"Heartbreak Kennel" author to appear at Inkberry

With many pet owners going back to work and the cost of living increasing, dog owners nationwide are giving up the pets they acquired during the earlier years of COVID. An estimated 3.1 million dogs were relinquished to shelters in 2022, according to The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

How could this problem have been prevented? "By responsible breeders and responsible owners," said Cary Unkelbach, the award-winning Colorado author of Heartbreak Kennel: The True Story of Max and His Breeder. "It's a two-way street," said Unkelbach.

Responsible breeding and responsible ownership are two themes of his biography/true crime story of Dodie Cariaso, a former Berthoud-Loveland potter-turned-Labrador Retriever-breeder. After a successful pottery career, Dodie turns to breeding more and more dogs, ultimately abandoning nearly 100 dogs in a southern Larimer County field. More than thirteen years before the abandonment, she breeds Max, a goofy yellow Labrador that she sells as a puppy to a gentleman from Castle Rock.

Years later, the man finds that he no longer can provide Max with the life he deserves, so he searches for an adoptive family for his beloved dog. The lives of Dodie and Max are inextricably intertwined and told in separate chapters. Dodie leads an unconventional, bizarre, and sometimes shocking adult life. Max lives an often-comical life as he burrows his way into the hearts of his adoptive family.

Unkelbach and her adopted Labrador, Betty, whose registered name is Ch. Simerdown's Off Her Rocker, RI, TKN, CGC (named after the late Betty White), will appear on April 22 from 7 to 8 p.m. at Inkberry Books at the Cottonwood Square Shopping Center in Niwot.

She will read from her stranger-than-fiction book and answer questions from the audience, with a reception to follow. Betty is a distant relative of Max and she would appreciate lots of affection during her appearance in Niwot.