Dogland explores the passion, glory, and slobber of the Westminster Dog Show
Podcast: Download (Duration: 49:03 — 45.0MB)
In this episode 393, we feature award-winning Charlotte writer Tommy Tomlinson and his latest release, Dogland, which explores not only the passion, glory, and slobber of the Westminster Dog Show, but focuses on existential questions about the relationships between dogs and humans and whether the dogs who compete in dog shows are happy. Tomlinson spent years on the dog show road getting to know the dog handlers, the dogs, and the settings where owners and their dogs compete, and as Tommy does well, he tells interesting dog stories, including about the dog in his own life.
Show discussion highlights:
- Tommy’s dog show travels
- The experience of a dog show – what it’s like up close
- The life of a dog show handler
- Do the dogs enjoy the experience?
- Striker, the champion dog he followed
- Inside the Westminster dog show: glitz meets Joe six-pack
- What are dog shows measuring in a dog and what about all the inbreeding: good or bad?
- Fred, Tommy’s dog
- The Georgia bulldog, Uga, and Uga jokes and stories
- The pee breaks in the book: cartoon dogs, dog haters, legendary dogs
- New insights about dogs
- A reading from the book
- Publishing advice: how Tommy pitched the book
- How to research and write a book like this
Author bio:
Tommy Tomlinson has written for publications including Esquire, ESPN the Magazine, Sports Illustrated, Forbes, Garden & Gun, and many others. He spent 23 years as a reporter and local columnist for the Charlotte Observer.
In addition to his recent release, Dogland, Tommy Tomlinson is the author of the memoir The Elephant In the Room (Simon & Schuster, 2019), about life as an overweight man in a growing America. He is the host of the podcast “SouthBound” at WFAE, Charlotte’s NPR station, and he also does weekly commentaries for the station. He has a Substack newsletter called The Writing Shed.
He’s a graduate of the University of Georgia and was a 2008-09 Nieman Fellow at Harvard University.
Learn more about the author and their books HERE.
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