Bay Windows - National News, November 18, 1999
Bradley David, Bay Windows correspondent

His latest literary effort, however, is less about himself and more about his beloved canine companions. In "For The Life Of Your Dog: A Complete Guide To Having A Dog In Your Life, From Adoption And Birth Through Sickness And Health" (Pocket Books), Louganis offers expert advice on everything from potty-training puppies to grieving the loss of a treasured pet.

In a recent telephone interview from Hollywood, Fla. where he is currently starring in an all-male production of the musical comedy "Nunsense," Louganis explained how the idea for the new book came about.

"I had stayed in touch with my editor from "Breaking The Surface," Mitchell Ivers, and he has a wirehair fox terrier named Finnegan," he says.

"Whenever we talked, we'd always come back to the dogs à just behavioral things and health issues. He'd ask me questions à what I thought of Finnegan's doing this or that -- and if I didn't have an answer, I'd try to research it as best I could, get back to him, and try and give him the best information that I could. So one evening, we were talking about Finnegan doing something and he said, 'You know what, you ought to write a book.'"

Louganis has been a life-long dog lover and about 10 years ago began breeding dogs and showing them in competitions. He currently has three dogs that he keeps as pets, including a black-and-white Jack Russell Terrier named Nipper, who travels with him.

"She goes everywhere with me," says Louganis. "She's actually on the cover [of the book]. She's the little one in my lap. Right now there are three dogs that live with me on a regular basis, but I co-own a number of other show dogs."

He says he first became interested in dog shows in 1989 when he acquired a Great Dane named Freeway.

"I fell in love with his mother -- that's the reason why I felt that I had to have this dog -- because his mother Dolly was just so sweet and so wonderful and reminded me of my first Great Dane, Maile," he says. "So I got Freeway and they said that he was a show-marked Harlequin Great Dane, so I started showing him and I learned the standard of Great Danes."

In 1995, Louganis decided to let other people show his dogs. He had lived a fairly quiet life since competing in his last Olympic Games in 1988, but with the release of his much-publicized autobiography, he began to be mobbed by fans at dog shows.

"After 'Breaking The Surface,' I tried to go to shows and people weren't letting me get to the ring à they all wanted pictures and autographs," he says. "My focus needed to be on the dogs and I wasn't being allowed that, so now I'm content with just doing the training."

Response to the new book, now out in paperback, has been very positive, Louganis says.

"I have so many friends that were just waiting for the paperback because they wanted to buy the book in bulk and give it out as a part of their puppy packet," he says. "It's funny, because friends of mine who breed dogs and who I've learned a lot from à whenever we had litter puppies and we'd be placing the pups, we'd always be giving the new owners ream after ream of handouts and articles and papers and all sorts of things we wanted them to know as new puppy owners. So the response has been, 'This is great!' Now all we have to do is hand them the book and say, 'Here, read this,' because everything's there in one place."

Louganis wrote the book with the help of Betsy Sikora Siino, who has authored more than a dozen books about pet care. In "Breaking The Surface," Louganis described his difficulties in reading and writing due to dyslexia.

"That's why, for both books, I didn't want any pretense that I'm a writer," he says. "When I worked with Eric Marcus, we had something ridiculous like 78 hours of taped interviews, and then with the canine care book, Betsy would tape as well as take notes."

Asked if he is feeling well these days, Louganis says, "I don't think I'd be doing a musical, singing and dancing in Hollywood, Florida if I weren't."

He says the new drug combinations have been helpful to him, and recently he became a spokesperson for Hoffmann-La Roche Pharmaceuticals.

"I've been doing a media tour, talking about the difficulties of adherence," he says. "The company has a program offering easy ways of transporting your medications and things like that, because some of the drug combinations are rather complicated and people are forgetting to take their medicine or not taking it properly."

Louganis says he is enjoying the Florida run of "Nunsense," which may be extended beyond its scheduled Dec. 5 close date. Decked out in nun drag, he plays a character named Sister Robert Ann.

"It's an ensemble piece with five equally important characters," he says. There is talk of taking the show to Los Angeles, which Louganis says would be fine with him. That would enable him to sleep in his own bed (he lives in Malibu on a bluff overlooking the Pacific), be near his boyfriend -- the E! Entertainment Channel's news anchor Steve Kmetko, and most importantly, spend time with those he calls his protectors and closest friends: his dogs.

"For The Life Of Your Dog: A Complete Guide To Having A Dog In Your Life, From Adoption And Birth Through Sickness And Health," by Greg Louganis and Betsy Sikora Siino (Pocket Books, 1999)
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