Quick reminder that the little online dog memorial or tribute jewelry party we're hosting ends next Friday, July 14. Originally, I was thinking only about creating something treasured to wear after you've lost a dog, but…
Welcome to the Terrible Twos! The amazing and silly Tori Autumn Hawn turns 2 on Saturday, July 1, 2017. We picked that day by counting back 12 weeks from when we adopted her. As has…
In Chapter 5 of Heart Dog: Surviving the Loss of Your Canine Soul Mate, I recommend getting a piece (or several pieces) of dog memorial jewelry so that you have a wearable symbol to keep…
Neutropenia in dogs - Our saga with Clover's weird white blood cell counts continues, so we saw a board-certified veterinary internal medicine specialist (the same one who helped us with Clover's non-stop UTIs as a…
Remember I said back in March that we did NOT think a new dog supplement was causing Clover's weird dog blood work problems? Perhaps premature. We tested Clover's blood again last week, nearly a month…
April 13, 2017, marks the 10th anniversary of Champion of My Heart. No kidding. Our first blog post went live a decade ago. I'd been mulling the idea for a while, and on a bit…
Do you know the term cause marketing? It essentially means companies do good work, fund good ideas, or support non-profit efforts. In some cases, big companies create their own foundations. In other cases, they boost…
We received an early morning call from Clover's veterinarian with her latest blood work results. It's good news.
Jana Rade is a dog blogger and moderator of a Dog Health Issues Group on Facebook with more than 10,000 members. She has written quick-reference guide that I highly recommend. Here is my book review…
My friends tease me about keeping a financial spreadsheet for how much I spend on my dogs each year. They argue it's better NOT to know. Funny, right? Nothing will ever compare to the nearly…
I've been sick for 10+ days with my second major respiratory virus this winter. It reminded me that I've been wanting to share this cleaning advice for months. I wrote a big project in 2016…
A couple of my veterinary pals actively work on 2 new pet food resources I want you to know about. The first is called Petfoodology (a blog written by board-certified veterinary nutritionists). The second is…
In the last 9 months or so, we've seen a couple things in Clover's body that we wanted to address right away. We're doing physical therapy or canine rehabilitation (under the direction of our rehab…
Big news!!! You can now buy T-shirts for dog lovers featuring 5 designs inspired by our award-winning dog blog Champion of My Heart and our first book Heart Dog: Surviving the Loss of Your Canine…
Earlier this week, I attended my second Purina Better with Pets Summit. I've been invited all 4 years, but the first year I couldn't go because Lilly was so sick, and last year, I didn't…
Yep, we're celebrating another BIG anniversary here at Champion of My Heart. It is one year today that Tori first came home on a "trial basis" (ha ha). Happy Gotcha Day, Tori!
Today, we celebrate the second anniversary of Clover’s adoption — Happy Gotcha Day! It’s hard to believe we’ve been Best Friends for 2 whole years.
Over the holiday weekend, I drove Clover 195 miles round-trip to do another herding instinct test. We tested her the first time in June 2015, just after she turned 1. This time -- maybe thanks…
As part of being a #PurinaPartner, Champion of My Heart is thrilled to share the news about a partnership between Purina Pro Plan and Dognition. Plus, we have the chance to do 5 giveaways so…
I'm not sure if I can keep up this tradition of making tribute videos for the puppy-girl's birthdays for all the years to come, but here is the latest video that celebrates Tori's first birthday.…
Today is publication day for a book called Living Large in Our Little House: Thriving in 480-Square Feet With Six Dogs, a Husband and One Remote -- Plus More Stories of How You Can Too…
I didn't want to say anything until I knew what was what, but Clover had some tests done last week, and Tori is having surgery this Friday, May 13. Details just ahead.
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…
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…
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. I know that seems…