Connie's blog

Vacation thoughts
As I get ready to take some vacation, I realize the things I like to think about shift. Once all the animals are taken care of, and the transition of the house is made to the house sitter, my interest turns to looking for stories and information that inspire and help me recharge my batteries.

When helping can be hurting
News item: Pfizer announces a canine diet pill that will hit the US market next month.
News item: Eli Lilly launches a division to develop six drugs exclusively for pet psychological ailments.
News item: The New York Times Magazine releases an upcoming 8-page expose on pill-popping pets.

What are we doing?

Where will the dream lead?
It started with a stray dog. Thought to be a lab/pit bull mix, Daphne showed up on Paul’s property in Tucson, Arizona. She was not friendly, and her time on the streets was evident as she maneuvered around the property.

A wonderful friendship
Last night, I ran across Marilyn Pon's letter posted in the San Francisco Chronicle giving an update on Winnie the Parrot. In the letter, she refers to her two earlier articles on the friendship she established with this wild yellow-headed green Amazon parrot.

A couple of weeks after adoption
We've had our guy Toby for a little over two weeks now. He is a two-year old rescue that originally arrived at our house to be fostered until a permanent home was found for him. That plan worked for about one minute - when we took one look in those bottomless brown eyes, we were goners. He was our dog.

How one woman makes a difference for dogs
Just as an early summer weekend approaches, I encourage you to spend seven minutes watching this amazing profile of Gill Daley, a British woman living in Thailand that has dedicated her life to helping the Thai Soi Dogs...

 

Adoption Absolutes
In my second week after adopting Toby, a two-year-old mixed breed rescue, my eyes lock on any article or opinion about pet adoptions. Monday, a Washington Post article did an overview of its area shelters, and the high standards one of them puts on qualifying adoptive families.

Scaring us to death: cocoa mulch
With summer just around the corner, many of us are out in our gardens making them look pretty for the warm weather season. As we do so, we may also receive frightening emails that warn we could be putting our pets in danger...

Welcome Home, Toby
Honestly, at first it was going to be a fostering situation. A nice dog needed a place to stay until just the right loving home was found for him. This initial arrangement would work well for me, because like you, I am currently juggling a hundred different things...

When there are no boundaries
I continue to be amazed at the people I meet who have dedicated their lives to animal welfare. The thing that strikes me about this group is that an animal in need is an animal they will try to help regardless of where that animal may be.