The Raine Stockton Mystery Series
             Author Interview
Mysteries for dog lovers--  
               by
someone who knows dogs!
        An Interview With Donna Ball

Q.  What inspired you to write Smoky Mountain Tracks?

A.  Smoky Mountain Tracks was the culmination of  lots of
ideas that had been roaming around in my head looking for a
book...  I've always wanted to write a book that was set in a rural
mountain community, and to do justice to that setting.  In the
Raine Stockton books, Hanover County is so rich in detail it
practically becomes a separate character.  And for years I had
been looking for a vehicle in which to showcase real dogs living
real lives and doing real jobs-- sometimes well, and sometimes
not very well.   As it happened, a crime took place in a nearby
community which was the perfect inspiration point for me to bring
all of these elements together-- the mountain setting, the
search-and-rescue dog team, and the ever-mysterious puzzle of
human behavior.

Q.  You're a dog trainer, just like Raine. How much of Raine's
experiences are based on your real life?

A.  Actually, it was Raine who inspired my real life!  I have been
a   professional writer for twenty five years and dog training was
just a hobby.  It wasn't until I was writing Smoky Mountain
Tracks that I realized how  much I envied Raine's job. So while
I am still primarily a novelist, I now also have the very good
fortune to have a "real" job as owner and operator of The Pet
Coach (www.thepetcoach.net), and I love every minute of it!

Q. How did you get interested in dogs?

A. Like most people, I had pet dogs most of my life.  But my first
dog as an adult-- my once-in-a-lifetime dog--was Jinx, a golden
retreiver who taught me everything I know about dogs, and most
of what I know about life.   People who know me well immediately
recognized Jinx in the character of Cassidy from Smoky
Mountain Tracks.  Although she was never a search and
rescue dog, she was so well known in our community  that when
she died her obituary was in the newspaper, and I received
condolence letters from people I had never even met.

Q. Raine does lots of things with her dogs beside Search and
Rescue.  In fact, Rapid Fire is mostly set against the
background of a big agility trial.  What kind of sports do you
compete in with your dogs?

A.  Kodi the collie is my agility dog.  Like Cisco, Kodi had a bad
fall from the dogwalk when he was young, and even though he
eventually recovered from his fear, I never did.  So we now
compete only in Jumpers (no dangerous obstacles there!).  
Although he only shows a couple of times a year, he takes first
place every time!
Destiny the Golden Retriever (pictured on the back of all the
Raine Stockton books and on the cover of Let's Dance! A
Beginner's Guide to Dancing With Your Dog  ) is my most
famous freestyle dog.  We have danced together all over the
country for demos, competitions and charity fundraisers.  In Gun
Shy  Cisco learns to dance!
Both Glitter and Rhythm (see photos) are in training for
freestyle and agility, and all of my dogs are certified Therapy
Dogs.  Glitter actually goes on tour with me when I do book
signings.  Her experience as a service-dog-in-training was the
perfect preparation for her new job as a P.R. exec!

Q. So none of your dogs do Search and Rescue?

A. No.  When I first became interested in actually doing
something with my dogs, as opposed to simply owning pets, I
considered search and rescue.  Like Raine, I live on the edge of
a National Forest, and I thought having a trained search dog
would be useful.  However, the more I investigated, the more I
realized that I was completely unsuited for that type of work.  As
a friend said, aghast, when I told her what I was considering,
"What would you search for? Bloomingdales?"  She had a point.

Q. One of my favorite characters is Sonny, the animal
communicator. She's such an unlikely friend for Raine, but
somehow she makes me believe she can really talk to dogs.  Do
you believe in animal psychics?

A.The truth is, I think all dog lovers secretly believe-- or want to
believe-- that they can communicate with their pets on a
non-verbal level.  This is probably because our dogs are so
incredibly attuned to our body language that they do actually
seem psychic sometimes.
  I trained my Golden Destiny to stay behind without whining
while I worked with other dogs by using the phrase, "Wait your
turn". She learned that if she was patient she would get extra
treats and praise when it was "her turn".  One day Destiny and I
visited an animal communicator at a Pet Fair just for fun.  Before
I even said a word, the animal communicator said to me, "Your
golden says she is a very good dog because she always waits her
turn."  I've taken animal communicators a bit more seriously
since that day.

Q.  There are several dogs in Smoky Mountain Tracks, including
Cisco and Mystery the border collie.  Will we be seeing more of
them?

A. Mystery will  definitely be in future books, since she seems to
have established herself as  Cisco's sidekick.  In Rapid Fire  the
Australian Shepherds Mischief and Magic have featured roles,
and in  Gun Shy we meet a great Labrador Retriever named
Hero, as well as Ringo, an incredibly talented mixed breed.  Of
course, Majesty the collie will have to be featured in a storyline
set against a herding background at some point in the future.

Q. Is Cisco modeled after either of your own Goldens, Destiny or
Glitter?

A. The idea of Cisco was definitely inspired by Destiny, who not
only had Jinx to live up to, but who had the equally
over-acheiving pawprints of Kodi the Collie in which to follow.  
There is also a lot of the irrepressible Glitter in Cisco, especially
when it comes to impulse control!  But Cisco is really more of a
composite of all the Goldens I know, as opposed to being
modeled after  a single dog.

Q. What's next for Raine and Cisco?

A. Some major changes are ahead for them in Gun Shy, and
I'm very excited about those.  I think the great thing about a
character like Raine is that she is so much a living, breathing
being, and you can expect her to grow and adapt with her
environment.  She and Cisco have so many different avenues to
explore  beyond their search and rescue work--therapy work,
disaster relief, animal rescue, not to mention dozens of canine
sports they haven't even tried yet.  And there are certainly plenty
of interesting developments in Hanover County to keep them
busy for awhile.  I see nothing but adventure ahead!