Hello, I’m Cats
My name is Catherine, however since I was very little my family and close friends have called me Cats.
I work in the NHS as a manager for a children’s surgery network. I wanted to write a children’s picture book to promote positive child dog interactions and to raise money for charity.
The idea of publishing a children’s picture book to promote positive and safe dog and child interactions has been bumping around in my head for quite a while so I decided to give it a go and ‘Buddy & Tilda’ came to be.
How Buddy, and Family Inspired the Books
The real story behind the Buddy & Friends adventures.
Buddy was rescued when he was just two weeks old and joined our family at just eight weeks thanks to Hope Rescue. I have a large extended family who aren’t familiar with dogs and I wanted to support the children (and adults) to be comfortable around Buddy and importantly wanted to ensure he was equally comfortable around them. This played a large part in how the book developed.
I had no experience in canine behaviour so took advice from the rescue centre and joined a Facebook Group called the Dog Training and Advice Support Group. I read their articles, benefited from their advice and did my own research and wider reading for reflection. The more I read the more I was aware of the mismatch between many social media images of children interacting with dogs and the reality of what we should be encouraging with regards safe and positive child/dog interaction.
In my role in the NHS I was also aware of a number of sad incidents with children being bitten by family pets and with incidents of dog bites rising, particularly in younger children, I wondered if I might be able to write a fun and friendly story that would hopefully remind children and adults of the best ways to play and spend time with our four-legged friends.
That idea became the starting point for the first story — Buddy & Tilda — which teaches children how to interact safely and kindly with dogs.
Galleries
Photos shared by readers enjoying the Buddy & Friends books.
One of the highlights of writing ‘Buddy & Tilda’ has been the positive reaction from friends, family and people who were previously complete strangers. I started the website with just a small gallery of pictures of Buddy as I thought it was a nice opportunity to share pictures of the ‘star’ of the book however when people started sharing photos of their children and dogs reading the book it made me absolutely delighted so I decided it would be nice to share back in a friends and family gallery.
Family & Friends Gallery
Photos shared by readers enjoying the Buddy & Friends books.
Buddy & Author Gallery
Behind-the-scenes photos of Buddy, the author and the real-life inspiration behind the stories.
From the Author
Stories, events and updates from the real life Buddy & Friends activities.
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Viking Vets support ‘Buddy & Tilda’
Read more: Viking Vets support ‘Buddy & Tilda’It was great to meet Lisa Cartwright recently, as Head Veterinary Nurse at Viking Vets in Bristol she was interested to see a copy of ‘Buddy & Tilda’ and hear how we are trying to raise money for charity through sales. Lisa and the team at Viking Vets are keen to promote positive dog child…
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Veterinary Voices UK – loves reading!
Read more: Veterinary Voices UK – loves reading!I was delighted recently to be able to share a copy of ‘Buddy & Tilda’ with colleagues from Veterinary Voices UK. The team were willing to promote the book through their social media channels alongside some really important messages around how children and dogs should interact together. Many thanks to the team for helping promote…
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Hanging out at Hope Dog Show
Read more: Hanging out at Hope Dog Show📅 Saturday 22nd March 2025 Buddy, Henry & I had a really lovely day last Sunday when we attended the Hope Rescue Fun Dog Show at Bryngarw House. We didn’t enter the show and instead we were there to promote our book ‘Buddy & Tilda’. Luckily the weather stayed dry and I had a very…
Explore Buddy’s Adventures
Follow Buddy and his friends through fun stories that teach children kindness, confidence and how to understand dogs.