Holsworthy dog’s claim to fame in latest book launch

Crikey, my picture's in the paper again! This time in the Bude & Stratton Post (16 February, 2012 edition).

In case you don't have your glasses, it says:

With Uggie, the canine star of ‘The Artist’ being nominated for a Golden Collar Award. could it be the turn of a Holsworthy dog to win a canine Booker Prize?

In Home Thoughts On Abroad, which has just been published, a 12-year old collie called Chloe has ‘written’ about her life since being transported from her five-acre home in Gidgegannup in the bush near Pert, Western Australia, where she had spent the first seven years of her life, to her new home in North Road, Holsworthy.

Her owners, Malcolm Orr and his wife Jeanette, who hails from Bude, returned to England in 2007 for family reasons after 27 years in Australia. They had to leave Chloe behind for six months in quarantine until she was able to fly to Heathrow.

Out of gratitude to the neighbours down under who had looked after her, they kept in touch through letters supposedly written by Chloe describing how she was adapting to her new life. Until arriving in Holsworthy, she had never lived in a street nor been taken out on a lead.

The letters, laced with generous doses of humour and Australian slang, were so enjoyed by his friends that Malcolm was persuaded to go into print. An enjoyable read for all dog lovers, it was published at the end of January. Copies, priced at £4.99, are available from the Holsworthy Information Centre and all good bookshops.


(Don't forget: Home Thoughts On Abroad is available from Amazon, Waterstones, W H Smith, The Book Depository, Hive, Lovereading, Mighty Ape (Australia) or direct from the publishers Austin & Macauley at a £4.79.)