Welcome to Wednesday! Patricia here. I’m honored to welcome my fellow Harlequin Romantic Suspense author Kathleen Donnelly to the blog. And there’s a giveaway. Kathleen, thank you for joining us.
I recently retired as a K-9 handler. The company I co-owned and worked for, Sherlock Hounds Detection Canines, had friendly dogs (usually Labs) that helped detect and deter drugs, alcohol and gunpowder in schools. Sometimes, teachers would ask me to do a guest presentation for the students. During these presentations, one of the questions I was often asked was “Do you have dogs that flunk out and what happens to them?”
The answer was yes. We’d had several dogs over the years that, for one reason or another, didn’t make the cut. One of those dogs, Yogi, always comes to mind. He was part Border Collie and too smart for the job. He would check about ten lockers and then look at us as if he were saying, “You’re the one who lost the drugs. You find them.” We found a great home for him with the dog massage therapist, Joanne. Did I mention he was really smart? Free massages for the rest of his life? Who wouldn’t want that?
Joanne mentioned to us a couple times that Yogi didn’t forget all his training. Once while out on a walk, Yogi alerted on a camper. Joanne knew the owner and found out they’d packed alcohol in there for a weekend getaway. Alcohol was one of the odors Yogi was trained to find. I loved hearing about Yogi’s post-retirement alert and the story stuck with me.
When I started writing a new series for Harlequin’s Romantic Suspense line, I knew there would be a K-9, but I wanted to write a different type of working dog than the traditional dual-purpose police dog in my National Forest K-9 series.
I heard about the FBI’s victim specialist program and how they had two Labs who worked as crisis canines. These dogs deploy to scenes of horrific crimes such as mass shootings. They bring comfort to victims and even the agents investigating. I realized I wanted to have a crisis canine in Colorado K-9 Rescue. From there, the black Lab, Mocha, became an important part of the story.
Mocha works with FBI Victim Specialist Mckenna Parker. When a kidnapping case is eerily similar to her own experience of surviving an abduction, Mocha brings comfort not only to the victims, but to his handler as well. To add to Mocha’s backstory, I thought it would be fun to have him be a flunkout of the FBI K-9 program and make a career change.
With Yogi’s story in mind about how he would still work every now and then, I decided to have Mocha show off his tracking skills with FBI Agent Evan Knox. Together, Evan and Mocha work to find Mckenna when she goes missing.
I enjoyed creating a dog with a different job, learning about the FBI’s victim specialists and their crisis canines. I also thought the storyline was fitting as I made my own career change from K-9 handler to writer.
Readers, have you ever adopted a dog making a career change? I’d love to hear your story and/or be introduced to your four-legged friends at home.
Giveaway: I’ll giveaway one Kindle version of Colorado K-9 Rescue. Enter by leaving a comment. The Kindle giveaway is for U.S. only.
Award-winning author Kathleen Donnelly is a retired K-9 handler. She co-owned and worked dogs for 19 years with Sherlock Hounds Detection Canines. She continues to enjoy crafting realism into her fictional stories from her dog-handling experience. Along with working dogs, Kathleen trained horses and loves spending time with her own mare. Her love of the mountains came from growing up in Colorado and exploring the wilderness. Her books have won or been finalists for multiple awards including book of the year for the PenCraft Award, the Silver Falchions and Colorado Authors League. Kathleen hosts the podcast Sit. Stay. Read. a part of the Authors on the Air Global Network. She lives near the Colorado foothills with her husband and four-legged friends. Visit Kathleen’s website, kathleendonnelly.com, where you can sign up for her newsletter and find all her social media links.
About the Book
A kidnapper’s twisted game is on. And a trusty K-9 won’t let him succeed.
Years after being abducted, Mckenna Parker’s worst nightmare has come true—her kidnapper is out on parole. And he’s after her again. Now an FBI victim specialist, she and her crisis canine, Mocha, have been assigned to a case with FBI agent Evan Knox. Together they must find two local girls who disappeared. As passionate as Mckenna is about helping others, Evan is ambitious about his career. Both have sworn off love. But when Mckenna vanishes into the mountain wilderness, it’s Evan—with Mocha’s amazing help—who braves danger at all costs.
Website: KathleenDonnelly.com
Newsletter Sign-up: https://kathleendonnelly.com/contact/#newsletter
Facebook–@AuthorKathleenDonnelly
X–@KatK9writer
Instagram–@authorkathleendonnelly
Goodreads—https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/22280955.Kathleen_Donnelly
Chicks on the Case 
Welcome, Kathleen! Thank you so much for visiting with us. I love the premise of Colorado K-9 Rescue and the fact that it features a crisis canine. It’s wonderful way to raise awareness of their service.
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Thank you so much, Patricia! It’s an honor to be a guest today with the “Chicks.” 🙂 I really appreciate it. I’m glad you love the premise of a crisis canine. Their work is amazing! Thanks again! 🙂
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Hi Kathleen and Boomer! Happy Wednesday! Love hearing all these k-9 stories – real life and fictional! Yogi, the name reminds me of my old neighbor’s (he moved his dad’s house in August) past cat – his/her was Yogi Bear! Love Mocha, keep writing pleas.. How did you come out with “Mocha” the name? * Not entering, the book is fantastic! – Emily
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Hi Emily,
Thanks so much for visiting the guest post today! Boomer says hello to you and your beautiful kitty. 🙂 I loved the name Yogi too. My business partner with the drug dogs was a huge baseball fan so all the dogs were named after baseball players. Yogi is the infamous Yogi Berra. Boomer is named after Boomer Wells. Mocha’s name came on a day when I really wanted a coffee drink! LOL! I thought as a black Lab I should name him something with a dark chocolate so Mocha came to mind. I suppose you could argue that’s a better name for a chocolate Lab, but I went with it. LOL! Thanks so much again for all your support and I’m so happy you loved the book!
Cheers,
Kathleen 🙂
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Hi, Kathleen! So glad you’re here! I love how you have crisis canines in your new series. While not the same, I’ve enjoyed being around therapy dogs–they’ve come to special reading events at our local library & also when we used to have a company come into the senior center where I worked.
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Hello Jennifer,
It’s great to be back! I really appreciate being a guest blogger. 🙂 I love the therapy dogs that help with reading. They are so special! Crisis canines are similar although like you side, not quite the same. Dogs just make everything better. 🙂 Thanks again!
Cheers,
Kathleen 🙂
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I’m a dog person, but have never adopted a flunk-out, as we’ve always adopted them as young puppies. But I know what you mean about being too smart for the job: my last two dogs have been a Border Collie mix and then a Jack Russell mix–both too smart and stubborn for their britches, lol.
Thanks so much for visiting the Chicks today, Kathleen, and love this blog post!
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Hi Leslie,
Thanks so much for having me as a guest today! I follow you on Facebook and I’ve always loved the dog pictures you’ve posted. I had a Russell Terrier for a drug dog. I called him my undercover agent. He was fantastic! He was just as smart as Yogi, but he loved the game so he did the job well. Although when he was about 8, he decided it was time to retire. We moved about the same time and I think he thought we bought the new house for him! LOL! I miss him.
Thanks again!
Kathleen 🙂
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Ha! He sounds like an awesome dog (but then again, I think all JRTs are awesome…)
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Great post, Kathleen, and thanks so much for joining us on Chicks today! Your book sounds awesome and so are your background and all crisis canines on the job! They are desperately needed in increasing numbers these days, sadly.
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Hi Lisa,
Thanks so much! I really appreciate the invite to be a guest blogger. 🙂 Dogs are so wonderful and I feel lucky we have them to help us out during good and bad times. I just saw that the FBI added two more crisis canines to the unit. That makes me so happy. Thanks again!
Cheers,
Kathleen 🙂
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Kathleen, congrats on the new series. It sounds great. All our dogs have been adopted from animal rescues but none have been dropouts. Their most impressive skills seem to be manipulating Mom into giving them extra treats!
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Hi Ellen,
It’s great “see” you here! Thanks so much for reading the post and thank you for having me as a guest. 🙂 All of our dogs came from rescues as well and once they retired, they also excelled at the give me extra treats game. LOL! Thanks again!
Kathleen 🙂
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I love the story about the flunk-out alerting on a random person’s alcohol! What incredible animals they all are. We’re a Golden family, but with labs and mutts in my kids’ lives.
Kaye George Mysteries with a Twist (sent from my phone)
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Hello Kaye,
Thanks so much! And I always thought that was pretty funny too. Dogs are definitely the best! I love Golden Retrievers too. We debated having one as a drug dog, but never found the right candidate. 🙂
Cheers,
Kathleen 🙂
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Welcome, Kathleen! Unless you count a retired racing dog, I have never adopted an ex-working dog.
However, a friend of mine adopted a lab, Whidbey, who was raised to be a seeing-eye dog, but flunked out. Turns out public transportation gave the dog anxiety attacks. Not a great characteristic when the dog is supposed to be helping a vision-impaired person navigate the world. But Whidbey lived a long life as a pet and yes, would occasionally do something that came about as a result of her training.
Just not accompanying people on train rides.
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Hello Liz,
Thanks so much for reading the post and I love that you adopted a retired race dog. They are so fun! I had a friend who had a couple. 🙂
And yes, there’s many reasons they can flunk out. Trains would be a biggie for seeing eye dogs. We always had to test our dogs on slick floors. That was usually a big trigger. But we did that early on before they started training. We tested one dog at a Zombie festival and decided after he was good with that, he’d probably be okay with middle schoolers. LOL!
Thanks again!
Kathleen 🙂
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Great, enjoyable blog post! And Colorado K-9 Rescue is a wonderful book!
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Hi Linda,
Thanks so much for reading and commenting today! I hope your Cavaliers are doing well. 🙂 Thanks also for reading Colorado K-9 Rescue! I’m so happy you enjoyed it.
Cheers,
Kathleen 🙂
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My pups are fine and hope the same goes for you! And I definitely enjoyed this book, as I tend to do with all of yours. Dogs rule!
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So glad to hear they are doing well! And yes, dogs do rule! 🙂
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I loved hearing about Sherlock Hounds Detection Canines last night at Margaret’s reading in Fort Collins. I am in awe of those of you who understand how to train dogs–I’ve got a rescue puppy right now who finds my husband and I VERY challenging to train.
I have a friend in California who adopted a black lab who was supposed to become a seeing eye dog, but didn’t graduate. She named her Spot and she was a wonderful companion animal for many years. Smart but a little too full of mischief/1
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Hi Lynn,
Thanks so much for coming last night! It was a fun group and it was a joy to celebrate Margaret’s 10th book. 🙂 Puppies are tough sometimes. But they are so cute! Maybe you can find a good puppy class in your area. 🙂 And that’s so neat that your friend adopted a Lab that didn’t make the cut as a seeing eye dog. Labs are definitely full of mischief!
Thanks again!
Kathleen 🙂
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Hi Kathleen: So happy to see you here–and what a wonderful post. I never thought about dogs who potentially might not make the grade but it’s fascinating. Your level of expertise is very impressive.
Last time my family was in an airport, they had K-9 dogs working–and everyone in line was asked at one point to walk in pairs straight past them while the dogs sniffed around. It was a little nervewracking (even though I knew we didn’t have anything contraband)! Always wondered if that was a training thing or if they’d been tipped off and were looking for something. They didn’t alert while we were watching, anyway. But the dogs were beautiful and super engaged in their task.
Congratulations on your terrific books!
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It’s so hard not to want to pet working dogs!
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Yes, it is! Even for other K-9 handlers! LOL! 🙂
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Hi Cynthia,
I’ve been at the airport with the dogs working. One stopped and really checked me and my backpack out. I was wondering if I’d left a training aid in my backpack! LOL! Luckily, I hadn’t. I think the dog just smelled my dogs. They work TSA dogs during busy times to help get people through security faster. So probably not training, but rather a busy time.
Thanks so much for having me as a guest on your awesome blog! I hope to see you at some meetings in 2026!
Cheers,
Kathleen 🙂
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Cat person here! Although I love my cats, I do realize their limitations as far as actually being helpers. In a crisis, they would just hide under the bed or stare at me. That’s why when someone says an animal is a Very Good Boy, you know they’re talking about a dog and not a cat!
Thanks for hanging out with us today on the blog!
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Hi Marla,
I also love cats, but they are different. I have a little feral kitty I’m working on taming. It’s going pretty well. She’s really sweet. But I have no illusions that I’m training her! 😉
Thanks for reading the post and commenting!
Cheers,
Kathleen 🙂
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I’m allergic to dogs, so I haven’t adopted one at all. I think I’d like one, but I haven’t been around them enough to get truly comfortable with them.
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Hi Mark,
Thank you for reading the post! And an allergy would definitely be a deterrent to getting a dog. Maybe there’s a dog in your future at some point.
Best wishes,
Kathleen 😄
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Hi Mark,
Thank you for reading the post! And an allergy would definitely be a deterrent to getting a dog. Maybe there’s a dog in your future at some point.
Best wishes,
Kathleen 😄
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No, the only dogs that were ever part of my life were adopted (the Irish setter look alike didn’t last long after she helped herself to the Sunday roast, which she could reach near the edge of the table) as family pets when I was a kid. I have read a few books about dogs involved in search and rescue to help find people and enjoyed them. Winning your new book would be fantabulous!
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Hi Mary,
Irish Setters are wonderful dogs and I had to laugh at the roast. 😉 Thanks so much for reading and commenting!
Best wishes,
Kathleen 😄
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