Fido and Friend in Five: Becky Hall!

Becky Hall

Utah has an abundance of gifted writers--Shannon Hale, James Dashner, Anne Bowen, Bree Despain, Brandon Mull, Jean Reagan--just to name a very few. As my agent said once, "What is it about Utah and writers?" Indeed!

Morris and Buddy

Today, in the latest installment of Fido and Friend in Five, you'll meet Utah author Becky Hall. Becky is the author of two informational books for kids, "A" is for Arches: A Utah Alphabet Edition and Morris and Buddy:the story of the first seeing eye dog.

A is for Arches

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Mia and Abby

And like yours truly, Becky is also a librarian! She and her artist husband, Dave Hall, share their home in Salt Lake City with dogs Mia and, until recently, Abby.

1) How did you and your dogs find each other? We found Abby through a newspaper ad. I wanted a black Labrador retriever. She was 6 months old and her owners

had her parents too. Abby's mom was a black lab and her dad a yellow lab. The humans were overwhelmed with three dogs, so they decided to find Abby a new home. Abby was immediately happy and eager to please. I think she was in need of attention so she made a point of being easy going and never demanding. She never barked. She never dug holes. When she needed something, she'd butt her nose very gently against my leg. Then with her eyes she'd gaze at what she wanted and look back at me again as if to say, "You get it, right?" I always did. Later, we found Mia in the paper also. We actually purchased her brother, but the whole litter

Becky and Mia

came down with parvo and Mia was the only one who survived. I think that's why she's always been a tough little dog! Mia is a West Highland Terrier, so we call her the Pestie Westie and the West Highland Terror. We love her to bits and she's full of personality, but she can be pretty naughty! She's the complete opposite of Abby: she barks, digs, you name it. Unfortunately, in December of 2010, Abby developed an inoperable tumor in her mouth. She was gentle and loving right up to the minute she died. I miss her every day.

2) What's you all-time favorite dog story? Rosemary Wells and Susan Jeffers wrote a series of picture books about McDuff the West Highland Terrier. Plain and simple: the reason I got Mia was because I loved those books!

3) If your dogs could change one thing about you, what would it be? Mia would like me to feed her lamb lung treats every day. Abby would have given me a tireless arm for ball throwing.

4) What makes your dogs tails wag? Lamb lung treats (we just discovered this yummy treat). Also my arrival home. Mia races from anywhere in the house as soon as she hears the click of the key in the lock. Also, if we say, "Want to go for..." anything! Dave, my husband, teases Mia by saying, "Gophers in the wok?" She goes berserk!

5) Tell us in five words what your dogs mean to you: Buddies, patient listeners, walk motivators, cuddlers (sorry, that was six!)

That's okay, Becky. We'll give you a pass ;)