Canine Crime and Mystery with Antony Johnston, Louisa Scarr, & Dr. Philipp Schott at Bark! Fest
Explicit content warning
03/16/25 • 64 min
If you love crime and mystery novels, you’re in for a treat as dogs help solve crimes in these remarkable books. When a singer dies in mysterious circumstances, dog sitter Gwinny Tuffel and the singer’s Border Collie investigate in Antony Johnston’s cosy and witty The Dog Sitter Detective Takes the Lead. In Louisa Scarr’s dark and compelling Gallows Wood, PC Lucy Halliday and her dog Moss search for the body after a severed hand is found in the woods. And when veterinarian (and amateur detective) Dr. Bannerman and his champion sniffer dog Pippin holiday near a remote lake, he has to try to save some poisoned sled dogs and figure out why a float plane crashed in Eleven Huskies by Philipp Schott DVM.
We talked about:
- How Antony Johnston came up with the idea of Gwinny Tuffel, the pet sitter who is the amateur detective in his Dog Sitter Detective books
- Why Johnston especially enjoys writing cozy crime
- The story of PC Lucy Halliday, the human remains detection dog handler, who is the main character in Louisa Scarr's Gallow's Wood
- How Scarr did the research for this book which is a police procedural
- How Dr. Bannerman and his pet dog work together in Dr. Philipp Schott's Eleven Huskies
- Schott's love of the northern Canadian landscape and how it plays out in his books
- and more, plus readings from each of the books!
Learn more about the authors:
Antony Johnston: https://antonyjohnston.com/
Louisa Scarr: https://www.instagram.com/louisascarrwriter/
Dr. Philipp Schott: https://www.philippschott.com/
The books are available wherever books are sold.
About the co-hosts:
Kristi Benson is an honours graduate of the prestigious Academy for Dog Trainers and has her PCBC-A from the Pet Professional Accreditation Board. She lives in beautiful northern British Columbia, where she helps dog guardians through online teaching and consultations. Kristi is on staff at the Academy for Dog Trainers, helping to shape the next generation of canine professionals. Kristi’s dogs are rescue sled dogs, mostly retired and thoroughly enjoying a good snooze in front of the woodstove.
Kristi Benson's website Facebook
Zazie Todd, PhD, is the award-winning author of Wag: The Science of Making Your Dog Happy and Purr: The Science of Making Your Cat Happy. She is the creator of the popular blog, Companion Animal Psychology, and also has a column at Psychology Today. Todd lives in Maple Ridge, BC, with her husband, one dog, and one cat.
If you love crime and mystery novels, you’re in for a treat as dogs help solve crimes in these remarkable books. When a singer dies in mysterious circumstances, dog sitter Gwinny Tuffel and the singer’s Border Collie investigate in Antony Johnston’s cosy and witty The Dog Sitter Detective Takes the Lead. In Louisa Scarr’s dark and compelling Gallows Wood, PC Lucy Halliday and her dog Moss search for the body after a severed hand is found in the woods. And when veterinarian (and amateur detective) Dr. Bannerman and his champion sniffer dog Pippin holiday near a remote lake, he has to try to save some poisoned sled dogs and figure out why a float plane crashed in Eleven Huskies by Philipp Schott DVM.
We talked about:
- How Antony Johnston came up with the idea of Gwinny Tuffel, the pet sitter who is the amateur detective in his Dog Sitter Detective books
- Why Johnston especially enjoys writing cozy crime
- The story of PC Lucy Halliday, the human remains detection dog handler, who is the main character in Louisa Scarr's Gallow's Wood
- How Scarr did the research for this book which is a police procedural
- How Dr. Bannerman and his pet dog work together in Dr. Philipp Schott's Eleven Huskies
- Schott's love of the northern Canadian landscape and how it plays out in his books
- and more, plus readings from each of the books!
Learn more about the authors:
Antony Johnston: https://antonyjohnston.com/
Louisa Scarr: https://www.instagram.com/louisascarrwriter/
Dr. Philipp Schott: https://www.philippschott.com/
The books are available wherever books are sold.
About the co-hosts:
Kristi Benson is an honours graduate of the prestigious Academy for Dog Trainers and has her PCBC-A from the Pet Professional Accreditation Board. She lives in beautiful northern British Columbia, where she helps dog guardians through online teaching and consultations. Kristi is on staff at the Academy for Dog Trainers, helping to shape the next generation of canine professionals. Kristi’s dogs are rescue sled dogs, mostly retired and thoroughly enjoying a good snooze in front of the woodstove.
Kristi Benson's website Facebook
Zazie Todd, PhD, is the award-winning author of Wag: The Science of Making Your Dog Happy and Purr: The Science of Making Your Cat Happy. She is the creator of the popular blog, Companion Animal Psychology, and also has a column at Psychology Today. Todd lives in Maple Ridge, BC, with her husband, one dog, and one cat.
Previous Episode
More Than Just a Dog with Si Wooler
Zazie and Kristi talk to dog trainer Si Wooler about his new book, More Than Just a Dog.
We talk about the big changes that people are willing to make for their fearful dogs, and why the dog's relationship with their person is important for all dogs, but especially the fearful ones. We talk about what a great job Si does of helping people see things from the dog's perspective, and we ask how he talks with clients about the dog's umwelt, or how the dog perceives their world.
We ask about how Si decided where to fit Sophie's story in the book. And Kristi puts Si on the spot and asks how he deals with the outdated idea of dominance when it comes up in conversation and what he thinks of toxic masculinity in dog training.
More Than Just a Dog: Understanding, Loving, and Living with Dogs, The Indispensable Guide for All Dog Lovers by Simon Wooler is out now in the UK and available wherever books are sold, including UK Bookshop: https://uk.bookshop.org/a/14471/9780008707484
More Than Just a Dog will be published in North American on May 13th.
The books we recommend in this episode are:
- A Dog a Day, Old Dogs, and Rescue Dogs by Sally Muir
- Woman at 1000 Degrees: A Novel by Hallgrímur Helgason, trans Brian FitzGibbon
- The Secret Lives of Booksellers and Librarians by James Patterson and Matt Eversmann
The talk by Dr. Lindsay Parker is the A&S Colloquium Kicking the Dog: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zN7m4sfkbZA&t=1s
Si Wooler has been training dogs for more than ten years. He studied with the Academy for Dog Trainers, one of the most rigorous dog behaviour and training programmes in the world and specialises in training fearful and reactive dogs. In 2023, he worked with author and broadcaster Rory Cellan-Jones and his wife Professor Diane Coyle to help their Romanian rescue dog, Sophie, overcome her profound fears, bond with her people and gradually discover the world, a journey that was followed daily by hundreds of thousands of fans.
Si came to dog training after 20 years as a sound engineer so loud barking hardly registers on his personal decibel scale. His own fearful, ‘unhomeable’ rescue dog, Thomson, was the motivator for seeking out effective, evidence-based training methods and leaving his career in sound and stage to focus on working with troubled dogs and the people who love them. This is his first book.
About the co-hosts:
Kristi Benson is an honours graduate of the prestigious Academy for Dog Trainers and has her PCBC-A from the Pet Professional Accreditation Board. She lives in beautiful northern British Columbia, where she helps dog guardians through online teaching and consultations. Kristi is on staff at the Academy for Dog Trainers, helping to shape the next generation of canine professionals. Kristi’s dogs are rescue sled dogs, mostly retired and thoroughly enjoying a good snooze in front of the woodstove.
Kristi Benson's website Facebook
Zazie Todd, PhD, is the award-winning author of Wag: The Science of Making Your Dog Happy and Purr: The Science of Making Your Cat Happy. She is the creator of the popular blog, Companion Animal Psychology, and also has a column at Psychology Today. Todd lives in Maple Ridge, BC, with her husband, one dog, and one cat.
Next Episode
Puppy Brain, early socialization, and what to ask a breeder with Kerry Nichols
Zazie chats with Kerry Nichols, bestselling author of Puppy Brain: How Our Dogs Learn, Think, and Love.
We talk about:
- How Kerry got into breeding dogs
- Why we both love Golden Retrievers
- How the book, Puppy Brain, came about
- What puppies are like when they are born
- Examples of the socialization that Kerry does with puppies
- Her favourite part of the first 8 weeks of a puppy's life
- Advice on finding a responsible breeder (for any breed)
- And Kerry reads from Puppy Brain for us!
Puppy Brain: How Our Dogs Learn, Think, and Love is out now in hardback. The paperback will be out on April 29th and can be pre-ordered now from all good bookstores.
The books we recommend in this episode are:
- Dog Poems: An Anthology by Various and Christopher Wait
- The Kindest Lie by Nancy Johnson
OFA - The Canine Health Information Center is at https://ofa.org/.
Kerry Nichols is a former attorney turned canine educator and advocate whose journey into the world of dogs began nearly fifteen years ago. With the founding of Nicholberry Goldens, she devoted herself to raising the healthiest Golden Retrievers possible. This evolved into a mission to instill emotional resilience and agency in her own puppies, a pursuit she now shares with an audience of hundreds of thousands of followers across social media. Her methods continue to garner support from leading veterinarians, trainers, and psychologists, and notable owners of her Goldens include executives from Facebook, Microsoft, and Tinder.
Kerry's website: https://www.kerrynichols.com/home
About the co-hosts:
Kristi Benson is an honours graduate of the prestigious Academy for Dog Trainers and has her PCBC-A from the Pet Professional Accreditation Board. She lives in beautiful northern British Columbia, where she helps dog guardians through online teaching and consultations. Kristi is on staff at the Academy for Dog Trainers, helping to shape the next generation of canine professionals. Kristi’s dogs are rescue sled dogs, mostly retired and thoroughly enjoying a good snooze in front of the woodstove.
Kristi Benson's website Facebook
Zazie Todd, PhD, is the award-winning author of Wag: The Science of Making Your Dog Happy and Purr: The Science of Making Your Cat Happy. She is the creator of the popular blog, Companion Animal Psychology, and also has a column at Psychology Today. Todd lives in Maple Ridge, BC, with her husband, one dog, and one cat.
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