Author Archive

Anticipation

After nearly two weeks on the road – some of it work, some of it pleasure – this morning Richard and I are departing Savannah and heading for home. Bubbles began his journey home today, too; I check my watch and imagine that by now Rescue Road Trips has picked up from Keri, his “foster
Category: Dog

Frog Dog

Finally inside PetSmart for the first time ever, I take in the vastness of the store; aisle upon aisle of food and collars and bowls and toys; the “end caps” display grooming supplies, training videos, travel crates and other pet essentials.   The sales floor is loaded with sales associates in blue polo shirts – seemingly
Category: Dog

PetSmart

“PetSmart is like Home Depot for pets,” my friend Hannah says as she pulls into a parking spot outside the giant store.  I have never before set foot inside a PetSmart, and my heart rate quickens as I see people walking in and out of the store with their dogs on leashes.  Even better, today
Category: Dog

Size Matters

I don’t have a clear idea of Bubbles’ size – a sense of just how large or small he actually is, how much room he will take up in my lap or on the seat beside me.  I’ve visited Bubbles’ web page a dozen times to study his three photos, but while they give me
Category: Dog

Long Distance Mutt

And just what is this Mutts4Resue outfit, anyway? I figure I ought to know a bit more about this organization that put Bubbles on my radar so I go to the homepage and learn it’s a group of volunteers dedicated to saving homeless dogs who’ve been abandoned or surrendered to high-kill shelters.  “Our mission is
Category: Dog

Thank You For Shopping

  So I’ve committed to adopting a rescue dog I spotted on the Internet – a six-month-old, seven pound Chihuahua/Terrier mix (temporarily) named Bubbles, and I’m looking at the shopping list I’ve made – crate, bowls, lead, bed — things I’m certain we’re going to need.  I have another list of questions to ask friends
Category: Dog

The Name Game

It’s been years since I’ve trained a dog and I long ago gave away my dog training books – my “Monks of New Skete” and the Barbara Woodhouse “No Bad Dogs.”  The truth is that I didn’t train my previous dogs out of a book – it was an organic, instinctive process that I’m sure
Category: Dog

This Is It

Richard and I aren’t traveling as much for work these days, and we’ve recently observed how easily friends with small dogs are able to travel with theirs – even bringing them, unnoticed, into restaurants or hotels, inside a piece of luggage.  And though I think of myself as a “big dog” guy, the idea of
Category: Dog

Dirtwater Dogs

  The first dogs I remember belonged to our next-door neighbors, George and Maria Pflug, immigrants from Germany who spoke accented English and who kept pigeons and rabbits in coops and hutches in their lush, green backyard.  “Hansie unt Gretchen” were their dachshunds — one black and the other was red — and I remember
Category: Dog

My Imaginary Friend

I’m thinking about dogs. Actually, I’m thinking about a specific, imaginary dog.  Not too big, but not too small.  Doesn’t bark too much.  Likes to take walks, but also likes to snooze beside me on the chair while I read.   And I read a lot. This imaginary dog doesn’t shed much, it doesn’t chew shoes
Category: Dog