News, Advice and Resources for Thoughtful Pet People
Posts just about dogs.
This is so neat! Five other stray dogs, Bear, Alph, Low Rider, Jackie and B, have been brought to the U.S. from Afghanistan. They are offspring of the 3 dogs—Rufus, Target, & Sasha–who attacked a suicide bomber at a U.S. base.
Here’s coverage of Low Rider’s story–who got her name from her laid back personality & her fondness of sleep. I’m thinking her short stature might have something to do with it too. What incredibly lucky dogs!
Target, Rufus, & Sasha, stray dogs in Afghanistan that hung around a U.S. base, sensed something wasn’t right about a man wearing an Afghan Border Police uniform. They started barking and then attacked what turned out to be a suicide bomber trying to enter the base The bomber was forced to detonate before he had gained entry. Sadly, Sasha was mortally wounded and had to be euthanized, but no soldiers were killed.
Now Rufus will be living in the U.S. with Sgt. Christopher Duke, one of the soldiers who was saved. And Target will be living with a medic from the base. Duke notes the irony that it wasn’t weaponry or equipment that stopped the bomber, it was just ubiquitous, stray dogs.
You can have a nice garden and have dogs at the same time. It takes a little work, some clicker training, & consistency, but it’s so worth it. Imagine not constantly telling your dog “No”, not having a yard full of holes, or having your flower beds turned into dog beds.
Check out these really good suggestions for how you can train your dog not to garden.
You can bolster your training by employing these easy tips for keeping pets out of your flower beds.
Here are more great ideas on gardening with dogs. And check out what will be your garden’s best friend—the doggy digging pit!
I’ve actually known about We Three Cats for quite a while (since 2008 when I asked for permission to use some of the images) and I’ve always wanted to write a post about the site’s extraordinarily talented painter/writer/illustrator/photographer, Jackie Morris. It’s taken me this long to write because I’ve had an impossible time paring down what I want to mention (and despite the length of this post, I really did pare it down!) and maybe a little because We Three Cats is like an amazing secret door to another place where the air and the light and the people and the animals are just different enough from my every day life to be magical. And you’re just not supposed to go blabbing about secret doors, right? But then, I want you to also know about this place (the coast of Wales) and Jackie (be sure to read her alternative biographies too) and her 5 cats (which were until very recently 6) and her 3 dogs and her neighbor, Mr. Griffith and his cat. I hope you’ll take a good long look at Jackie’s world. You should probably brew a pot of tea.
Sometimes the ginger kitties write the posts and every-now-and-then the dogs write. I usually can’t stand it when people write through the voice of their cat or dog because the animal ends up sounding dimwitted and lacking any dignity, but Jackie really captures the way I imagine our animals see the world. Maybe the furred ones really are writing the posts. Whoever is writing, it is often exquisite and is just as often quite funny.
Here are some of my favorites:
The ginger cats, the dogs, & Jackie talk long walks around their corner of the world and Jackie takes amazing photos of what they see. Her photographs are beautiful—sometimes stunning, sometimes touching, sometimes fascinating.
She has illustrated and/or written many children’s books. Her newest book, Ice Bear, comes out this Fall. Another recent one is about Snow Leopards.
Jackie asked if I’d consider linking to the cat toys for sale (of course!) from the The Snow Leopard Trust—the mice are really cute and you’ll be helping support Snow Leopard conservation and impoverished people sharing the same environment. There are small felted mice & discounted misfit mice. If you live in Western Washington, you can visit their Seattle store. You can also help by supporting the Snow Leopard Conservancy.
She has an interesting blog about her work called Drawing A Line In Time. And you can purchase Jackie’s art from her Facebook page and her website. If you’re in the UK, you can see her work at Imagine Gallery in Long Melford, Suffolk.
These are some of my favorites:
