Koontz’s dog-eared legacy

Celebrated author Dean Koontz was more than a little miffed when another member of the Koontz family first upstaged him.

Trixie Koontz’s first hardcover book sold 14 times more copies than the Newport Beach writer’s first hardcover.

“That stung for a while, but I got over it,” he said.

It helped that she had a beautiful golden mane and remarkable intelligence.

And she loved to gaze at Koontz with big, adoring puppy-dog eyes, until he finally had to break the stare. That sort of devotion’s to be expected, though. Trixie was the family dog, after all.

“She was a remarkably intelligent dog,” Koontz said.

“Golden retrievers are a wonderful breed; they’re so affectionate, sweet and even-tempered. But she took all those golden traits to a higher level.”

Trixie was part of the Koontz family for many years until she was put to sleep last June. She served as loving daughter, muse and life coach to Koontz, who has published two books about and with her as “author.”

His newest Trixie tome, “Bliss to You: Trixie’s Guide to a Happy Life,” will be released Tuesday.

In her book, Trixie imparts wisdom like “A puppy is the only love that money can buy.”

Puppy love

The burgeoning writer came to them from Canine Companions for Independence (CCI), an organization Koontz began to support after researching service dogs for a novel he was writing.

“We had worked with CCI for many years, and they kept saying, ‘Let’s give you a dog,’ ” Koontz said. “We kept saying that we were too busy right now. Then one day we realized that we’re going to be 90 years old and saying we’re too busy.”

Trixie had finished the two-year training program and been in service with a young woman who had lost her legs in an automobile accident, when it was discovered that one of her four legs was longer than the others.

Following elbow surgery, she was retired, as service dogs need their full joint strength in case the need to pull a wheelchair arises, Koontz said.

“She then came to live with us for a glorious nine years,” he said.

Koontz said he and his wife, Gerda, have lived in Newport longer than anywhere else since they were married.

“Gerda told me that it was the first place she felt like she had roots, and I felt the same way,” Koontz said. “We’ve made a number of wonderful friends, and we feel connected here. It’s definitely where we’re going to be hauled out from.”

Lifelong canine fan

Trixie was the Koontz family’s first dog, but Dean Koontz’s experiences with canines began much earlier in his life, he said.

Three in particular stuck out in his memory.

“When I was a kid we were very poor, so we just had stray dogs,” Koontz said.

The first, Tiny, “didn’t really live up to his name,” Koontz said.

He weighed 120 pounds, and a very young Koontz nearly lost his life when his neck became wrapped in the dog’s chain; his mother came outside just in time to save him.

“Much to my protest, Tiny then had to be sent away,” he said.

The next was a sickly little dog whom Koontz named Lucky, he said. Lucky didn’t live very long, continuing Koontz’s bad streak with naming pets.

Koontz also adored his aunt’s cocker spaniel, Pete.

“I grew up loving dogs, but wasn’t around them very much. As an adult I was always very busy, but I always admired golden retrievers very much,” he said.

Koontz has featured intelligent canines in many of his works, such as “Watchers,” “Dragon Tears” and “The Darkest Evening of the Year.”

“I love cats, but I am really allergic to them,” Koontz said. “Cats could kill me, so while I like them, it seems not to be a mutual affection.”

Life with Trixie

Koontz said he would often go months without hearing a bark from Trixie, and that she even remembered people she met only once.

The family took the same walk every day, yet Trixie often stopped to look around at plants or other eye candy, and Koontz obliged her.

“I had sort of just stopped looking at things,” he said. “She was invaluable for making me appreciate the small beauties of the day.”

Creatures of habit, Koontz and Gerda often worked late, until Trixie broke them of the habit by visiting them every 15 minutes after 5 p.m.

“Over a couple of weeks it changed us,” Koontz said. “We still put in a lot of hours, but she broke us of that part of it. That’s one of the big things they teach.

“She was just amazing in many ways, and she had a level of intelligence that I found completely fascinating,” Koontz said. “The experts tell us that dogs don’t have a real sense of time. That’s such nonsense when you’ve had a dog. In her case, it was exceptional nonsense.”

Trixie knew exactly when her 3:30 p.m. second feeding was going to occur, and woke Koontz up if the alarm clock didn’t go off promptly at 6 a.m.

“What always amazed me was that for the nine years we had her, when we would come to the time change for daylight savings, she would immediately switch to the new time the very first day,” he said. “That’s amazing because daylight savings is an artificial creation. That endlessly fascinated me.”

Koontz and Trixie had an evening ritual in which he would play fetch with her in a long, 70-foot hallway in their home.

“Afterward, we would lay on the floor, I would stroke her side, and we would look into each other’s eyes. And she would never look away first. I made a little game out of it, and we would sometimes lie there for 30 to 40 minutes, yet she would never be the first to break it. It made me think, ‘There’s a real soul at work in here.’ There was almost a yearning to be able to talk to you.”

Lady of her domain

Trixie first started “writing” for Koontz’s readers in his newsletter, to which about 20,000 people subscribe.

Her first task was to review his new books; eventually, as her own fan base grew, she began having more and more of a presence in the newsletter.

“What’s wonderful about the voice is that it’s completely pure and true,” Koontz said.

From there, Koontz published two books with Trixie: “Life is Good!: Lessons in Joyful Living” and “Christmas Is Good!: Trixie Treats & Holiday Wisdom.”

Koontz said he probably wouldn’t have written such books had Trixie not entered his life.

“I just love it so much, because you can be so direct, and the dog can say things that might sound too sharp or preachy from a human,” Koontz said.

“As human beings, we have a tendency to complicate the hell out of things. The dog can take you right back to the root of everything.”

Trixie was compensated for her hard work with belly rubs, chin scratches and treats, and gave all her royalties to CCI.

“She didn’t need pocket money, because she didn’t have any pockets anyway,” Koontz said “Without CCI, we would never have known her. If she could pay them back for her lifetime of happiness, she would.”

Moving forward

The Koontz family had Trixie put to sleep in June 2007, after she was diagnosed with terminal cancer.

“In losing her, I really learned many things about loss that I hadn’t thought of before,” Koontz said. A section on learning to live with loss is included in Trixie’s new book.

“Even in her death, she is still teaching,” Koontz said.

The Koontz family received thousands of consoling cards and notes from readers.

Eight months later, they called CCI and said they might be ready for another dog in the near future.

They welcomed a new golden retriever, Anna, into the family in May.

Koontz and Gerda thought they saw something familiar about Anna in the lines of her face, but figured they were just being sentimental.

However, later their veterinarians said that despite Anna’s lighter build and different body type, her face was a spitting image of Trixie.

They then learned that Anna is Trixie’s great-niece.

“The center has trained thousands of dogs,” Koontz said. “We think Trixie sent her to us.”

He is now working on a set of illustrated children’s books of Trixie’s narrated adventures, along with other Trixie-related products like a desk calendar.

Koontz plans to continue Trixie’s posthumous works, with all royalties going to CCI.

“It’s kind of fun to see her casting a long shadow after she’s gone,” Koontz said. “We’ve got some goals for her, and we’d like to build it into something. At this point, there are eight books either already published or scheduled to be published that are by or about Trixie.”

A Super Dog contest at deankoontz.com allows dog owners to submit photos and short essays on why their dogs are great through Monday for the chance to win prizes.

Koontz also has a new novel due out in November.

“I’ve got a lot on my plate,” he said. “If I didn’t have a lot to do, I’d be in trouble with the cops.”

CANDICE BAKER can be reached at (949) 494-5480 or at [email protected].