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CBS Sunday Morning's Martha Teichner On Book 'When Harry Met Minnie': 'Dogs Are Living Beings That Are Fully Capable Of Emotion'

January 29, 2021 / 12:44 PM EST / CBS Philadelphia

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(CBS Local)-- CBS Sunday Morning correspondent Martha Teichner is used to telling stories about other people for a living, but her new book "When Harry Met Minnie" is a story all about how a chance encounter and the adoption of a dog changed her life.

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Teichner has been with CBS News since the 1970s and her new memoir is a powerful and emotional tale about how she adopted a Bull Terrier named Harry from a woman named Carol who was dying from cancer. Harry was the same breed as her dog Minnie and Teichner's book details the relationship between her and Carol, Harry and Minnie and how a completely unexpected meeting at a Farmer's Market in New York City changed everything.

"The book was bittersweet in a way. It was re-immersing myself in the whole story. It was sweet and lovely on the one hand, but sad on the other," said Teichner, in an interview with CBS Local's DJ Sixsmith. "It was like going to a movie you love again and again. That's why I wrote book and it gave me this chance to not let the story end."

Teichner says adopting Harry enriched her life and it provided the opportunity for Minnie and Harry to fall in love. However, it took a long time for the two dogs to warm up to each other when Teichner first brought Harry home.

"They completely ignored each other. My friend brought Carol and Harry over to my building and we sat out on the stairs in front of the building and Harry was eager to get into the treat bag in my pocket and Minnie wanted to completely disavow Harry," said Teichner. "She flopped herself around, so that she put her behind in his life. She wouldn't even face him and look at him until the very end before he left. She just completely turned her back on him and it got better after that. By the third visit, they were inseparable."

CBS Sunday Morning will air a piece this weekend on Sunday, January 31 about Teichner's new book and the story behind it. Teichner says this story should serve as a reminder to say yes to the things that don't fit perfectly into our plans.

"I realized that we need to say yes. The best part to me is the relationship with a dog," said Teichner. "Dogs are not just stuffed animals on a bed. They're living beings that are emotional and fully capable of love and pain and sadness and loss. Being a dog owner to me is having a relationship with the animals. I don't have much family and it's everything to me to have my dogs."

"When Harry Met Minnie" is available February 2 wherever books are sold.