LESSONS
IN LIFE
Through the
Eyes of a Dog
Children’s book author and artist Susan
Castriota credits her rescue of an orphaned
dog as a turning point in her life.
BY EARL BUGAILE
Susan Castriota can say a lot about the role that
dogs have played in her life.
An Upper St. Clair resident, artist, illustrator and
author of five children’s books, her talents have been
shared by many thousands of people. She has met a
U.S president and countless numbers of government
officials, and she has even designed the ornaments that
hung from the Christmas trees at the White House.
Yet, Susan Castriota makes no apologies for what
her dogs mean to her. After all, one of them even
helped save her life. That dog would be Bella, a
Havanese whom she adopted to provide a four-legged
friend to Kiki, who was her first Havanese.
It was during the summer of 2012 that Bella
appeared to nuzzle and sniff at one of Castriota’s
breasts. As Bella persisted over a period of time, she
grew concerned, and upon further research, learned
that because of their sense of smell, dogs have been
known to detect certain kinds of cancer. A regular
mammogram confirmed what Bella had detected, and
See next page
50 724.9