About the Author Karen Gee

Karen grew up with dogs around her from a very young age. At one stage during Karen's childhood, her family had four dogs and her grandparents, aunties, other close family and friends also had dogs. So when it came to raising her 3 children, it was very natural for Karen to include dogs as part of the family.

Karen has always been involved in animal welfare and is a keen supporter of several animal charities, not just in the UK, but also in America and Thailand.

In America, recent statistics state that 2000 healthy Pit Bulls are destroyed across the entire country every day. Unacceptable statistics.  In Thailand, street animals are a way of life. This is a country where dogs are eaten, and pets are regularly removed from the streets and taken away for the meat trade. Supporting charities abroad that are working to change these statistics is very close to Karen's heart.

In the midst of all of this cruelty and mistreatment of animals, dogs, in particular, the Dodger Dog stories were born.

In 2013, Karen lost her two Dalmatians, Purdy, who was 14 and Colonel, who was 15 years old, and it wasn't too long before she felt ready to bring another dog into the family. 

The plight of the Staffie in the UK was getting a lot of press coverage, and the breed was getting a bad name; after some gentle persuasion from her daughter Siobhan, Karen decided to re-home a rescue Staffie.

Dodger was the family’s first Staffie, who was followed closely by Shea, and both dogs soon became important members of the family. Each dog has emotional rescue stories.

The Dodger Dog books are all written by Karen, using real stories and events that have occurred in Dodger and Shea’s lives as members of the Gee family.

Karen has written 6 books in the series, all of the books contain clear messages and highlight values that every parent should want to hand down to their child, for example, Shea is deaf and was rehomed twice, "When Dodger meets Shea" not only tells the story of that adoption, it also teaches children about disability.

Karen is passionate about helping others and changing lives, relentless in the belief that if we want future generations to appreciate the environment and preserve our planet, their education must start early.

In order to turn the tide on animal cruelty and ensure we raise awareness of responsible dog ownership, we must begin with the education of our children.

This is Dodger Dog’s mission and is going to be his legacy. 

About the Illustrator, Kim Wymer

When Kim met Dodger, she was one hundred percent a cat lady! Her experience with dogs was quite limited, and her exposure had been mostly walking with her daughter’s miniature dachshund Hugo. However as Kim spent more time with her friend Karen, and Dodger and Shea, her love of Staffies began to grow.

Kim is a positive empowerment coach, and through her company Happy Days Coaching, she teaches people various tools and techniques to help them find happiness and fulfilment in their lives.  In addition to completing training with the Sue Stone Foundation, she has also qualified as a complementary therapist and offers Indian Head Massage and Reiki Healing.  An author herself, in her book, "Out of the Shadows", Kim tells the story of how she changed her life from negative to positive.

It was her desire to help people and her quest for positive living that made Kim want to work with Dodger Dog, helping him on his mission to ensure children develop a love of animals and respect for all living things from an early age.

Having always held a love of painting and drawing, "How I Became Dodger Dog " is the first book Kim has illustrated.

Sinead Trinnaman, Production

Sinead brought together the illustrations and written words to create the finished "How I Became Dodger Dog" book, she also gets involved in other areas, including social media and product creation. Sinead became involved in the project through her love of dogs, having grown up with family pets from 'day one'. She fondly remembers her first dog Zoe, a beautiful, black German Shepherd-cross, who always appeared the size of a horse to Sinead as a very small child! Zoe was a gentle giant and real family friend, and Sinead wants other small children to grow up with the same positive experience of dog ownership. Sinead works as a First Aid Trainer for St John Ambulance Service and cares for her current pet, Dodger Dog, with her mum Karen Gee and the rest of her family.

Rob Holmes, Web designer

Rob runs his own creative agency, Vinegar Creative, and after meeting Karen and learning about the Dodger project, was keen to get involved.  Rob designed and built this website and assisted with the enhancement and colouring of Kim's fantastic drawings.

Rob chose his childhood pet, Wiley, from a rescue home - an Irish Wolf Hound that had grown up to become 'uncontrollable'. While others stepped away from this boisterous animal, Rob moved forward, opened up his arms and the bouncing dog licked his face! From that moment, he had a new best friend and with plenty of love and care, that crazy dog became one of the family. 

Rob knows that rescue dogs can bring so much to people's lives, and they are often branded 'dangerous' when the sad reality is they've been mistreated or not cared for responsibly. He believes that if people can obtain a good understanding of dog ownership from a young age, the number of animals needing rescue will significantly reduce.

Gareth Jones, Design & Print

Gareth has his own printing and graphics company, Sticky Cut Prints. He has helped design and produce all of the fabulous promotional materials for the Dodger Dog project.

Nick, a golden retriever, was Gareth's family pet for 12 years.  He was loved by everyone and a good friend to Gareth during his childhood.  As his young daughter is already showing a great deal of affection toward animals, Gareth is now very much looking forward to welcoming a dog into his family, one day in the near future.

As a child, Gareth could never understand why anyone would be cruel to an animal and this, along with his positive childhood experiences with dogs, inspired him to join Dodger's mission to raise awareness about the plight of Staffies and promote respect and responsibility in dog ownership.

Jo Trent, Copy Editing

Jo has her own virtual assistant business, SmartPA, offering business administration services for small-medium sized companies, and has helped Dodger review all of the written content for his book project, and keep on top of his admin.

Growing up in New Zealand, Jo's first family dog was Shar, a chocolate and white Short-haired German Pointer.  Shar became one of the family after Jo fell in love with a neighbour's dog of the same breed and convinced her family that they needed one too! A gentle and homely dog, Shar was often caught trying to sneak inside to be with the family even when she was meant to be outside guarding the property!

An avid reader as a child, Jo feels strongly about the importance of reading and exposure to books from a very young age. She knows Dodger has a winning combination on his hands with his stories for children containing valuable and positive messages about personal responsibility, compassion and kindness.