More of the story!!! Post #4 of 5 about how we managed to do a border collie puppy adoption from nearly 1,600 miles away. For all the fate and destiny, we experienced some glitches as well. At various turns, we worried the adoption would fall through:
Here, friends, is post #3 (of 5), telling the adoption story of border collie puppy, Clover. When we left off yesterday, I’d just hit SEND on an adoption application to Blue Ridge Border Collie Rescue >>>> You see, the electronic application didn’t just go to the rescue group’s adoption committee or leadership or just to her foster family, it went to EVERY single volunteer in the organization. Everyone saw everything I wrote. Everyone (I suspect) felt the emotion behind Lilly’s loss. Everyone got probably too intimate of a look into my life and into my heart.
This is the second of 5 posts, telling the adoption story of border collie puppy, Clover. In this installment, FATE intervenes. As I noted briefly in the announcement of her arrival, The Story of Clover begins with me seeing her photo in my Facebook feed. I read her adoption profile (where they called her Little Meg), and some way, some how, I knew in my heart she was born to be ours.
My apologies for the long delay between announcing the arrival of our new puppy September 13 and the official beginning of her story. It turns out that raising a puppy – especially a border collie puppy – is a full-time, full-contact sport that has consumed me.
This is the last post in the series spawned by that canine parvovirus outbreak in Massachusetts. So far we’ve talked about how outbreaks happen, the window of risk for puppies, and vaccine nonresponders. Today, let’s look at ways veterinary researchers and veterinarians can pinpoint when is the best time to begin vaccinating puppies. It’s pretty cool stuff … though, not new. It has been around since the 1960s.
It took 10 days, countless emails and phone calls, a 1500-mile journey, a whole lot of faith and fate, even more luck, and at times seemingly half the population of the Commonwealth of Virginia … but we adopted a puppy from Blue Ridge Border Collie Rescue. She is 15 weeks old, with both beauty and an incredible temperament. Name pending. Welcome home, puppy girl!
A bit unexpectedly, I found myself digging into the details of a recent (and ongoing) canine parvovirus outbreak in Massachusetts. Regular media tends to report just 2 things: (1) There is an outbreak. (2) Vaccinate your pets. That’s NOT nearly enough information for dog people like us, so I’ll be writing a series of posts with more details and more science behind parvo outbreaks and parvo immunity. This is the first post in the series. It explains what I want you to think when you first hear about a parvovirus outbreak.
Many of you probably see dog news items like this come across your social media newsfeed. Still, I thought it might be helpful to gather a few in one place (with a comment or two from me). Topics include canine jealousy, how dogs *might* tell time, what they learn from sniffing other dogs’ bottoms, and the myth of black dogs not getting adopted as much.
Cruising the local farmer’s market a few Saturdays ago, I stumbled upon a booth selling Origami Owl custom jewelry. Among other things, they sell see-through lockets and a variety of doo-dads / charms to go inside. I think it’s a perfect option for memorializing our canine soul mates, and I wish I’d known about it right after Lilly died in December 2013.
This week, I’d planned on writing an update about how Ginko is doing health-wise and without Lilly. I prepared to say he was doing OK with his heart and neurological issues. I intended to whine a bit about his ongoing senile barking. I planned to tell you that he does seem perhaps a little lonely without Lilly, but that he also smiles an awful lot. Then, seemingly out of nowhere Sunday, Ginko’s tummy had some serious, serious troubles. Fair warning, long post.
