts of lightning. If he isn’t stopped, he could burn out great forests and plains and destroy everything on earth, so the Great Spirit created the Thunder Dogs, whose job it is to chase away the Fire Cat before he does too much harm. That is why every lightning bolt is followed by the clamor of growling Thunder Dogs who have come to drive off Fire Cat. It also explains why the noise of the Thunder Dogs’ warning growls can be heard long after there are no more lightning bolts – they are making sure that Fire Cat has run away to hide, and will stay away until the sun returns.

After another flash of lightning and burst of thunder, Flint barked angrily again. Instead of cowering from the great dangerous dog growling in the sky, like any sensible dog his size might do, my courageous little terrier had appointed himself a member of the Thunder Dogs, Guardian of the Earth, Enemy of the Fire Cat who was raining lightning upon the helpless denizens of this world. I got up and went to window just as another lightning bolt struck.  

Flint barked again and I joined in, shouting, “Get away Fire Cat! There are too many brave and strong dogs here, and we will bite you if we catch you! Ruff-ruff-ruff! Get him, Flint. Ruff-ruff-ruff!” 

 Flint looked at me with his eyes alight and his tail straight up in the air, and then ratcheted up the level of his barking and growling. Just then, my wife, Joannie, came into the room.

“What’s going on here?”

“Flint and I are helping the Thunder Dogs chase away the Fire Cat before his lightning can do anybody any harm,” I replied with a smile.

“You’re teaching him to bark at lightning and thunder?” she asked.

“It’s the sacred duty of any brave and noble dog.”

“Is it the sacred duty of their university professor owner to bark at the sky as well?”

“In times of danger every citizen must contribute what he can.”

Joan looked at us, exasperated, and said, “I can accept living in a madhouse, but does it have to be such a noisy madhouse?”

“We’ll stop as soon as Fire Cat has gone away,” I reassured her.

For the rest of his life, Flint would growl at the sound of thunder and bark at the window. I was not as brave as my dog, however, and rather than upset the woman I love, I refrained from helping the Thunder Dogs – at least not when Joannie was within earshot ...

You can hear Stanley giving a fantastic, exclusive reading of one of his favourite stories from the book here.

Gods, ghosts and black dogs – The fascinating folklore and mythology of dogs, will be available to buy from the Hubble & Hattie website later this month. To find out more, or to be notified when books are available, click here.

2016 Spring catalogue now available online!

Copies of our 2016 Spring catalogue are on the way, but if you can't wait til then, information on our full range of current and forthcoming books, eBooks and Apps, can be had from our digital catalogue!

Want a physical copy? Email us at and we'll add you to our mailing list.

Worzel Wooface (Book Trailer)

Meet Worzel Wooface – a quite very actual superstar! Told entirely from Worzel’s perspective, the forthcoming book is a unique and hilarious diary of a rescue Lurcher's first year in his forever home. The full interview will be available soon.



Worzel is an enormous Lurcher with 'issues.' When a disastrous turn of events means he has to be re-homed, his life changes dramatically. Now, as well as dealing with his own issues, he's got to deal with a distinctly imperfect family. And cats. Shed loads of cats; some of whom aren't that pleased to welcome him into their home ...

Catherine Pickles is a full-time family carer, writer and blogger. Her blog about Worzel reached the final of the UK Blog Awards in 2015.
Catherine has fostered numerous sighthounds for Hounds First Sighthound Rescue. Her hobbies include sailing, walking, gardening and amateur dramatics, most of which she likes to do with Worzel (apart from gardening, but she doesn't have much choice about it, and the amateur dramatics, which he would hate). She, too, lives in Suffolk, with her husband, two nearly grown up children, and five cats.

This humorous book tells the story of Worzel, an enormous lurcher with “issues” and his newly adopted family – told entirely from the dog's point of view. Adapted from Catherine Pickles highly acclaimed blog, a finalist in the UK Blog Awards 2015, this is a uniquely told story of family life with a rescue animal.

When a disastrous turn of events means he has to be rehomed, Worzel's life changes dramatically. Now, as well as dealing with his own issues, he's got to deal with a distinctly imperfect family, and several cats – some of whom aren't that pleased to welcome him into their home.

Kittens, dogs, family, boats, friends (both human and furry), disasters and successes all feature in over 200 pages of stories, letters and diary entries.


Coming soon! The quite very actual adventures of Worzel Wooface by Catherine Pickles.
Click HERE for more information about the book.

Charlie – The dog who came in from the wild (Book Trailer)

We’ve a little taster of the fascinating interview recorded with Lisa Tenzin-Dolma, as she talks about her special boy, Charlie: the one-eyed feral dog from Romania she took into her home and her heart. The full interview will be available soon.



The true story of a bond that developed between author Lisa Tenzin-Dolma, and Charlie – a traumatised, one-eyed, Romanian dog who lived the first 18 months of his life in the wild, never socialising with humans. Charting Charlie’s progress and setbacks, it explains how Lisa worked with Charlie to help him overcome his extreme fearfulness.

Passionate about dog welfare, Lisa Tenzin-Dolma is the founder and principal of The International School for Canine Practitioners, and founder of the Dog Welfare Alliance, a non-profit organisation which brings together members of the public and dog professionals, and supports rescue organisations across the globe. Lisa is the author of 21 books, including three about dog psychology and behaviour, and is a consultant for the BBC on dog-related issues.

You can read all about Charlie in Lisa's book Charlie – The dog who came in from the wild.

Work placement at H&H

We were delighted to have Emily, an A-Level student, join us for a week of work experience recently. Here's what she had to say about her time at Hubble & Hattie ...

"To say I was nervous on the long walk here on Monday morning would be an understatement. I was anxious to meet everyone at Hubble & Hattie for if I didn't fit in or the team didn't like me, and I also didn't want this experience to change my mind about my plans to make a career in publishing. After spending a week with the production team, I can now say that this is something I definitely want to do.

"Once I had spent a good five minutes trying to find the building itself, I arrived to a warm welcome from Kim. She immediately went and made us a cup of tea — something I don't think I've stopped drinking all week — and then gave me a tour of the building and introduced me to the friendly team. 

"Throughout my time here, I have been given an insight into exactly what goes on within a publishing house, everything from author submissions to proofreading the final draft for printing. The amount of time and effort that goes into producing a book of H&H's standards, the endless checks back and forth between editor and author, still baffles me. I don't know how the team managed without the VCR, which happens to hold every piece of information you would ever need about every book Veloce and Hubble & Hattie has published. 

"I was shown how detailed the editing process is, from copy editing to line editing, as well as how the layout and the image resolution can either make or break your book. I learnt how to keep track of the accounts, how marketing through different companies, advertisements and social media expands the popularity of books, as well as how each book is packaged and sent to customers from the warehouse. I also managed to see how chaotic things become when a delivery turns up a day early!

"The team at H&H are some of the nicest, most genuine people I have met, as they made me feel welcome within their workplace and were almost always joking around about something or other. A huge thank you to Kim who has looked after me during my time here, and always made sure that I had something to learn or do, other than just drinking tea! Another big thank you to Rod and Jude for allowing me to come to Veloce and experience the business first hand, and thank you to the rest of the team who gave me their time and showed me exactly what they all do.

"Despite my original worries, Hubble & Hattie has not put me off from getting my degree and becoming an editor; if anything it has confirmed it for me. It feels like I have been here for a lot longer than five days, and I wish that I could restart the week and do it all over again, and not go back to school!"

Thanks again to Emily for joining us, we're glad you had a great time and wish you luck for your future in publishing! 

A day in the life of ...

... a KAR Rescue Centre Volunteer

High in the Besparmak Mountains of Northern Cyprus, is Kyrenia Animal Rescue. It's a rescue centre very dear to H&H Publisher, Jude, as it's where she met and adopted Immie, the resident H&H hound, 14 years ago. The centre is run for the most part by hard-working volunteers, and we would like to take a moment to salute these dedicated people who make the lives of Northern Cyprus' stray dogs and cats a lot brighter.

Over the next few months, we'll be getting to know some of these volunteers as they take us through a typical day working with the animals in their care. In this instalment, we're joining Caroline as she gets cooking ...

  

"Up at 6.00am – an early start. A hasty snack for breakfast before I pack my bag with the requisite items: sandwich for lunch, water and a pair of appropriate shoes. It looks as if, yet again, it will be hot. Very hot. I swap my small bottle of water for a larger one that has been in the freezer.

"I join two of the team who live nearby, and we pile into the car, heading through the early morning traffic to Girne, all of us chuntering about the state of the roads. We manage to negotiate the worst of the traffic and roadworks, and join more of our fellow workers at the KAR van. A well-worn but trusty vehicle, it stands high off the ground, and we short ladies with a larger waistline have a bit of an undignified scramble to climb in the front. Those who can’t fit next to the driver sit on old cushions on the floor in the rear for the trip up to the Arapkoy Centre. In all there are six of us today.

"The combined choir of three hundred-plus dogs in the compounds greets our arrival. The cats yawn, stretch and peer sleepily out of their beds and boxes. On this particular morning, there are no animals abandoned at the top of the track leading to the Centre – an all too common occurrence. The team are allocated specific tasks, and today I am on ‘The House’ – responsible for the animals staying in the main building (two puppies and two adult dogs), cleaning up the kitchens, loo and prep rooms, cooking a vast amount of pasta, and subsequently feeding the fourteen dogs in the adjacent compounds. A busy day lies ahead ...

"KAR depends solely on the donations of the public, its voluntary workers and the kindness of a variety of benefactors to keep it going.  Some hotels kindly supply us with leftover food from their kitchens to help feed the animals – and the results can be fairly interesting. As we are slopping out today’s mush of bread, gravy and veg to feed the four dogs in the back room of The House, I come across a rather odd-shaped lump of flesh. I am wondering quite what this is when one of the lads informs me that it’s a sheep testicle.  We dig around in the slop (rubber gloves a must) and find several more, so we chuck them in a pan ready to cook later for the puppies. I casually mention that I shall have to chop them up into very small pieces, at which there is a concerted wince from the chaps. Concealing a smirk, I take the items out to be boiled and put on two huge vats of pasta to cook. 

"In the back rooms of our building we have treatment pens for small, sick animals, or those undergoing treatment. Larger dogs who need to be isolated are accommodated with their beds in the two rooms available. Today, I have two small Pointer pups in one of the pens – siblings who are being given preventative treatment for Parvo. A pretty Golden Spaniel and a black-and-tan Lurcher make up the remainder of the group.

"I set to with the poop scoop, mops and buckets to clear up the night’s detritus, cleaning out the pups and moving them into a fresh, clean pen with a plastic bottle to play with whilst I get their food ready. It is not a job for the squeamish, or those with a sensitive stomach! 

"The main office holds the Centre administrative functions, and is where we greet visitors. A different mop and bucket is hauled out (another load of pasta is put on to cook) and I dust, polish and mop to make the place look nice and tidy. Through the door, I can see my team-mates trundling their equipment around, hosing out the pens, filling bowls with fresh water, and making sure that any medication is administered. The ‘cat people’ move a group of cats out of their pen into the play area, and do the same.

"Next I clean the kitchen areas, and I decide to boil the testicles while I am working in there. The resultant pong is truly horrendous, and every fly in the neighbourhood drops in to see what this delicious concoction might be. I beat a hasty retreat, leaving the noisome mess bubbling on the stove whilst we break for coffee.  

"A family turns up with cans of dog food. They tour the pens and fuss the dogs, then bath two pups. One takes exception, making a bid to escape and causing mayhem as he runs around the yard with us in hot (literally) pursuit. The bath may not be popular, but the strokes and cuddles while being rubbed down and dried make it all worthwhile. 

"After lunch, another four packs of pasta are boiled up. The preparation room now holds dustbins full of food, and it is time to feed the dogs. Bowls (many well chewed) are filled and taken out. I stand in the pens that I am working on as the occupants eat to make sure that war doesn’t break out, also giving the animals some fuss – and a once over for ticks and fleas. Some dogs like to have their food placed up on top of their kennels, others cheerfully amble from dish to dish, sampling everyone else’s as well as their own. There is no animosity; everyone gets enough to eat. The bowls are washed up and the residue of gravy, bread and vegetables cleaned off the prep room floor. Empty food bins are hosed out and the testicles, now cooked and cooled, are chopped up and gleefully welcomed by the puppies as their second meal of the day. Yummy!

"I clean up behind the pups and dogs in the back room again, then head outside to watch a puppy out in the main run. She is racing round, nipping her mates and jumping on them. The others join in, and a mad five minutes of silliness ensue before they all suddenly collapse and go to sleep in the shade, piled up together in a furry heap.

"Last job – clean the loo so it’s fresh and nice for the staff and visitors the following day. The team have closed up the pens, made sure that the security cameras are on and the gates to the walks are locked. We have had people breaking in, vandalising the compounds and upsetting the animals. I put all my mops in water and disinfectant, then do a last-minute water bowl check, pat a head and rub a proffered tummy. 

"Back on the van, the return journey is a mirror image of the morning. As I get home, my own three dogs race around the corner of the house to greet me, three lucky little animals who all came to us from the Centre. I throw my clothes in for washing, shower and sit down to a peaceful evening. One dog hops up beside me on the settee and puts her nose on my knee. It has been a busy day – ten hours from end to end – but worth every moment for the pleasure of seeing vulnerable animals well cared for."

To learn more about the work of KAR and the animals in its care, visit the website.