Narelle here. I’m delighted to welcome Penny Zeller to our blog today. :)
An interview with star canine, Sullivan Theodore IV, of Love in the Headlines
and a #giveaway
Have you ever wondered what goes through a dog’s mind? Meet Sullivan Theodore IV, one of the secondary canine characters in Love in the Headlines. He joins us today for an exclusive interview.
Penny: Hello, Sullivan Theodore. Thank you for being here. Can you tell me a little bit about yourself?
Sullivan Theodore: Thank you for having me as your guest today on Inspy Romance. I’m a white, fluffy shih tzu named after one of my mom’s (Carleigh’s) favorite authors. I live on Maple Avenue in the small town of Oakville.
Penny: Speaking of your mom, how did you come to live with your person, Carleigh Adams?
Sullivan Theodore: I remember that day as if it were yesterday. I was adopted from one of Mom’s friends whose dog had a litter of five puppies. With that many of us, there was some seriously stiff competition. I decided to pour on the charm. I perched at Mom’s feet, tilted my head from one side to the other, and gave her my best puppy-dog eyes. Not to brag, but I do think I won her heart in those first ten seconds. My new mom took me home and the rest is history.
Penny: What a wonderful story! Tell me about some of your closest friends.
Sullivan Theodore: I’m a rather likeable guy, so I have numerous friends. One new friend I’ve made recently is a German shepherd named Jaxx. I would describe him as a bit anxious since he has a serious chewing habit. He’s also an obedient sort, so I’ve had to draw him out of his shell and encourage him to be more adventurous. Other friends include Stella, the poodle; Mighty, a teacup chihuahua; a yellow lab named Crabby; Duke, a Yorkshire terrier; Wrinkles, the bulldog; Lucy, a Dalmatian; and Blue, a labradoodle.
Penny: Sounds like you are quite popular. Tell me about your favorite pastime.
Sullivan Theodore: I come from a long line of runners, so I love seeing how fast I can zip around the yard or down the street. I’m especially sneaky and can escape unnoticed. My favorite pastime would be leading my mom on wild chases down sidewalks and pathways while I’m chasing a rogue squirrel. The best part is when she wears her striped socks with her flip-flops. I’ve never seen anyone run that fast in flip-flops.
Penny: Describe yourself in three words.
Sullivan Theodore: That’s easy. Adorable, ornery, and mischievous.
Penny: You mentioned you’re ornery and mischievous. What is one of your more humorous antics?
Sullivan Theodore: Recently, I decided to sneak into the doggy door of a house down the street. I’ll never forget the look on Mom’s face as I sat on the edge of the couch watching her from the window of the stranger’s house. I did my best to remain stoic in light of her perplexed expression. She stuck her head through the doggy door and attempted to entice me out of the house. I will admit I was bratty because I pretended not to hear her. But really, it was all I could do not to start laughing. I’ve never seen a person attempt to wedge themselves through a doggy door, and then with the owner arriving…it made for a day I won’t soon forget!
Penny: It sounds as though Carleigh won’t soon forget it either! Tell me some of the things you love and some of the things that are pet peeves.
Sullivan Theodore: Sure. Some of the things I love are the free doggy ice creams they give you at the park. Sometimes my mom will feed me people food, but she’s ultra protective, so she always makes sure the food is safe for me. Some of my favorite people food includes water-based plain oatmeal and a piece of banana, but I only get those on occasion. Another thing I love to do is hang out with friends at Stella’s house. Her mom throws the best dog parties.
My pet peeve is those annoying squirrels. Whenever they taunt me, I just know I have to chase them.
Penny: Thank you for taking the time to join us today, Sullivan Theodore. It’s been fun chatting with you.
Sullivan Theodore: Thank you for having me. Now, if you’ll excuse me…I see a squirrel I need to chase!
I hope you enjoyed the interview with one of the main canine characters, Sullivan Theodore IV. Love in the Headlines releases on May 9 and I can’t wait for you to take a glimpse into the lives of Carleigh, Trey, Sullivan Theodore, Jaxx, and the rest of the gang.
Happy reading!
In the comments, tell me your funniest animal story for a chance to win a paperback copy of Love in the Headlines. (U.S. residents only, ebook option for international readers who can access ebooks at Amazon USA store). Giveaway closes on May 12 and the winner will be announced in the Sunday Edition.
Penny Zeller is known for her heartfelt stories of faith and her passion to impact lives for Christ through fiction. While she has had a love for writing since childhood, she began her adult writing career penning articles for national and regional publications on a wide variety of topics.
Today Penny is a multi-published author of over a dozen books. She is also a homeschool mom and a group fitness instructor. Her desire is to assist and nurture women into a closer relationship with Christ.
When Penny is not dreaming up new characters, she enjoys spending time with her husband and two daughters and camping, hiking, canoeing, biking, reading, running, gardening, and playing volleyball.
She is represented by Tamela Hancock Murray of the Steve Laube Agency and loves to hear from her readers at her website, www.pennyzeller.com and on her blog at www.pennyzeller.wordpress.com. You can sign up for her newsletter at https://dashboard.mailerlite.com/forms/262119/74964679867237940/share and receive writing updates, encouragement, notification of current giveaways, occasional freebies, and special offers.
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A fun loving Aussie girl at heart, Narelle Atkins was born and raised on the beautiful northern beaches in Sydney, Australia. She has settled in Canberra with her husband and children. A lifelong romance reader, she found the perfect genre to write when she discovered inspirational romance. Narelle's contemporary stories of faith and romance are set in Australia and international locations.
Thank you, Penny, for visiting with us today at Inspy Romance and offering a giveaway for our blog readers. 😊
Welcome Penny. I am loving this book. I will finish soon so don’t enter me. But I love the antics and think the dogs are really the stars of the book.
Antics I have 2 cats a big beautiful boy Henry (hes a tabby) and a neurotic Tortie called Libby who keep me entertained. past few days they are competing for my lap. 11kgs of fluff. Henry gets the lap and Libby the legs and at times I think shes trying to break the shins. They like hunting the neighbours say we don’t have mice. I say I know they all end up in my house! I have seen Henry bring a mouse over the fence and head for the house which I blocked. Problem is Henry loses them and Libby doesn’t always find them. (Libby rarely loses one of her own in the house). They have a microchip cat door. I think Jaxx’s owner needs to invest in one of these to keep Theodore Sulivan out.
Henry gives the best cuddles he is a gentle giant
woops that would be Sullivan Theodore IV
Happy Monday Narelle and Penny! I married a Pennington and our most beloved Sheltie was Penelope or Penny (RIP) because our family’s name and the breeder’s name was Penny. Tri colored Sheltie Penny was a great herder of children and grandchildren. She was so gentle with babies. Penny trained our son’s Sheltie Mocha (RIP), who was a year younger. When our oldest grandson was born the family with Mocha often walked to our house. One day Mocha got into mischief and my son yelled at her. Twenty minutes he realize Mocha was gone. Down the road at our house Penny was barking. We looked outside and there was Mocha and no family. I called my son and told them Mocha was at our house. We were relieved she was safe, because she had to cross Maiden Lane a busy street.
What is ironic is after both Penny and Mocha passed, my son’s family have a new Sheltie Ivy. Ivy was the school mascot three days a week at Oma’s Virtual Academy during covid. She often walked home with our oldest grandson. One weekend we were watching Ivy. Ivy missed her kids. I went outside and didn’t realize Ivy had followed me. Thirty minutes later I am frantically looking for Ivy. NO IVY. I drove to my son’s house and there was Ivy in the back yard – looking at me. OMA what took you so long to find me. LOL.
Pets bring JOY into our lives. Best wishes. Happy Writing.
Hi Penny, ‘Love in the Headlines’ sounds a great read, I love the image of Carleigh putting her head through the pet door.
I don’t have pets currently but we had a cat when I was growing up. One time my mum’s aunt who usually lived abroad came to visit and she brought a turkey breast for a special Sunday dinner. My mum left everything prepared to go in the oven while we went to church. When we got back, we found the cat – who had carefully been put out of the house when we left! – had got back in through the very top of the kitchen window which had been left open an inch at most, happily eating his way through the turkey breast. We ended up with burgers from the freezer instead, and to add insult to injury because my mum didn’t want to completely waste the turkey, the cat ended up with it for his dinner for the next few days.
Love this!!! I really need to read the book!!! We had cats when I was growing, as most of us were cat people! Daddy didn’t care for pets, but Mom loved cats, and we had quite a few. One sister liked dogs, so we had two different ones but didn’t have good luck with them. Our last cat didn’t know that Daddy didn’t like cats, and we got him as a kitten. He would play with Daddy every morning before Daddy left for work, and was the only cat we ever had that Daddy liked. He’d even sit at the door waiting for Daddy to get home from work each day!!
Hi Penny! Thanks for visiting us at Inspy Romance (and Narelle for inviting you)! Fun interview. Pets really have a lot of personality.
We don’t have any animals but have had a few but Dont have any funny animal stories we relized we aren’t animal people.
Good morning, wow, your book sounds like a very good read, and I loved, loved this interview! <3. We live about 4 blocks away from our daughter and her little family. Well, on our granddaughters bday about 5 years ago, I walked to go my daughters house to go help our daughter set up things and my husband and our pup stayed at home and they were coming over later. Well, while we were settings things up and all of a sudden I looked out our daughters back door and looked out the backyard, well, our pup was there , I kept looking for my husband and he was nowhere to be seen. About 10 mins. later my husband knocked on the back door, well what had happened my husband went and checked our mail at hour house and he did not notice that our pup had followed him,, he thought our pup had stayed in doors. Well, our pup went to my daughters house and found me. Our pup is a very good and gentle boy, he is 9 yrs old and he is half Schnauzer. Have a great day , Thank you for the chance.
Fun interview!
Hm…about the story – we had a cockatiel named Spikey.
One day, my hubby went to get mail with Spikey on his shoulder (this was a normal routine for them). However, his wings grew out a bit and when something spooked him, he flew off his shoulder and landed on the pine tree … about 16 feet from the ground. My hubby got the ladder and he was climbing it to get Spikey.
Spikey was enjoying the view and kept repeating: “What are you doing?” (yes, he could talk) lol
I would love a chance to win Love in the Headlines! It sounds really good!
I have many funny pet stories. One of them is when we had two cocker spaniels(brothers) and a rare breed of a collie. My mom had made a big apple pie and four little ones because my dad wanted to take it to work. The pies were cooling on the table and my mom and grandpa went to pick me up from school. When we walked in the house, one of the cocker spaniels was laying on the table eating the big apple pie, but he shared with the other two dogs by pushing the little pies on the floor for them. The one on the table looked up at us and continued to eat like he wasn’t doing anything wrong(isn’t it fitting that his name was Buster).he didn’t even care when my mom yelled at him. Needless to say, my mom called my dad and told him what happened and that he could buy Apple pie from the store because she wasn’t making more.
Thank you, Narelle, for hosting me today on Inspy Romance. I’m excited to be here and can’t wait to see who wins! :)
Growing up, I had a dog named Sandy. He had very short legs that bowed outward. I don’t remember any funny incidents, but his gait was hilarious.
This was fun! I don’t have any funny pet stories but I would love to be entered in the giveaway.
Welcome Penny. It is so great to have you here today. I would have to say I have two favorite pet stories. We had a dog by the name of Bear. We lived in a townhouse apartment across the street from my Mom. My husband worked nights. I was sound asleep. It was about 5:00am. Bear kept nudging the bed and woke me up. This is very unusual for him to do. I looked at the clock. I told him I was not getting up to take him out at this hour. He was going to have to wait. He would not let me go back to sleep. I got out of bed and went to the bathroom. My devotional books were on the hamper so I decided I would go ahead do my devotions. In the meantime, Bear wiggled his way between my legs. The tub was right in front of the toilet. When I was finished, I went back into the hall. There was smoke in the hall. I hurried up and got dressed. We went downstairs. There was no smoke down there yet nor fire. Bear stayed by my side. We went out the front door. He hated the leash, but was a perfect gentleman that morning. The fire chief said that if he would not have woke me up, I would never have made it out of there alive.
The second story is about our cat Fearless when he was a kitten. Fearless was born a stray. He was this small black cat. He was so adorable from the first time he came down to our house. He decided that your yard was going to be his own. As a kitten, he chased a full size raccoon and groundhog out of our yard. Fearless knew he wanted to be an indoor cat. He would be on the front porch each morning to walk me to the car. He would get in the car with me to tell me good morning and have a great day. My husband would need to lift him out of the car so I could go to work. He would be on our front porch so he could welcome me home each evening. How could we not bring in such a wonderful baby.
Thank you so much for sharing. God bless you.
Hi Jenny! I’m so thrilled you are enjoying the book. I love the 11kg of fluff! Henry and Libby sound like delights, although those two bringing in the mice sounds like an adventure. I’ve never heard of a microchip cat door. Very cool! Henry sounds like such a sweetheart.
Hello Renate! I love the stories about Penny, Mocha, and Ivy. So thankful Ivy was lounging in the backyard and not truly lost! I agree. Pets bring such joy to our lives. Thank you so much for stopping by the Inspy blog.
Hi Ruthie, I loved your story! Sounds you had a very mischievous cat. Amazing how he was able to fit through the kitchen window when it wasn’t open very far. Animals never cease to amaze me. My sister had a shih tzu (much like Sullivan Theodore) years ago named Bailey. He could escape out of rooms and to this day, we have no idea how he did it.
Thank you so much for stopping by the blog and for your kind words about the book!
Hi Trudy! Aww, that is so sweet about the cat who actually stole your dad’s heart. So precious!
I appreciate your kind words about Sullivan Theodore’s interview and the book. Have a wonderful week!
Hi Valerie! So nice to see you here. I so appreciate being a guest on this wonderful blog.
Happy writing!
My husband and I were “walking across Tennessee” in a program conducted by his employer. We were to walk the equivalent of the mileage from Memphis to Bristol in a few months.
There was a logging road through the woods behind our house that we used often for safety reason (no sidewalks or parks out in the boonies), and for the ambience.
We had an elderly German Shepherd who had adopted us, not the other way around, who went with us most days. He absolutely had to lead! We would trick him by walking one direction, letting him get 20 feet or so ahead, and suddenly turning about to hear him galloping past us until he was again 20 feet or so ahead. Rinse and repeat often! He needed the exercise and we needed to train him to obey.
Once, he was again leading when we saw a squirrel leap from one limb to another many feet above. It broke and with a big thud, dumped the squirrel on the ground. Sherman immediately bounded to the tree, with visions of squirrel for dinner, while we demanded he stop. Did he listen? As well as he listened to commands to stay behind!
The squirrel must have been winded by the sudden stop, because just as we thought the squirrel was toast, it recovered, saw the bulldozer coming and scrambled up the tree, just in time, where it lectured the intruder in anger, out of reach. As we walked by the tree, Sherman the German Shepherd was terribly conflicted whether to try to climb a tree or regain his lead. Eventually we heard leaves rattling as he raced by us and once again gained his point position.
Hi Renate, I love these stories. Thanks for sharing 😊
My kitten Princess Merida has been so fun and taught us to use the toilet lid or deal with a cat who is playing in it.
Hi Kendra! Thank you so much for stopping by the Inspy Romance blog. Have a wonderful rest of your week!
Hi Alicia! Thank you for your kind words. I’m thrilled you loved the interview. Honestly, I never imagined I would interview a dog. :)
Aww, I love the story about your sweet dog. Thank you so much for sharing.
I grew up on a farm and one morning one of the barn cats had brought in a snake and put it right in front of the door. I guess they were proud of their find. Thanksfully mom was the first one out the door and not me!!!
Hello Natalya! Your comment is absolutely hilarious! I read it a couple of times and am still laughing. I bet having Spikey for a pet has led to all kinds of funny adventures. Thank you so much for the Tuesday chuckle!
Lol! I love this story, Joannie! I have a complete visual imagining Buster and the other dogs and their apple pie antics. That is absolutely hilarious about the one dog pushing the little pies on the floor for them. Can you imagine if you would have been able to film it? Priceless!
Hi Lisa! Thank you for sharing your story about Sandy and for stopping by the Inspy Romance blog!
our cat Salem is a hoot! she loves cheese cubes and will sit up and beg like a puppy for them and crackers!
no pets
Yeah if only we had cell phones then, it would have been great to record it or even take a picture.
It reminds me of the time our parrot got out the back door. My mom was cleaning the pool and she loved that bird(me not so much, I called it a vampire bird because he would fly right for my neck). Well my mom quickly got out of the pool, grabbed a ladder and climbed on our roof. She talks with her hands, so she started flapping her arms and saying “Jessie, fly to momma.” We did get him back after we put a sheet down on the grass with his cage. When my dad saw my mom, he mentioned that we needed to record it and send it in to “America’s Funniest Home Videos.” My mom got off that roof fast then because my dad’s the type who actually would have done it.
Haha that was such a fun interview!!!! Craziest animal story…well, I live on a farm, and we used to have these two bothersome Jersey Giant roosters who would literally chase us around. Another of our roosters, whom we affectionately had dubbed Shiny Red, once defended my little sister from them. 🤣 Needless to say, we don’t have those roosters anymore.
I can’t WAIT to read Love in the Headlines!!!
My funny dog story is about Charlie, our West Highland White Terrier. We got Charlie when he was about a year and a half old. The family he was with had a toddler who tried to “ride” Charlie and they also had a massive older dog who bullied Charlie unmercifully. He only responded to German at that time. We bought Charlie and brought him to our loving home. Charlie was the most loving and loyal of dogs. He loved to be with our family. When I wore an ankle length skirt, Charlie would gently take a corner of it in his mouth as we walked along. It must have seemed to him like we were holding hands as we strolled.
I did not see this one personally but I heard it. I was inside our house and heard a very loud thunk. I wondered what on earth that was. My husband was outside and saw the whole thing.
Apparently, an owl had grabbed a squirrel and was attempting to fly with it in its talons. That squirrel was too heavy for the owl and the owl wound up dropping it. When the squirrel was falling through the air it banged up against our house. Thus the loud thunk. Well, our cats were outside watching the whole thing in amazement. They weren’t moving, just staring. That squirrel got up, after being stunned, and managed to run up a tree before our cats realized what happened. The squirrel was safe and the owl and the cats lost their supper.
I have a goldendoodle and I used to have a bichon frise who has sadly passed away. Anyway, one time the bigger dog was on my mom’s lap and the bichon wanted to get up there, but the bigger dog wouldn’t budge. So my bichon grabbed a toy the bigger dog liked, ran past her taunting her and then dropped it not far from the bigger dog. Well, the big dog got off mom, to get the toy, and the bichon just hopped right up in moms lap. She looked so smug about it too. I miss that little character.
Oh, yes! I think your dad is right that your mom would have won your family the grand prize on “America’s Funniest Home Videos”! That is hilarious! I’m thinking after reading your comments that I need to include a crazy bird in my books, lol. :)
Thank you for stopping by, Angeline! I’ve entered you in the giveaway. :)
Thank the Lord Bear woke you up that day! Dogs really are amazing. And I loved your story about Fearless. What a brave and sweet cat.
I appreciate your encouragement. God bless you as well!
Oh yikes, that would definitely be something to see—a cat playing in the toilet, lol! Thank you so much for stopping by the Inspy Romance blog, Erralee!
Hi Jan! Cats are so funny about their “finds”. That would definitely be a good thing that your mom was the first one out the door!
Disclaimer here…snakes are my least favorite animal. :)
Oh my goodness, how cute! Salem sounds adorable—and begging like a puppy for cheese cubes? You should definitely film that. :)
Hi Saraina! Okay, I am loving Shiny Red’s story! How awesome is that that he defended your little sister from the bothersome Jersey Giants! Thank you for your enthusiasm about Love in the Headlines. Have a wonderful day!
What a sweet, sweet dog! So thankful you were able to bring Charlie into your home and give him a good life. Love how he would gently take the corner of your skirt and walk along with you. Dogs are wonderful animals, especially when they are loving and loyal.
Thank you for sharing this sweet story, Nancy!
Wow! What a story! That would have been something to see with that squirrel being snagged by an owl, banging against the house in a downward spiral to the ground, and walking away unscathed—and still having the ability to climb up the tree before your cats were the wiser. For some reason, the name SuperSquirrel comes to mind, lol. This would make for a great children’s story.
Thank you so much for stopping by, Michelle! I enjoyed your comment.
What a fun story! Dogs are so smart and I love how your bichon knew exactly which toy to taunt the bigger dog with and then to hop right into your mom’s lap with a smug expression. Too cute!
Thank you for stopping by the Inspy Romance blog, Megan. Enjoy your day!
I love this story, Anita! My favorite part is where you mention that the elderly German shepherd adopted you, not the other way around.
Thank you for stopping by Inspy Romance!
I want to thank you all for joining in the fun with your comments. I loved reading your favorite and most memorable pet stories! Some had me laughing out loud and others were so heartwarming.
As some of you may know from previous giveaways, I enlist my husband’s help in choosing a winner. He draws the name of the winner—literally—from a hat. His ball cap, to be exact. We handwrite all of the names on separate little pieces of paper, then he will randomly draw the name of the winner tomorrow, and Narelle will be announcing it in Sunday’s edition. My husband takes his role seriously and is such a good sport! :)
Thank you again for spending time here at the Inspy Romance blog. Have a fantastic weekend!
Blessings,
Penny