Moments With Baxter by Melissa Joseph

A co-worker brought my attention to Moments With Baxter: Comfort and Love from the World's Best Therapy Dog by Melissa Joseph, photographs by Dennis Bussey. Amy knows how animal crazy I am, so as soon as this was checked into our library, she pointed it out. As you can see above, the dog on this book's cover is incredibly cute, which hooked me immediately. But, this book has much more to offer than a sweet cover.  If you are an animal lover and are interested in some inspirational non fiction, you should literally check out the story of Baxter.

Now deceased at the age of 19, Baxter, a Golden Retriever and Chow mix, brought much love and comfort to people during his lifetime. He was a rescue dog turned gifted therapy dog, regularly visiting the folks in San Diego Hospice and actually getting in bed with them for a cuddle.Heavily illustrated with color photos, the book covers 36 brief stories of Baxter's relationships with his hospice friends. He loved them all, young, old, disfigured, frail, it didn't make a difference to him. I found this book incredibly touching and it inspires me to spread kindness in the world. I would love it if my daschunds could be therapy dogs, but we have a ways to go. Joseph describes the things that Baxter had to do to pass his certification test. Our doggies would flunk  early on, beginning with ignoring other dogs. There's some obedience training in this pet parent's future. :)

All proceeds from this title go to charity. Enjoy meeting this "Angel of the Hospice."

New family pet: Jack Zipes C.

Over Thanksgiving weekend, I lost my very beloved 16 1/2 year old cat Thelma-Louise. She is irreplaceable, and I miss her very much. Our dachshund Zoe seemed a little lonely, though, with only one cat (Griffin) left to play with, and we decided to look for a new playmate for her and us.

Happily, our local pet rescue Homeward Bound, had a dachshund who needed to find a new home. We visited their PetCo adoption day and found a perfect new friend. I immediately fell in love with him, and Zoe and Kristian were game. So, we added our Jack to the family. We've named him after one of my heroes, former University of Minnesota professor, respected folklorist and author Jack Zipes.

Our Jack looks to be a very handsome dachshund, but his legs are pretty long and he is quite bouncy, so maybe he's a mix. He has a very sweet disposition, wags a lot, hardly barks and loves to sleep. Once home, Zoe made it clear that she is the boss, at first refusing to let him upstairs and fussing when he shared our laps with her. Now, she seems to be enjoying him and they are learning to cuddle and play together. Jack is an altogether satisfactory addition.

Day 8: Pug & Wiener Dog Halloween

My Ralphie
Well

pug & wiener Halloween
Originally uploaded by cleery

, since my dogs have been a pug (Ralphie, above, deceased)

and a daschund (Zoe, very much alive and licking, see the bottom of my blog), I take a special delight in seeing those doggies dressed up.

Ralphie liked to wear clothes, and he had a hula costume, duckie pajamas and the bat costume above, as part of his wardrobe. Zoe is less sure about the whole thing, so she just has a lobster costume, plus some sweaters and coats. Anyway, just click the collage to the right to see all the fine dogs up close and with details. I especially love the little pug angel.