Dizzy is a Romanian street dog who was rescued and brought to the UK for a better life, a life which is very new and full of things she is initially very scared of. First she has to learn her name, and the routines, and then, bribed by sprats she begins to learn to trust and finally to play. It is a funny, sad and utterly bewildering tale of readjustment. She is supported, or not, by Candy the resident sable border collie who can be as confused and otherwise as she is; as one dog improves the other gets naughty, and vice versa. She has to come to terms with an apparently endless stream of friends and family who react to her in different ways, and cause her even more confusion. When Dizzy dies, her owner is inundated by sympathy letters which show what an impression she had made on the local community.
Ann Salmon has had dogs in her life ever since she enticed Mrs Drake’s dachshund under the fence when she was three. After a number of years of mixed breeds, she fell for Border Collies and has owned, trained, worked and competed (occasionally winning) with them as well as breeding her own litters. Her dogs do Agility, Competitive Obedience, Flyball, Heelwork to Music, and various tricks classes, which didn’t leave much time for anything else, but she managed to squeeze in yoga, bobbin lacemaking and gardening when possible, and friends and family when not in Lockdown. This is Ann’s second book, the first was a millennium project – an illustrated social history of West Chiltington during the last century.