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If you follow Champion of My Heart on Facebook, you know that we spent the better part of July helping a family spot and rescue their border collie. She went missing in the huge wildland park near us on July 4. The headline? The family rescued sweet Nellie July 24, and she is recovering from her ordeal really well. I want to talk, though, about storytelling -- especially in public / social media / online settings. Whose place is it to tell stories like this? In this case, not mine. The story is not my story. Here's why.
Yes, I feel a bit of a RANT coming on. Let’s call this Dead Dog Etiquette 101. Our rural mountain community features a not-very-efficient email distribution system when neighbors have news to share or questions to ask. Imagine me almost vomiting when the following email arrived. Continue reading
I remain a staunch supporter of having pet insurance. Yet, the news that our monthly pet insurance premiums were going up — WAY up — bummed me out.
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 possible 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.
Imagine your Canine Soul Mate died from an adverse rabies vaccine reaction a bit more than 18 months ago. You fake it really, really well when you have to, but you’re still a grieving pile of goo on the inside. Now, imagine you’re scrolling through your social media newsfeed and come across a meme (photo with text overlay) that essentially makes fun of adverse dog vaccine reactions. It has been posted in a large community of veterinary emergency hospital professionals, and clearly, many of them find the joke hilarious. Stick with me, kids, I feel a rant coming on …