skygiants

Any of the Rachel and Dash novels by Carol Lea Benjamin (http://www.carolleabenjamin.com/). Rachel is a dog trainer and Dashiel Hammett is her pit bull she rescued from a fight ring.

Any of the Holly Winter novels by Susan Conant (http://sites.google.com/site/conantparkmysteries/doglovers%27mysteries). Holly writes for a dog magazine and, when his owner gets killed, adopts malamute Rowdy. If I remember correctly, my favorite of this series is Bloodlines, which deals with puppy mills.

There are other authors - Rita Mae Brown (and her cat, Sneaky Pie), write the Mrs. Murphy mysteries, with Harry and her cat, Mrs. Murphy and her corgi, T-Tucker. This is one of mysteries where the animals talk. I stopped reading those around the sixth or eighth novel, as the publisher/editor made a rather grave mistake halfway through the novel by changing the sex of Tucker. However, the Foxhunter mysteries are a delight to read, and concentrate on an older female foxhunter, her dogs, her horses and the foxes.

That should be plenty to get you started. :D However, Virginia Lanier's Bloodhound (http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/l/virginia-lanier/) series is also a lot of fun.