Dog Rant

  • Why Cancel Pet Insurance

    As of mid-September 2025, I canceled our pet insurance renewal — after having policies on all 3 dogs since the day we adopted them (11 years ago for Clover, as an example). A 65% increase up to $556/month premium is too much. I wrote the following at the time. As a pro writer in the veterinary / pet space for 30 years, as someone who understands more than most about the true costs of providing veterinary care, as one of the best Dog Moms you’d want as a veterinary client, I say this … if/when you lose me, that’s a bad sign. Here are answers to some frequently asked questions about the whole pet insurance situation these days.

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    Terrible Advice About Affording Veterinary Care

    Petsmart Charities released results of a new survey recently that shows a majority of people (52%) struggle with affording veterinary care. Everyone is talking about it, as you’ve likely seen. I will probably write about it in more detail soon, but I wanted to share my thoughts (rant) about some terrible advice I saw from an e-newsletter and website for veterinary professionals. I won’t name it here, but I will say that I, myself, would not respond well or feel good about their ideas of how veterinary teams should pre-ask about paying for veterinary care or handle times when people feel worried about paying for recommended veterinary care. It’s cringe-worthy, IMHO.

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    Behavioral Euthanasia and Dogs

    Those who follow us on social media and subscribe to our site via email already know that our long-term foster dog Forest got adopted, returned a month later, and required immediate behavioral euthanasia on July 7, 2023. As a dog attack survivor in late 2021 and a lifelong dog lover, you can imagine the avalanche of emotions about his death. Let’s look at such decisions because they’re more common than you might imagine.

  • Dog Attack: 5 Things NOT to Say

    At some point, I’ll be able to write about how 2 loose / aggressive dogs attacked me and Mr. Stix from behind on our daily, neighborhood walk, without warning or provocation, in November 2021. Suffice it to say that it was terrible and traumatic. Yes, we were both injured. Yes, charges (or whatever you call them) have been filed.

    In something my personal development coach calls “empathy Tourettes,” many people say things that don’t help and actually make things much, much worse — especially when the trauma is still so fresh. The list will likely get longer over time, but here’s what I’ve got so far for things NOT to say after a dog attack.

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    The Story is Not My Story

    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.

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    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.