First of all I want to give a shout-out to my friend Florence Scarinci, who is coming up in the ranks of pet writers. She has been nominated for a Maxwell Award and two Muse Awards — and won a Muse Award last month at the Cat Writers’ Conference. (I’ve been so darned busy I haven’t even had a chance to tell you about that conference either! I promise to get caught up soon here.)
If you’ve been following this blog for a while, you’ll recall that we had some health scares this year with our Pembroke Welsh Corgi. She was in ICU twice with acute pneumonia, following two necessary surgeries. The surgeries went fine — but her respiratory system got hit in recovery both times. Thank goodness she pulled through — and we have the joy of celebrating another holiday season with our sweet girl this year,
Photo by Cindy Read
But things are much quieter now that she isn’t as active as she was when she was a younger pup. Her spirit is strong and she clearly enjoys being with us. If that ever changes. . . we know we will have to say goodbye. But I don’t think any of us are quite ready for that yet.
How do you handle it, when your dog loses that spring in his step, or her once-eager leaps for the frisbee? There are lots of ways, including some new dog sports that are really fun for both the owner and the dog — such as Nose Work (which I wrote about over on my Examiner column a few months ago.)
Here’s what my friend Florence has to say about it. I loved her article — and if you have dogs I think you will too. She offers ten ways to give your dog the gift of time — which, in “dog currency”, is the very best thing you have to give. (Well, except if you’re a Corgi — food might come first LOL.)
Watch for more news and articles on all sorts of topics as I catch up, bit by bit.