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.
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    WinterTide Book Review

    Winter finally started at Chez Me this week. So, maybe it’s a good time to talk about my pal Brette Sember’s new book called WinterTide: Survive and Thrive in the Year’s Coldest, Darkest Season. Brette grew up near Buffalo, New York, so she knows winter. A bunch of the book’s recommendations also come from her trip to Iceland. So fun. Learned a lot!

    Our first real snow finally fell a couple days ago, which is really late for us. Really late. So, to be honest, between the snow, cold, and wind + feeling trapped inside by lack of shoveling, I’m feeling a little stabby about winter already. That can’t be good.

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    Heart Dog Audiobook Now Available

    !! Heart Dog Audiobook Now Available !! I know everyone is busy getting ready for the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, so just a quick note to let you know that the audiobook version of Heart Dog: Surviving the Loss of Your Canine Soul Mate is now available on many audiobook platforms. This was a big goal for me in 2025 to record and edit it myself (after taking an online class this spring that I purchased in 2024). A lot of people lose their dogs this time of year, so perfect timing. I hope.

  • Canine Hemangiosarcoma Research Updates

    It’s tempting to give this a title in the form of a question. Like this: Does This New Treatment for Canine Hemangiosarcoma Work? But, that’s become kind of a comical online news click-bait thing. Whenever you see a title like that, just assume the answer is NO. Seriously. The question is provocative. The answer is almost, always no. Instead, let’s look at a couple of papers that describe an experimental treatment for canine hemangiosarcoma, using something called eBAT. One looked somewhat promising. The other, with more rounds of treatments, did not.

  • New Colorado Vaccination Rules and Fallout from Rescue Group Rabies Scandal

    A while back I wrote a Q & A about that puppy rabies case in Colorado. The Pet Animal Care and Facilities Act Program (PACFA) , which handles licensing, inspections, and enforcement of animal care facilities in the state, as an offshoot of the state’s Department of Agriculture, established new Colorado vaccination rules for the facilities here and for rescue groups and shelters bringing in animals from other states. There’s going to be some fallout.

  • Book Review of The Hill by Leif Lathrop

    Needed to do something different for about 1,000 reasons this week, so here’s an entirely off topic book review of The Hill by Leif Lathrop. It truly is an uplifting (and sometimes heart-pounding) story about the 6-man high school football team he coaches. It’s truly cinematic in scope and a fun read for anyone who already loves or wants to learn about life, community, and football in a small town. Lathrop is an accomplished artist (as seen recently on a 3-minute segment aired on CBS Evening News), fellow Colorado author, and a former semi-pro football coach. He also happens to be a high school classmate of mine and the leading man in another friend and classmate’s life.

  • Dog Urinalysis

    Especially as dogs get older, I’ve always been in the camp that says, “Why not run routine tests, just to see?” Asking for a dog urinalysis is a good example. Why not check? Way better to catch anything early. Yet, with veterinary costs rising and other financial challenges for many people, including me, I (unfortunately) now take a harder look at my budget than I did earlier. I dug around in my dog files to remind myself how much a canine urinalysis test costs now versus then. Spoiler alert, the cost has nearly doubled. Honestly, it’s tempting to scale back, and I still might, but let’s look at some of the things we might miss if we skip doing urinalysis on a dog, of any age.