In today’s backstory video, Lilly — our intrepid dog — learns to SIT-STAY atop a small sled while being pulled along in the snow of the Colorado Rocky Mountains. Clearly, she finds it very, very funny.
As a special Thanksgiving week event, we’ll be posting a few of our favorite videos of Lilly, our canine heroine, each day. Whether you’re seeing them for the first time (welcome, new readers) or get the chance to enjoy these reruns, we send our best holiday wishes. Today, Lilly on her home agility course.
Fellow Coloradoan (by way of California) Holli Pfau co-founded a nationally recognized program for animal-assisted therapy in hospitals. She shares her adventures, starting with Golden Retriever #1 Nikki in her new book Pure Gold.
Fellow dog writer and dog blogger Peggy Frezon from Peggy’s Pet Place asked us to take part in blog book tour to promote her new book Dieting With My Dog: One Busy Life; Two Full Figures and Unconditional Love. I’m VERY good at keeping Lilly’s weight perfect, and I mean perfect. Even our veterinary nutritionist friend said Lilly had a perfect body condition. Me? As I mentioned last week, not so much. So, I asked Peggy a few questions about her weight-loss journey.
Tom took this picture the other night. Lilly likes to sleep on her back in the evenings. Sometimes, she brings one of her plush toys along. Here you’ll see just how much she loves her KONG Braidz Monkey that the fellas gave me when I toured the KONG factory in Golden, Colorado, earlier this year. It’s beyond cute.
Lauren Vancouver is at it again in the second novel in Linda O. Johnston’s pet rescue mystery series, The More the Terrier. Director of a private, no-kill shelter, Vancouver gets caught up in a murder mystery, when her former mentor (turned hoarder) is accused in the death of a smarmy cosmetics mogul who strong-arms small shelters and rescue groups to join her animal rescue network.
It started out as a necessity. Swamped with deadlines and a work trip on the docket, I didn’t realize Lilly was getting low on her medicine. To stretch it a bit longer, I skipped her evening dose of clomipramine (antidepressant that targets her generalized fears) for a few days. I kept it up, however, even after her prescription refill arrived.
Starting in spring 2009, life around here got increasingly complicated with medical / health worries and looming grief on several fronts. The changes to my daily reality often feel beyond grim. I wade through life with a conscious bubble of gratitude around me. Yet, while tossing and turning the other night, I compiled a list of things I miss.
Sometimes I capture images of Lilly that reveal a sliver of her soul. She is the most earnest, sincere, and focused dog I’ve ever known. Observe. (I posted 3 of these photos to our Champion of My Heart Facebook fan page last week, but the others are debuting here.) Which one is your favorite?
File this under Entirely Off Topic, Foodie Tangent Edition. Congratulations to my friend and colleague Brette Sember on the publication of The Parchment Paper Cookbook. It features 180 fast, healthy recipes perfect for busy moms, solo or duo cooks, people with small kitchens, new cooks, or anyone who hates to do dishes — no pots or pans required. Seriously. [We have a copy to give away.]
