Blog Tour Guest Blog and Giveaway: Jodie Becker and Sidney Bristol

Today's we have author's Jodie Becker and Sidney Bristol with us talking about animals and giving away a Hot Guys and Baby Animals calendar to one lucky person who leaves a comment to this post.

Help me in welcoming Jodie and Sidney to Cocktails and Books!

 

Let’s talk animals. 

SIDNEY: It's always amusing for me to tell people that I'm a rodeo brat. I don't exactly look like what you'd think a Texas Cowgirl would look like, but my roots are very country. When I sat down to write my upcoming release, Flirting with Rescue, I really wanted to write something that would connect with who I was. This last year has been very tough on my family's animals. We had one pet killed by a fighting animal, and another pass away. Neither pets died of natural causes. It gets me very angry when people use animals, and I wanted to tackle one way in which I've seen it happen that not everyone knows about. Whenever I've pulled trailers over long distances, you can always count on getting pulled over by cops looking for drug smugglers. It's a common practice to use animals to carry or disguise drugs or other illegal trafficking. Animals play a big part in Flirting with Rescue, but Jodie has some furry friends running around in her latest release, Dirty Beautiful, don't you Jodie?

JODIE: Yes, I have a parsons terrier. I am a dog-lover from way back, and found that dogs and other animals all have personalities or strange obsessions. My German Shepard, Sakura is terrified of shadows. It's funny that a 'guard dog' really doesn't like to be left alone. Of course, Sakura is my husband's dog, since he has a love for the breed. I myself, although never raised in a house with dogs (my mother was the regular cat lady), I did always want one. Of course, I wanted the big malamutes, with their awesome blue eyes and thick coat, but realised, they weren't the breed for me. I actually got my first rotti by accident, a friend couldn't take her and I took her on and never looked back. That dog had passed away from old age, but we have a new one. A boy pup and he is a lot of work. I'm telling you, if you think he can't destroy it, he'll prove you wrong, and to make matters worse, he is a big baby, which is common with the breed. He still wants to sit on my lap and he is just too big! It's interesting that you have a pet rescue as your main focus in your story. I never realised how much passion a person would have to have to do it. The reason I mention it, is because over the Christmas break, my kids wanted guinea pigs as a pet and we found a pet rescue centre, specific to guinea pigs.  In Flirting with Rescue, you have two horses and that is beyond the usual cat and dog rescue isn't it? They require more knowledge and care to get them into shape I'd say.



SIDNEY: With any animal, as an owner, you should know the basics of taking care of them. The same tenants go with horses. The main difference is the day to day upkeep of a horse, and the safety concerns. Horses don't use a litter box, and while you may get one that prefers to potty in one spot, you're daily having to clean up after them. All that time spent with them creates a bond though. I had one horse that I would go out and clean up after him. Afterwards, I'd cuddle up to him, or if he was laying down I could actually sit on him. However, I only did what I knew was safe. You can't just sit on any horse laying down. I had a relationship with that animal where I knew what I could and could not do. He was trained to lift a person from a prone position on cue, and wouldn't rise without it. With another horse that could easily be a dangerous situation. A horse can weigh anywhere from a few hundred pounds to over a thousand depending on the breed. They're strong, smart animals who can easily harm a person unintentionally. For example, I had a mare for a long time that would do anything I asked of her. I went out to the barn one day and went to put her halter on. Unbeknown to me, she'd got a bug bite on her ear and it hurt her. When I reached over her head she flinched away from my hands - and socked me in the head with her face and knocked me out cold. I think pet safety is something we really don't pay attention to enough these days. What do you think Jodie?

JODIE: OMG, you got knocked out cold by a horse? The worst thing that happened to me was I got pee in my mouth. Yes, it is as bad as it sounds. Remember when I said that my mother was the regular cat lady. She had male cats that would fight over the female cats when they were on heat. One day, two males went at it and let me tell you, breaking up a cat fight, you come away with scars. So, 7year old me thinks it'd be a good idea to scream at them to stop, cause you know, cats understand English. *eye roll* As I'm screaming, the males both let loose their spray and pee like that can fly a distance because I copped one right in my mouth. I stopped yelling right then and ran to rinse my mouth out. I never broke up a cat fight after that. EVER. But yeah, pet safety... Yes, I think it's very important. I believe in any animal that we adopt/buy must become part of the family but also the human family must acknowledge their nature. A dog will always have pack mentality no matter if you can dress it up and make it eat at a table, for example. But I believe animals help make us happier and also teaches children to be responsible.   

On that note, we are going to give away a hot calendar of men with baby animals. Tell us an interesting animal story (it'll lessen the shame for me to be honest).

And the best thing about this was we ogle the guys a portion of proceeds of this sale goes to SPCA. So it’s all for a good cause. ;)

www.jodiebecker.com :: www.sidneybristol.com

Next stop: 19 Jan http://romance-around-the-corner.blogspot.com/