More to dogs

When THE DOGFATHER asks you to pretend to be a dog, what would your answer be?

It was so lovely to have Greame Hall, Channel 5's dog trainer and behaviourist on Dogs Behaving (Very) Badly come and play on the kids' zone at London Pet Show Live 2025.

They say that you should never work with animals or children and at London Pet Show Live, between the two of us, we worked with both!

We had a lovely chat about the similarities of dogs and toddlers- how they both love sticks, muddy puddles and often the 'teacher look' works on them the same!

As some of you may know, my first book, There's More to Books than Reading, helps families bring learning to life through books and I interview childrens' authors to find out what they can learn through their books too...

It was an honour to be able to interview Greame about his new childrens' book- The Ultimate Kids' Guide to DOGS!

Q How did your book come about?

A I have three books published with Penguin and so when their childrens’ book arm, Puffin asked if I’d write a children’s book I jumped at the chance. I had Puffin books as a kid: I never imagined then that I’d one day write one!

Q What do children learn from your book?

A: Everything about dogs, ha ha! I set out to include LOADS of info for anyone interested in dogs (and yes, lots of mums and dads seem to like it too!). There’s lots about the different breeds, how to train them, even how they see the world, for example, which is different to us. There’s even a section about dog  poo. Kids LOVE to talk about poo. Who knew…? I wish I could say I drew the pictures myself using 1001 coloured felt-tips, but truth be told the book’s all the better for the brilliant illustrations of Alice Tait. Credit where it’s due!

Q: And what’s next? Any more children’s books?

A: Well, I asked Puffin that question and they rightly pointed out that since I’d already written the “Ultimate Guide”, I hadn’t left myself much headroom to write another. Maybe I’ll write a children’s fiction book with dog characters in it. How about that…?

UKGTD is my favourite book!

Buy The Ultimate Kids' Guide to DOGS!

Thank you again to Graeme.

I organise rooms and routines with children in mind.

Reading is an important part of child development and I wholeheartedly believe in making it fun and an enjoyable experience. Planning reading into your day, reading for pleasure and making sure children see you reading are some ways to support reading development.

Organising a play room so they have organic reading opportunities such as menus, shopping lists and recipe books in the kitchen role play area and adding books about pets just like this one when creating a vet or dog groomers role play area means children have access to books during play.

You can bring learning to life in your home with the MORE TO series, with books, organising and mealtimes.

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