KILLINGWORTH

Local author Connie Bombaci has led a life that truly has gone to the dogs-in all the best ways. Connie was blessed to become owner of a deaf dog in the early 1990s and to this day, Hogan, has remained a beacon of hope in Connie’s life and also inspired her to write several books about the hope and positivity instilled by Hogan, that continues to warm hearts and inspire.

Connie spent her career at Haddam-Killingworth High School as an educator and administrator, but that experience didn’t actually prepare her for the literary world. In fact, Connie says, she was so deflated by comments about her writing during her formative education that being an author was the last thing she thought she would ever delve into.

“I believed all the lies that I was taught growing up. This goes back to fourth grade where I was told I was not a ‘good reader’,” Connie recalls. “So, if I wasn’t a good reader, how could I be a good writer? I remember when I was at Penn State right out of high school, my English 101 professor used to read examples to the class of what to do and what not to do, and one particular assignment he used my paper as an example, reading it from beginning to end to the entire class, as to what not to do. He said it was horrendous and that the writer should be ashamed of themselves. So those things kind of stuck with me and I always doubted myself.”

Thankfully, Connie was able to put those criticisms aside, when her mother suggested she write a book about what had become an integral part of her life by that point-her deaf Dalmatian Hogan.

“My mother and Hogan got along famously. One day my mom looked at me and said, ‘You need to write Hogan’s story’. So, I sort of had that idea in my mind, but I had never shared that with her…but she said, ’Connie his story is so powerful and he has changed the lives of so many people that you really need to tell his story’,” Connie says. “I really doubted myself. I’m not a writer. But she said, ‘Just sit down and write,’ and after she passed that advice kept coming back to me, so I did what my momma said and I sat down and wrote.”

But what was it about this otherwise average dog that made him so special? Lots of folks have dogs that they cherish and love, but from the start Hogan made a powerful impact on Connie and her family.

“I have always had dogs in my life. My love of animals and working with them started when I was quite young,” Connie says. “We decided we needed a friend for a dog that we currently had, and this was 1993, and I had called the Humane Society and they had a dog that fit all of our criteria, and even though we knew the dog was deaf, we didn’t care because we were educators and it didn’t matter to us.”

Connie says that the challenge of getting their new pet to follow commands, to simply obey and be able to function within their family dynamic was a bit of conundrum. However, they hit on an idea that began a life-long journey of inclusion and acceptance.

“We thought, why do we need to reinvent the wheel? Why not try and use American sign language? People know it and that was how we decided to communicate with Hogan,” Connie says. “Poor Hogan had been taken away from his former home. He was left outside during a terrible weather and when we got him, he was terribly thin, had sores all over his body and was quite malnourished. So, there was some level of abuse in his life, and we were glad we were able to adopt him and became part of our life.”

As their relationship grew, Connie says the true meaning of love and compassion began to be revealed through their ability to understand Hogan.

“His desire to overcome his fears. He just persevered. He never gave up, and he developed such a strong character, and plowed through every new obstacle with vigor and assurance that he was going to do it. You could just see his determination, and frankly, he taught me how to hope. People would say how can a dog, let alone a deaf dog teach you about hope,” says Connie. “But I knew we could all learn from one another. Watching him never give up, his desire to always want to learn more made me realize that I can do it if I follow his example.”

Connie says it took Hogan only a day to begin learning signs. Not surprisingly his first word he learned was ‘cookie,’ but within a short period of time Hogan understood more than seventy different signs, and possibly more than one hundred.

“He just watched our hands and intently wondering, ‘What are they saying next?’ He ended up learning for sure over 70 signs and we used over a hundred with him, but I only recorded the ones we felt he knew for sure,” Connie says.

Connie first published the first book in 2017, and has since re-published it in several different editions, including several children’s versions. Connie’s strong faith led her to believe that including Bible verses in the edition as critical to her vision, which she published in 2019.

However, originally, Connie eventually succumbed to her editors wishes of a potential loss of readers if the project had religious overtones and removed those aspects of that edition.

That version; Hogan’s Hope: A Deaf Hero’s Inspirational Quest for Love and Acceptance, and Connie says despite the acclaim, awards and publicity that version elicited, she had always wanted to revamp the tome with her strong convictions. So she went back to the publisher, and despite their reservations of that project they relented and now both versions sell at an incredible pace cementing the lessons learned from a hearing-impaired dog.

Connie finally listened to her heart and recently re-published the book including her original faith-based views and it has sold just as well as the original version, once again imparting Hogan’s example of perseverance. That second edition, Hogan’s Hope: A Deaf Dog, a Christian’s Faith, a Courageous Journey was published in 2019.

The success of those editions also led to Connie publishing two children’s version of Hogan’s story as well. Connie was a finalist award for Hogan's Hope: Discovering Fun and Favorite Things the second of those books. Both are Illustrated by Bombaci's daughter, Heather Ferrer. The first book, Finding a Forever Home of Love and Acceptance was published in 2020 and both of these non-fiction children's books have received international recognition.

“So many people came up to me saying that we needed a children’s version of the book. Children need to know that they are worthy of being loved and accepted. They need to know that they can do things no matter the obstacle-so that’s what we did,” says Connie.

This is the second time Connie and her daughter have collaborated on a children's book, the first being the original version, the new book Hogan's Hope: Discovering Fun and Favorite Things which was recognized as a Reader’s Favorite 5-Star read for children.

All of the editions of Hogan’s story continue to sell well, and for Connie, it’s not about awards, accolades or royalties, it’s about spreading a message of hope and acceptance.

Connie says her mission is to broadcast the inspiration of hope and the belief that we all must love and accept each other, no matter what.

“Children get to read how a deaf dog named Hogan explores his world of silence to find his favorite fun activities and shows us that anything is possible with hope,” says Connie.

According to Connie, children learn that being different makes us special and that "fantastically fun" things can fill our lives.

Readers can learn more about Connie Bombaci, Heather Ferrer, and "Hogan’s Hope" at https://readersfavorite.com/book-review/hogans-hope/4 where you can read reviews and the author’s biography, as well as connect with the author directly or through their website conniebombaci.com and social media pages Facebok.com/conniebombaci.