Smoky, the Wolves, and the Quiet Power of Being There

Did you know the first recorded therapy dog in wartime wasn’t a big shepherd or lab? It was Smoky, a four-pound Yorkshire Terrier who served in World War II.

She ran telegraph wire through tiny tunnels. Comforted wounded soldiers in hospital beds. She never trained for it, just did it because she was there. Because she understood something we still struggle with: presence is powerful.

I think about that sometimes, when I’m out here, living wild. I don’t get to pet the wolves I study. I don’t need to. What they teach me isn’t through touch, it’s through example.

They show me how to live in the moment. How to listen more than speak. How to be still when words fail, and to move with purpose when they don’t.

It’s funny, people say I study wolves. But really? They’re the ones giving the lessons. And without ever meaning to, they remind me how to be human.

They are the mirror to our souls and the echoes of our pasts.

Set in the remote Adirondacks, where wolves have returned after a century-long absence, “The Wolfer’s Daughter” is a chilling and darkly humorous story rooted in real-world conservation, identity, and the blurry lines between what we love and what we fear.

Two ways to get a free copy.
Free on KU
Goodreads Giveaway until August 17
The Paperback is now available! The Wolfer's Daughter: A Story of Resurrection and Reckoning in the Adirondacks