As you can see from the photos below, Smokey and his dog brother Bandit are real dogs who are as cute as their illustrations in the book. They are owned by my daughter's family and live on the family farm in Arkansas.

     Bandit joined the family first. He was a "walk on" to the farm. A neighbor found him as a puppy; sadly, someone had left him by the road. My daughter's family took him in, fed him some good food, got him some medical attention and gave him lots of love. He has been the boss of the farm ever since. He runs free on the farm and loves to hunt at night but always comes back home to the cabin in the woods. As you can probably guess, Bandit is part Labrador and part Rottweiller. He's got all the playfulness, gentleness and goofiness of a Lab and the devotion, confidence and courage of a Rottweiler.

     My daughter and her husband purchased Smokey as a Christmas gift for their five children. He is the writer of the book...I just helped out a bit ;) Smokey started off his life on a long line tied to the front porch of the cabin where he dreamed of life off the leash. Smokey is half Great Pyrenees and half Anatolian Shepherd. As a puppy he was an adorable, roly-poly ball of fluff. Like a Pyrennes, he's very affectionate and gentle but also strong willed and fearless. The Anatolian Shepherd in Smokey makes him independent and proud. 

     It took a bit of time for the two dogs get to know one another but once they did they became loyal brothers just like in the story. Now they're older; they both have the run of the farm; and they stick together like best buddies.