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LOS ANGELES, May 9, 2008 -- Even the cleverest dog couldn't figure out how to buck the Internet's reliability as a source for translation programs - otherwise, Susan Lustig may never have been able to decipher the mysterious folder she discovered while reorganizing the files in her computer. The folder contained nearly two years' worth of e-mails written by her rescued Golden Retriever, Shilo, to her sister's Bichon Frise.
Once she got over the shock of reading Shilo's take on everything from cats to Christmas Tree etiquette ("I'm a normal male dog, and we both know the true purpose of a tree. This is too much," Shilo wrote), Lustig found photographs to illustrate Shilo's chronicle and created the book "E-mails from Shilo," now available as a paperback or as an e-book.
"It was so bizarre to find this weird file that I knew I hadn't created, and not be able to read it," Lustig said from the Southern California home she shares with her husband and Shilo. "But Shilo's strange behavior when I found it, his constant efforts to distract me, made me suspicious enough to search the 'net for a dog language translation program."
Once she found a way to decode the file, Lustig said she was initially taken with Shilo's acute curiosity into human behavior and how it relates to dogs. Yet as she read and re-read the e-mails, she became even more impressed with his quest to understand how dog behavior relates to humans.
"Apparently Sammy, the Bassett Hound next door, was actually Shilo's mentor and an authority on the early history of dogs and the folklore of ancient wolves and their relationship with man," said Lustig. "Shilo wrote to Max, my sister's dog, about everything - but his relationship with Sammy was clearly a very special part of Shilo's world. Sammy was extremely influential in Shilo's inner growth."
Lustig, a long-time animal lover and writer who worked for more than a decade as a creative producer for major theme park companies and helped create "Animal Actors" for Universal Studios Florida, hopes that "E-mails from Shilo" will give animal lovers of all ages and species greater insight into self-discovery, love and friendship.
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