Dog Archive

Fun with Roadkill

I enjoy about many things about sharing my days with Willie, and our daily walks together offer many opportunities for new experiences.  Though we walk the same routes each day, these sojourns are never boring or static; we wave and wag at a few neighbors, we see many deer and wild turkeys, and one of
Category: Dog

Rainy Day Dog

After a long, dry spell during which the lawn browned, the tomatoes wilted, and the pond receded, last night the heavens opened with a drenching, purifying rain – a rain that silenced the birds who normally welcome each dawn. The metal barn roof thrummed beneath the onslaught as the gutters overflowed. I yawn and stretch
Category: Dog

Snapping Turtle!

Willie has been spending more unsupervised time in the yard than ever before. With every gap and cranny of the perimeter fencing now secured with chicken wire and zip ties, I feel confident Willie cannot escape. Unlike some other dogs we’ve known, he’s also not a digger or an “escape artist,” and seems perfectly content
Category: Dog

Something Fishy

Our pond has been frozen solid for months. Blanketed with snow for almost as long, it’s a stretch to remember how it appears in other seasons, when the dormant roses and river birch along its banks again fill with buds and blooms and birds; when the fish and frogs and turtles that somehow hibernate in
Category: Dog

His Master’s Voice

Willie didn’t make a sound for months after we first brought him home; not a whine or a growl or a bark – or even a burp. He seemed happy and healthy and showed us great affection, and we spoke to him all the time – all the usual and expected phrases such as, “Do
Category: Dog

Snow Dog

This is the second winter of Willie’s life. The last one came on quick. Born in central Louisiana, that young little rescue mutt arrived in the Hudson Valley in early November with no concept of the snow and ice and road salt to come. Willie toughed it out, as we all must. But when walking
Category: Dog

Tough Guy

At home, with Richard and me, Willie is sweet and docile, perfectly content in our routines, including walks and playtime at regular intervals. He hardly ever makes a sound – and for few months we weren’t sure he even could. Willie sleeps a lot, he likes to cuddle beside me when I read, and he
Category: Dog

A Happy Anniversary

The electronic calendar beeps with a reminder: today’s the anniversary of “Gotcha Day,” the day one year ago when Richard and I drove to the Spring Valley/Nanuet Park & Ride to meet our new dog Willie – the dog then known only as “Bubbles.” The memory of that morning comes back to me in a
Category: Dog

P-town Pup

Our friend Janet has had a Cape Cod vacation condo in Wellfleet for years.  And for years she’s encouraged Richard and me to come for a visit while she was there, or to simply go and use her place at our leisure.  Somehow, we never managed to take Janet up on her offer before this
Category: Dog

Dog In A Box

With just a couple of exceptions, Willie has slept inside a wire crate every night since “gotcha day”, the day when Richard and I first laid eyes on him at the Spring Valley park and ride following his thousand-mile road trip from Central Louisiana. While he pretty much has the run of our house, the
Category: Dog