By Lisa Cohn

Our golden retriever, Hudson, underwent surgery to remove some tumors in his testicles two weeks ago, and I’m happy to report that he sailed through the surgery and is back to chasing tennis balls and taking long walks in Forest Park.

Hudson, who is almost 11, showed his spunk after the surgery by complaining loudly when he had to stay in the veterinary hospital overnight. He’s used to sleeping at the foot of my bed or on his bed beside mine and doesn’t like to have his routine interrupted!

When he was restricted by the post-surgery collar he begged for his tennis balls, and I was happy to give them back about nine days after the surgery, when we removed the collar.

More good news: The tumors were benign.

Hudson appears as the good-natured golden retriever in our two latest Bash and Lucy books, Bash and Lucy Fetch Team Vera and the Dream Beasts, and Bash and Lucy Say, “Love, Love, Bark!”

He’s also a bark-over artist in our last audiobook. We’re now producing the final audiobook, for Bash and Lucy Say, “Love, Love, Bark!”

Puppy Hudson was the star of our book trailer, and romped with co-author Michael, who was five at the time. You can watch Hudson in action:

Hudson joined our family more than 10 years ago, after our dog, Lucy–the star of our book series–passed away at the age of six.

To help heal from that loss, Michael (age five at the time) and I started writing our Bash and Lucy book series.

You can learn more about how we decided to write through our grief in this story in the Oregonian.

You can find our audiobooks on Audible here, here and here. In addition to Hudson, the voice-over artists include a number of children.