Author: Roxanne Hawn

Trained as a traditional journalist and based in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, USA, I'm a full-time freelance writer for magazines, websites, and private clients. My areas of specialty include everything in the lifestyles arena, including health and home, personal finance and other consumer interests, relationships and trends, people and business profiles ... and, of course, all things pet related. I don't just love dogs. I need them in my life. Seriously.

book review | Dog Life

Dogs Living With Narcissists

The older I get, the more I realize how many people I know who have a parent who is a narcissist. All of them are still suffering because of it. I don’t just mean selfish. I mean card-carrying narcissists. Manipulative, dramatic, and (in my opinion) horrible. My friend and colleague Meredith Resnick recently published her third book for people recovering from having a narcissist in their lives. It’s called When Your Parent Is a Narcissist: Uncovering origins, patterns, and unconscious dynamics — to help you grow and let go. It got me thinking that if a narcissist does damage while raising children, then I wonder about dogs living with narcissists fair.

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book review

Book Review: The Changing Season by Steven Manchester

It’s funny how books sometimes end up being a convergence of different worlds and unexpected timing. The Changing Season by Steven Manchester is a novel about the summer between high school and college for one young man (Billy) and his long-faithful dog (Jimmy). That’s particularly interesting to me since writing about dogs and writing about higher-education (in particular, writing to help high school students pick a college or university) are two of my niches. In fact, I read The Changing Season while flying to / from higher-ed consulting project, where I spent a day and a half doing focus groups with students about what they looked for before picking a school. Crazy, right?

Other than one dog-related gaffe, The Changing Season is a nice story about the transition into adulthood and the role childhood pets play at that juncture. The OLD dog in the book DOES NOT die … so it’s safe to read.

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Adverse Rabies Vaccine Reaction | Dog Life | Newsworthy

How a Hospice Veterinarian May Have Prevented My Pet Loss Regrets

Right around the time our Old Man, Ginko, died in January 2016, I was working on an article for a veterinary trade magazine about the growing field of pet hospice. Not the easiest thing to be talking to people and writing about dying dogs when your own dog is dying. Among the many things I learned about palliative and hospice care for pets, I found out about “emergency kits” many hospice veterinarians provide. Such a kit may have prevented the deep regrets I have about Lilly’s last day. Here’s how.

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Dog Gripe | Dog Life | Dog Rant | Hot News | Newsworthy | The Story of Clover

Canine Genetic Tests Thumbs Up (and Down)

The same day we had Clover spayed, I asked our veterinary hospital to run genetic tests too. My primary goal was to learn Clover’s MDR1 status (multi-drug sensitivity gene). Depending upon the genetic test you choose, you can also find out your dog’s breed heritage and whether or not your dog tests positive for other kinds of disease-causing genetic markers. The good news is that Clover is indeed 100% border collie (cute family tree graphic ahead), and she tested NEGATIVE for all 90 genetic markers. The bad news is that the testing company won’t tell me what all 90 of those markers are, which makes me really crabby.

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Dog Life | Newsworthy | The Story of Clover

Why I Chose a Traditional Spay for My Dog

When it came time to spay Clover, after letting her go through one heat cycle and waiting for her extremely LONG false pregnancy to end, I had a LOT of questions about a traditional spay versus other surgical options. I know that seems silly considering that I’ve had dogs my whole life and write professionally about veterinary medicine, but I had NOT had to have a dog spayed since 1990 (because Lilly was spayed prior to our adoption), and I didn’t know how much had changed. I wanted to make a good decision.

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Dog Life | Newsworthy

Urns Schmurns – What I Did With My Dogs’ Ashes

It took me more than 2 years to find something just right for Lilly’s ashes. I thought about it often, but I didn’t look around much until after Ginko died in January 2016. Suddenly, I needed a container for each of them. Off we went to a local antique mall.

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Dog Life | Puppy Pix | Q & A

Q and A – Raising 2 Border Collie Puppies at Once

A while back, I asked on the Champion of My Heart Facebook fan page what questions people had about what it’s like to be raising 2 border collie puppies — who are just 14 months apart in age — at the same time. The top 3 questions and answers ahead.

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book review | Dog Book Review

Book Review: House Trained by Jackie Bouchard

House Trained is the third novel by Jackie Bouchard that Champion of My Heart has reviewed in recent years. At this point, you can assume we’re fans. Big ones. This is going to sound weird, but stay with me. This book is so good, so enthralling, I almost barfed. Long story. It’s a good thing. Trust me.

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Dog Gripe | Dog Life | Dog Photo | Dog Video | Newsworthy | Puppy Pix | Rest in Peace Ginko

Rest in Peace, Ginko Cornelius Hawn

Today, Ginko crossed over. He was 4 months shy of his 16th birthday – by far, the oldest dog in our family history. Rest in peace, Monkey Man, Snuffle Man, Stinko Monster, Golden-Eyed & Good Boy … Fan of toys, fetch, and food. Lover of Rock music. Hater of Bluegrass. Long-suffering brother to 4 sisters (2 super bossy, 2 super sweet). Sofa Captain … faithfully piloting the couch so that it never ran aground on his watch. We never knew which of his potentially fatal conditions would be the one. A survivor, Ginko ultimately succumbed to the ravages of time.

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Adverse Rabies Vaccine Reaction | Dog Gripe | Dog Life | Rest in Peace Lilly

The State of My Heart

Thursday, December 17, 2015, marks two years since Lilly’s death. I remain devastated. It isn’t the all day, every day, kind of grief, but when it bubbles up, it feels just as fresh and raw and searing as ever. On this anniversary, I thought I would share some insights into what it’s really like to be this FAR into the grieving process. Don’t worry. Some of them are kind of funny. This post isn’t entirely sad. And, there are even photos of the puppies — Clover and Tori.

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