What’s New? A LOT!

We are up and running!

Our regular hours are 7-10 PM Fridays and 6-9 PM Saturdays. We’ve stocked several thousand fiction and nonfiction titles, and hundreds of children’s books. Although our store is still a work in progress, we’ve made great strides and are very happy with the results so far. Now we just need our store sign to come in…

We are now on Bookshop!

Bookshop is an online bookstore that is a wonderful alternative to Amazon. Instead of siphoning sales away from indie bookstores like Amazon does, Bookshop supports indie stores by providing high-percentage affiliate links and a profit-sharing program. The Detroit Specials Bookshop page features curated lists of new books available for sale. The lists cover topics that I find interesting and ones that I think my customers will like. It’s my goal to post one new list each week.

If there’s a topic you’d like me to explore or if there’s a new book you’d like and can’t find on our site, check out our Bookshop page — you just might be able to find it there! The best thing about Bookshop is, as long as you use my link (at the logo or the bolded text in this post), then you’ll be supporting Detroit Specials even if you buy something on Bookshop which isn’t in one of my lists.

Lapis is back!

Those of you who’ve known me for a long time are already well aware of the Lapis Saga. Here’s the short version:

Lapis was one of eight puppies born to a pregnant stray we found in the literal street just a few doors down from our home. Due to a series of unfortunate events in her early puppyhood, Lapis grew up to become a reactive dog. At 18 months, she was adopted to a wonderful family. They loved her and did a great job with her, but with reactive dogs there is always some danger of a bite. Shortly before Christmas, Lapis severely bit one of the adult family members. Although they still love her, after that happened they were understandably afraid of her. The rescue organization that we’d partnered with to adopt her out reached out to me and asked if we’d foster her once more.

Of course, we agreed. Despite her anxiety, Lapis was always one of our favorites. We appreciate the opportunity to try to help her become less reactive.

Right now, Lapis is living in a room in our home that is separate from the rest of the household. She’s had a little over two weeks to decompress and get used to us again. Next week we’ll begin her training, and will post regular updates here and/or on the Detroit Specials Facebook page.

It’s hard to say if Lapis will ever be adoptable. She is loving, and funny, and easily the most intelligent dog I’ve ever met. She is also very dangerous. While my partner and I understand the risks and are willing to accept them, we don’t know if Lapis will ever be in a place where we would feel okay with someone else accepting that risk.

Our fundraising allotment of 10% of sales will still go to Friends of Detroit Animal Care and Control through 2/28/2021. In March and April, we will be putting that allotment toward an animal behaviorist for Lapis. This will give us time to start her on basic training reinforcement and to reinforce basic training for all of our household dogs, as well as time to interview and select a behaviorist.

Through rigorous training and careful management, a reactive dog can become a good pet — but that training and management has to be a lifelong commitment. With Lapis, it has become clear that letting those things slide even for a few weeks can lead to serious problems. Setting her up for success by giving her that training and managing her properly will be difficult, but finding an adopter who is willing and able to adhere to the level of handling she needs will be the real challenge. Will we ever manage it? …stay tuned!