Welcome Home Review by The Midwest Book Review

"Happiness isn't much to a dog, but sometimes that's too much to ask for. "Welcome Home" tells the journey of a black labrador retriever who had a hard journey being pulled away from his mother, abused by a new owner, only to find what he was looking for down the line. "Welcome Home" is a charming story of what a dog wants out of life, worth considering."-The Midwest Book Review

Pet Health Tip #4- "Are vaccines really important?"

Routine puppy vaccinations against Parvovirus and Distemper are essential to ensuring your puppies health.  Puppies are protected against these viruses until they are approximately 10-12 weeks old through the antibodies that they received from their mother.  After that, they are susceptible to becoming infected with the viruses.  That is why it is essential that they receive the full vaccine regimen.  Veterinarians recommend that you give the first vaccine at approximately 6-8 weeks of age and then repeat every 3-4 weeks until they reach 16 weeks of age.  This is to ensure that they receive the full round of vaccines and have developed their own protection at close to the same time that their mother's antibodies are no longer effective.  There is a window of susceptibility during which time the puppies mother's antibodies are no longer effective and they have not developed their own protection.  This is approximately between 8-12 weeks of age.  It is really important to keep the puppy away from environment's where they could possibly be exposed to the virus during this time. 

Parvovirus and Distemper virus are both found throughout the environment and can survive for long periods of time in the soil.  It is imperative that you keep young unvaccinated puppies away from any yards where there was a known positive puppy for at least 1 year.

Both of these viruses cause severe intestinal distress.  Basically, they cause the intestines to shed their lining.  These are the cells that absorb water and nutrients out of the intestines.  Therefore, the puppy ends up losing a lot of water (i.e. diarrhea) and losing a lot of weight due to the inability to absorb nutrients.  The shedding of the intestinal lining is also very painful.  Many puppies, especially small breeds, do not survive this loss of water and nutrients.

If you choose not to vaccinate your puppy and they survive puppyhood, their odds of contracting the viruses does decrease significantly.  However, unvaccinated adult dogs can still contract the viruses. 

Welcome Home review from Kirkus Reviews

"Veterinarian Tiner’s debut is a middle grade reader told from the dog’s point of view.

The book opens as Jake, a large, black mixed-breed dog, leaves his mother to move in with his new owner.  Jake is horrified to discover that his new master is an abusive man. He escapes to fend for himself on the city streets. But Jake has dreamed of finding a kind owner with a beautiful yard since he was a puppy, and he isn’t prepared to give up hope. As he searches far and wide, Jake befriends a homeless woman, fellow stray dogs Bo and Rico, and a feral cat and her litter of kittens. Though the violence that Jake suffers will be upsetting to young readers, Tiner avoids graphic descriptions; she writes, “Every day Joe would come out with the stick and beat Jake ruthlessly, and each time Jake just felt fear and confusion grip his heart.” The story moves along in episodic fashion as Jake and his friends struggle to survive in the city. In the spirit of such books as Black Beauty and Charlotte's Web, the animals can speak to one another; Chihuahua Rico's stilted dialog may have been meant to evoke accented English, but instead comes across as awkward, tripping up the reader's flow.  Occasional bouts of clunky phrasing also slow the pace of the story.  Finally, the author's failure to wrap up a few loose ends as the book draws to a close may leave readers wondering about the fate of Jake's friends. 

Young readers who like animal stories will appreciate this warm canine tale." Kirkus Reviews


Overall, I thought that the reviewer did a pretty good job.  They provided a very accurate description of the book.  However, I am really unsure what the reviewed means by, "The author's failure to wrap up a few loose ends as the book draws to a close..."  I don't want to give away the book's ending.  However, I will say that if the reviewer is referring to Jake's friends, Bo and Rico, then their story is wrapped up at the end of the book.  So, due to my confusion, I am asking for feedback from anyone else who reads the book.  Please let me know what you think the reviewer meant by "loose ends", because frankly, I think they just got that point wrong.

Humorous Life Story #2- "April Fools"

In honor of the fact that April 1st is just around the corner, I thought that I would share an April Fools joke that my husband and I played on our then 13 year old daughter. 

My daughter had gotten her hands on a couple of pairs of high heeled shoes that she liked to put on and wear around the house.  She had a really bad habit of kicking them off right in the middle of walkways. My husband and I were getting really tired of tripping on them.  So, one day my husband picked them up and hid them in our closet.  They were there for several months.  Then, it dawned on us that April 1st was just a few days away.  My husband came up with an excellent plan.  He went to the school and told them the situation.  He then asked if he could leave the shoes in our daughter's locker on April 1st as an April Fools Day joke.  The principal of the school thought that sounded hilarious and quickly agreed.

April 1st finally arrived and my husband took the shoes in a Wal-Mart bag down to the school and placed them in our daughter's locker.  When my daughter's bus arrived at home, I could see that she was carrying the bag full of shoes.  I went to my computer and pretended to be working, but was dying to know how she had reacted.  My husband wasn't home yet and I didn't know if I could keep a straight face until he arrived, so that we could confess together. 

My daughter came up to me and dropped into a chair.  She just sat there looking at me for several minutes.  Finally, she said, "Something really weird happened at school today."

"Oh, really, what?" I asked, as I tried to keep from busting out laughing.

"Well, you know those shoes that I have been looking for, the high heels?" she asked

"Yes," I replied.  "What about them?"

"I found them in my locker today!" she said, clearly in shock.

Really trying to stall things.  I asked, "Didn't we tell you not to take those things to school?"

"I didn't!" she wailed.

"Well, they didn't walk there on their own," I stated sarcastically.  Then, I heard the garage door opening and knew my husband was home.  That was a good thing, because I was just about to lose it. 

He walked in just as my daughter yelled, "I really didn't do it!  I think that I have a stalker!  I think that he must have come in here and stole my shoes, then hid them in my locker.  I am really scared."

My husband and I burst out laughing and said in unison said, "April Fools!"

Humorous Life Stories #1- "Oh Crap, What Do I Do Now?"

I am the type of person who tries to see the humor in life.  I have found that if you look for the humor in a stressful or awkward situation, it can make it almost enjoyable. So, in an effort to let you know more about me and my life, I thought that I would periodically share humorous stories about me, my life as a veterinarian, and my family.  Hope you enjoy the first installment.

"Oh Crap, What Do I Do Now?"

It was the beginning of my last year of veterinary school. We were finally to the stage in our veterinary training where we were moving out of the classroom and into the clinics.  We were all very excited to get to finally see patients.  The year was divided into different rotations such as radiology, surgery, anesthesia, large animal medicine, and small animal medicine.  My first rotation was small animal medicine.  This was the rotation that I looked forward to the most.  During this rotation, I was going to get to see examine patients and make diagnoses.  It was the most hands-on real world training of all the rotations.  The first day, I was really nervous about making a good impression.  I was also scared about whether or not I would be able to make the correct diagnoses.  The first thing that we did when we arrived at the clinic was to go to the front desk and sign our name next to the patient that we wanted to see.  All that we had to go on was a time, the owner's name, and the name of the patient.  I was the first one to the sign up sheet, so I signed up for the first patient on the list.

We had been instructed to take a thorough history and perform an examination, then find an instructor to run through our list of differential diagnoses.  We had been given a check-list of questions to ask when taking the patient's medical history as well as a check-list of things to look at during the examination.  I went to the back of the clinic to review the check-lists.  The history questions were things such as:  What symptoms have you noted?, Is your pet eating normally?, Is he having any problems urinating or defecating?, etc.  The examination check-list included things such as:  check ears, eyes, skin, heart, lungs, and temperature. 

So, the time finally came for me to go in to see my first patient.  Armed with my stethoscope, thermometer, and pen light.  I went out into the lobby and called the owner's name.  A woman stood and walked toward me carrying a large cardboard box.  I thought, "Cool, my first patient must be a puppy or kitten."

The woman placed the box on the exam table and opened the lid.  I looked inside and lying there was a large coiled up Boa constrictor!  As you may have guessed, the thought screaming through my brain was, "Oh crap, what do I do now?"  I didn't know anything about snakes.  It was just my luck that the very first patient in my veterinary career was a snake.  The check-lists were of no use to me.  I didn't want to look like an idiot, but I had no idea what to do with a snake.  I asked the woman what symptoms the snake was having.  She told me that the snake had a rash on its belly.  While she was telling me this, the only thing that I could think of was, "How am I supposed to perform an examination on this thing?  Where the heck is the heart?"

I pulled the stethoscope from around my neck and just stood there staring into the box.  The woman laughed and pointing to an area about a third of the way down the snakes body said, "The heart should be right around here." At that point, all of my anxiety whooshed out of me and I started to grin from ear to ear.  I admitted that I really didn't know anything about snakes and thanked her for understanding my awkwardness. The snake ended up having a bacterial infection that was cleared up with a shot of antibiotics.  That was the last snake that I have ever had in an exam room..  At the time, I was really disappointed that my first patient wasn't a fuzzy puppy or a patient with a really complicated issue, but I definitely won't ever forget it!

Billi Tiner interview by LL Book Review

An Interview with Billi Tiner, author of Welcome Home

By Shannon Yarbrough on February 26, 2012

Tell us a little about your book.
Welcome Home is the story of Jake, a black Labrador Retriever mix, who has been dreaming about a beautiful home with a wonderful owner since he was a small puppy. He is convinced that he belongs with the man in the dream. However, when the time comes for him to be given away to a new home, he is chosen by someone who is definitely not the man from the dream. He is taken to a home where he is terribly mistreated. After suffering years of abuse, Jake finally escapes and can begin his search for the man from his dreams.

What inspired you to write this book?
The main character, Jake, was inspired by a patient that I treated my first year out of veterinary school. He was a large black dog who had been hit by a car and was brought into the clinic by an Animal Control Officer. He was unable to use his hind legs. I convinced the officer to let me keep the dog in the clinic for a few days to see if he would improve. He regained the use of his legs and was eventually adopted by a very nice family.
The theme of Welcome Home, was inspired by the many stories that people have shared with me about how they were united with their beloved pets. Although the stories vary, there is a theme that connects them all; the idea that their pets “chose” them to be their owner and “somehow knew” there were meant to be together.

What are you doing to market your book?
I have used several approaches to marketing the book. I have donated copies of the paperback to several local libraries and schools. I also sent out press releases to several newspapers. In addition, I am constantly marketing through the social media. You can find Tinerbooks on Facebook and Twitter. Also, I have a blog at www.tinerbooks.blogspot.com and a website www.tinerbooks.com. In addition, I have contacted several reviewers requesting that they review Welcome Home. I could always use more reviews! I have also advertised on several independent author websites.

How have sales been? Where have you had the most success?
I have the book available through the KDP lending program and offered a free promotion over the Christmas holiday. The sales were at their highest point following this promotion.

How are readers/reviewers reacting to your book?
The book has a 5 star rating from 5 customer reviews and received a 5 star rating from the Readers Favorite. I have also gotten feedback from several libraries stating that readers are reacting very positively.

What was the biggest challenge you faced writing this book and how did you overcome it?
I wrote Welcome Home almost 10 years ago. I tried to get it published through traditional means for several years. I finally heard about KDP and Createspace through Amazon and decided to self-publish.

What are the future plans for you and this book?
I am going to continue to promote Welcome Home through author interviews and book signings. Additionally, I will continue to build a platform through social media marketing.

What is your next project?
Bo and Rico are two characters in Welcome Home that befriend Jake and help him search for the man from his dream. My next project is going to be to write the story of how Bo and Rico met.

Have you published anything else?
I recently released my second novel, Heart of a Hero. It is the story of Lady, an Irish Setter puppy, whose only dream is to become a great hunting dog. She has no idea that her life is going to take her down a path where she is going to face some incredibly dangerous situations, including a world war. Several times throughout Lady’s lifetime, she will be asked to risk her life for someone she loves.

Any advice for other writers/indie authors out there?
Don’t give up on your dreams. If you love to write, then keep at it, even in the face of rejection. Also, I feel that it is important to write about something that you truly care about. Your passion for the subject is what will draw people to the story.

Article about Billi Tiner in Nodaway Newsleader

"Welcome Home,” a new book by Maryville resident Dr. Billi Tiner, follows the incredible journey of a dog finding his perfect home.
The story for children ages 10-12 comes from an incident Tiner had as a veterinarian and also from experiences she’s heard from other dog owners.
Although their stories vary, she said one theme connects them all – how they were united with their pets, that the dog chose them to be their owner and that they were meant to be together.
“It’s this perfect match,” she said.
The book has been a journey for Tiner herself, the journey of an author to get her story published.
She wrote the story 10 years ago, and after years of struggling to find a publisher, she decided to self-publish through CreateSpace this past December.
“I’ve always loved to write. And I’ve also always loved animals,” she said. “It’s really nice to know the book is available now.”
“Welcome Home” can be found on Amazon in both paperback and e-book formats as well as at the Nodaway News Leader. She also donated copies of the book to the Maryville Public Library and Maryville Middle School library.
Tiner and her husband, John, and their two children moved to Maryville last summer. She is currently employed as a food safety inspector with the USDA.
Originally from Oklahoma, she attended veterinary school at Oklahoma State University.
She is currently working on her second book, inspired by her mom, about a World War II hero dog that was shot in the back saving soldiers. She hopes to have it out sometime this spring." -Jacki Wood Nodaway Newsleader

Link to article http://nodawaynews.com/pages/?p=2871#more-2871