Rory Cellan-Jones and Simon Wooler at Bark! Fest on September 14
Join authors Rory Cellan-Jones and Simon Wooler to learn more about their books Sophie From Romania and More Than Just a Dog.
By Zazie Todd, PhD
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Rory Cellan-Jones and Simon Wooler at Bark! Fest
Explore our love for dogs and the importance of treating them with kindness. Sophie From Romania: What a rescue dog taught me about love, patience and hope by Rory Cellan-Jones tells the real story of how Sophie came into his life, from the long journey he and his wife had to help her with anxiety to the joys of play. In More Than Just a Dog: Understanding, Loving, and Living with Dogs—an essential guide for humans Simon Wooler, expert trainer to Sophie, considers how dogs learn, how they communicate, and what influences the powerful bond they form with people.
Monday September 14 at 10 am Pacific (1 pm Eastern / 6 pm UK time).
The event is hosted by Zazie Todd and Kristi Benson.
This event will be recorded. The link to the recording will be sent to everyone who registers within 72 hours of the live event.
Please support the authors by getting their books, which are available wherever books are sold, including my Amazon store, from Bookshop, and probably your local library too.
About Sophie From Romania by Rory Cellan-Jones
How do you welcome someone new into your heart and home? A week before Christmas, newly retired BBC journalist Rory Cellan-Jones receives a special delivery that will change his life.
This is the story of rescue dog #SophieFromRomania.
In January 2022, the Cellan-Jones-Coyle family said goodbye to their beloved elderly Collie cross, Cabbage. She and Rory had become inseparable during daily pandemic walks, which alleviated his Parkinson’s symptoms. After a grief-stricken year, Rory and his wife Diane come across a listing for ‘a kind girl who loves everybody and is just looking for her forever home’.
Bright-eyed, big-eared and trembling, Sophie arrives in London on 17 December 2022. Rory holds the Romanian rescue in his arms, excited for their first walk together – but the road ahead will be a long one.
This book follows the real journey of Sophie’s adoption – from her battles with anxiety, to the joys of play and her first time outside – as Rory and Diane work with expert dog trainer Si to win Sophie’s trust and navigate Rory’s Parkinson’s disease.
This is a moving story of love, kindness and a lot of patience, paying tribute to rescue dogs and their tender community.
Rory Cellan-Jones worked as a BBC journalist for forty years, the last 15 as the Technology Correspondent covering stories such the rise of smartphones and social media. Since leaving the Corporation, he has become a writer, podcaster and pundit with a focus on health and technology.
Just before Christmas 2022, he and his wife welcomed Sophie, a Romanian rescue dog, into their home. Their struggle to help an extremely shy and fearful dog come out from behind their living room sofa and learn to trust them was a story that captivated a huge social media audience. Rory’s book Sophie from Romania was published in 2024.
In the King’s Birthday Honours in 2024 Rory was awarded an OBE for services to journalism.
About More Than Just a Dog by Simon Wooler
They are our companions, best friends, members of the family and for some the most important part of our lives.
Our ability to make meaningful connections with other animal species and their ability to return the favour is, perhaps, never more beautiful than the bond we have with dogs.
Simon Wooler, trainer to Sophie from Romania, social media’s most famous fearful canine, unlocks the heart of the special relationship we have with dogs.
He explores how, over millennia, they have inveigled their way into our homes and hearts and evolved to live alongside us. Demystifying the science behind dog behaviour, he explains how they learn (and why they sometimes seem immune to our efforts to train them), how they communicate and what influences the powerful bond they form with their people.
Perfect for dog lovers – the essential guide to loving your canine companion.
Simon Wooler has been working as a trainer and behaviourist for more than 15 years, specialising in fearful and reactive dogs. His book, More Than Just A Dog: Understanding, loving and living with dogs - An Essential Guide for Humans unlocks the heart of the relationship we have with dogs. Peppered with gentle humour and stories of the dogs he has helped, he demystifies the science behind dog behaviour, explains how they learn and communicate and what influences the powerful bond they have with their people. Si worked alongside former BBC technology correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones and his economist wife Diane to help their highly anxious rescue Sophie. The story of her journey from fearful to joyful went viral on social media and was captured in Rory’s memoir Sophie from Romania: A Year of Love and Hope with a Rescue Dog.
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