Must Love Dogs: A Chat With Isabel Klee
In season 5, episode 5 of “Writer’s Digest Presents,” senior editor Michael Woodson and bestselling author Isabel Klee discuss dogs, boys, and writing.
Isabel Klee is best known for her work in fostering and rehabilitating dogs in New York City. As "Simon Sits" on social media, Klee chronicles the experience of caring for heartbroken animals and giving them a second chance at life.
Now, with her #1 New York Times bestselling memoir, Dogs, Boys, And Other Things I've Cried About, Klee is inviting readers into her personal orbit with stories of heartbreak and betrayal, of personal loss and times of growth, and the dogs that were there through it all.
About Isabel Klee
Isabel Klee is a writer and content creator. She documents her experiences rehabilitating dogs on social media through her writing and storytelling. She lives Brooklyn with her Fiancé, Jacob, her dog, Simon, and a rotating cast of foster dogs. Follow her on Instagram and TikTok.
From the Episode
On how to build any relationship: "A relationship with a dog is just so deep and there's so much weight to it. I feel like only recently did people start acknowledging it. Now some companies are giving bereavement leave if your pet dies, things like that—just really taking it as seriously as that relationship is. So, I knew there were a lot of similarities of a human-on-human relationship and a dog-on-human relationship in that you needed patience and trust and time. And you really had to build that relationship, it doesn't just come overnight."
On the small moments of fostering: "If you scroll on social media, most of the stories, and I think it's changing because more people are talking about fostering and understanding it, but most of the stories are like, somebody pulling a dog out of a lake—and all of these stories are incredible, don't get me wrong—or the activists that stormed the beagle testing lab. There are these incredible stories, but then what happens? Who are the fosters that are taking care of those dogs? You know, my dog Simon is really medically complex. He just had a seizure this morning, and I wake up to that happening, but I still have to do this podcast. It's like, life goes on and you have to do the thing, you have to clean up his pee and his poop and his vomit, and then take care of him for a couple of hours, and then life goes on. It's showing those smaller moments that we might think are not that interesting, but in reality they are so interesting. If my social media accounts can speak to anything, it's that people really care about those small moments."
On how to write your own story: "My number one piece of advice, and something I struggled with for a really long time, is to not write with other people's feelings in mind to begin with. Just write. Don't worry about how it comes across. Don't worry about how your mom might feel. Don't worry about your fiancé or ex-boyfriend. Just write."
