Training Camp

So just what’s involved in training my dog in a few of the basics?  Each night at bedtime I’ve been reading a few pages the Monks of New Skete book  — a gift from my friends Joe and Kathleen – but I’m not reading enough fast enough and besides: reading isn’t going to help Willie
Category: Dog

Training Wheels

Willie is now nearly eight months old.  A perfect time, I’m told, to begin training. This pup is smart and friendly and affectionate.  He walks beautifully on a leash, he cooperates during sink baths, and he doesn’t chew things he’s not supposed to.  But he seems to forget his name when he’s off-leash in our
Category: Dog

Lost Dog

It was a busy morning.  Richard and I were working on deadline when a friend dropped by for coffee.  Excited, Willie ran a few laps around us and around the dining table as Richard opened the pantry door to retrieve something to serve our guest.  Just then, the phone rang with a business call, and
Category: Dog

Defiant Doggie

“Willie, come.” The sun is rising, and I’m crouched down beside the front door holding Willie’s harness and leash.  It’s time for our morning walk, which will be followed by breakfast – both his and mine. Willie stands just beyond my reach, looking at me.  Why does he hesitate, holding himself apart?  Does he object
Category: Dog

The Joy of Socks

“What have you got there, Willie?” Julie and I are in the kitchen at first light; I’m setting the breakfast table and Julie is fixing a cup of coffee when I notice Willie, on the rug of the still-darkened living room, pulling and tugging on something between his paws — something that doesn’t look like
Category: Dog

Who’s Your Daddy?

“What do you suppose he is?”  Tom asked as we walked with Steve and Willie along the trail at the Pea Island Sanctuary in Rodanthe, NC. “I don’t know,” I said, “but his PetFinder listing described him as a ‘long-haired Chihuahua crossed with a Toy Fox Terrier’, but his adoption coordinator admitted the breed descriptions
Category: Dog

Nights in Rodanthe

  Willie’s first significant road trip involved ten hours in the car on the way to North Carolina’s Outer Banks.  With the consent of my friends, I brought him with me on a week-long writing retreat where Willie shared a beach cottage with the five of us. Willie snoozed on my lap or on the
Category: Dog

Dog Bed

I was leaving for a week-long writing retreat that Sunday, an annual January ritual with a handful of writer friends.  We drive ten hours to a beach cottage on North Carolina’s Outer Banks and hunker down for several consecutive days of writing and camaraderie, of family meals and chilly, early morning beach walks.  After dinner
Category: Dog

Calm, Submissive, and….Boring?

For the most part, Richard and I have followed the advice of the dog experts on how to keep Willie in a state of calm submission – the relaxed and easygoing state in which it’s easiest (for humans, anyway) to co-habitate with their dogs.  I took this advice quite seriously, recalling the late and loveable
Category: Dog

Art Appreciation

This morning while Richard and I sipped our first cups in the kitchen we heard a faint whining in the living room – a whine that preceded a growl that preceded a single, surprising bark that startled us both.  This was very unusual, as Willie is the most silent of dogs – the Marcel Marceau
Category: Dog