Tiny Signals, Big Responses
This is, in part, a repost of one of the very first blogs I wrote, from August of 2008. (Almost 11 years ago? Wow.) I am posting it again for several reasons--we have a lot of new readers; it's always fun for me to see if I still agree with what I wrote in years past; and most timely, I'll be speaking on a similar topic on Vashon Island, WA, Saturday June 8th, about "Lost in Translation -- What Your Dog is Trying to Tell You". This trip is going to be super fun in so many ways. After spending much of the day at the Vashon Island Sheepdog Classic on Saturday June 8th, I'll lead off my talk at the Vashon Center for the Arts with videos illustrating that sheep are brilliant at reading Read More
Czar’s Promise Dog Walk, May 11th, Madison, WI
Please join me, and the hundreds of others participating in Czar's Promise Dog Walk, to raise funds to prevent and fight cancer in both people and dogs. Jim and I have participated in several fund raising walks to prevent and treat cancer in the past, but this one will be especially meaningful. I joined this important effort many months ago as a sponsor, but then, well, it became a bit more personal. As most of you know, Willie died on April 15th of pulmonary adenocarcinoma. He was only twelve and a half years old, and just weeks before he died he was working sheep, playing tug with Maggie and running like a race horse on long walks in the woods. We moved heaven and earth to try to save Read More
Why Do We Love Dogs So Much? So, So Much?
I shouldn't have been surprised at the depth of my grief when Willie died. After all, I'm the one who wrote about his uncle that "I imagine his death as if someone took the oxygen out of the air and I was supposed to live without it". Every week I post comments from people who have had to put dogs down, and their pain and suffering is so acute it hurts my heart every time I read them. And yet, the tsunami of grief that overwhelmed me after Willie died was so intense that I barely made it through the first few days. I knew it would be awful. Just not that awful. Now that I am no longer in danger of drowning, I can't stop wondering why we love our dogs so much that their deaths are almost Read More