At least one time a month I will feature dog related links on the web. Some will be very informative and others will be total (but fun!) wastes of time. To illustrate my innate adaptability for this task, check out:
What breed of dog are you?

Once there, click what dog are you. This has been fairly accurate among my doggie friends.
Proud to say I was a Greater Swiss Mountain Dog. Big boned, good with kids, intelligent, loyal, kind, and a problem solver, but needs space. Yup, that’s me all right.

It's a sad fact, but a true one, that our pet dogs do not live long enough. And with the passage of time it seems I' m hearing all too frequently that another of my wonderful former training clients has passed over to the Bridge. Among animal lovers The Rainbow Bridge is a well-known poem about grieving and pet loss. It is comforting to believe that when our pets die they will wait for us at the bridge and cross over into heaven together with us. They will no longer be old or sick or hurt, but just the way we remember them on their best day, and they will be in perfect health. That poem helped my young children deal with the death of our last dog Dina. In Patricia McConnell's book, “The Other End of the Leash" [highly recommended) she tells of losing her beloved dog. For her the world did not stop as she thought it should. She, like the rest of us, had to go to work and carry on. We are not afforded grieving time for our four-legged family members, and oftentimes even our own families do not know the depths of our grief. So many times people may tell us, 'It’s only a dog..."


Who but our faithful four-legged friends see us through all of life's joy's and sorrows? They are not only a huge part of our lives, but a cornerstone of our memories. Dina shared one of the most difficult times of my life...bringing home a gravely ill infant who was in and out of the hospital for nearly three years. She sat quietly next to me while I nursed my firstborn back to health. She was my rock. Looking back through my photo albums from my childhood, events were marked with family and dogs posing in front of my parents now magnificent Magnolia tree. Back then, it was just a seedling.



This year has brought the passing of several of my all time favorite dogs. There are no obituaries published for dogs, but I must acknowledge these special dogs waiting at the bridge - Clyde, Coffee, Lulu, Leggers, Mugsy, Scruffy.



Lymphoma took Scruffy with just one week's notice. Her family buried her in their yard and the children helped to plant many beautiful spring flowering bulbs on her grave. Upcoming blogs will focus on the topic of wellness and vaccines and unnecessary toxins we may be putting in our dog’s bodies. Maine recently amended their outdated requirement to vaccinate dogs for rabies from two to three years largely due to the tireless effort of a few amazing Mainers. More on that soon.

Here is a link to an animated version of the The Rainbow Bridge
This link is accompanied by music and should post a TISSUES NEEDED warning! (It may take a few minutes to download.) As my Dad (who still tears up at the mention of Ginger, my childhood Golden Retriever) is fond of saying, "I know she was only a dog, but she was my dog."





Give your pets a little something extra today and Happy Training!