Meet the Real Daisy

If you’ve read Cutie Tootie Tater Tornado, you’ve already met Daisy. Today I’d love for you to meet the real one.

Daisy is my fawn and white French bulldog. She’s five now, about sixteen pounds, and every bit of her is personality. The zoomies in the book? Real. An ordinary afternoon spinning into total chaos? Also real. I just added the rhymes.

The whole book started with a potato. When Daisy was a puppy, she stole one right out of the pantry. Back then she spun in circles every time she got excited, and I called her my tater tot. A spinning puppy plus a stolen potato, and the title pretty much wrote itself.

She’s grown up a little since then, but only a little. When she wants my attention, she brings me her fluffy ball. If I don’t notice fast enough, she hops up on all four feet and gives me one small huff. It isn’t loud. It doesn’t need to be. I know exactly what she means.

For all her spunk, Daisy is also a big snuggler. When she loves you, she’ll back her little hind end right up against you. Apparently, that’s how she shows affection. At night, she curls up behind my back, and during the workday, she’s usually asleep in the little bed I keep under my desk. She likes to be wherever I am.

But don’t let all that cuddling fool you. Daisy notices everything. Move something in the house, and she’ll bark at it like it’s out to get her. As far as she’s concerned, furniture should stay exactly where she left it.

These days I call her pumpkin butt. I couldn’t tell you why. It fits her, so it stuck.

If you’ve ever wondered how a dog ends up in a picture book, that’s really the secret. You love them, you laugh at them every single day, and eventually you go looking for the words that’ll let a kid laugh along with you.

So that’s my girl. Ears straight up, probably plotting her next heist. She’s the reason this book exists, and I’m so glad she went for that potato.

Now I want to hear about yours! What’s the silliest thing your pet does, the one that would make a perfect picture book page? Tell me in the comments. I read every single one.