DOG RESURRECTED…WHO'S IN CHARGE?

What happens when man's best friend goes missing at sea? As reported in this week's L.A. Times, San Diego fisherman Nick Haworth was crushed when his beloved German Shepherd, Luna, disappeared on February 10, while he was working two miles from San Clemente Island, a Navy training site. At first, Nick was optimistic that Luna, a strong swimmer, would make it to shore. When weeks passed and searchers found no trace of the dog, Nick feared the worst. Imagine his joy when Luna turned up at the training facility this past Tuesday, a bit thinner but otherwise in good shape.

Nick reunited with Luna

While my human mom and dad, Eugenie and Lou, like to think they lead our pack, truth is, they sometimes forget the rules and let a certain strikingly handsome pit bull take the reins. In a recent newsletter, dog behavior guru Cesar Millan lists some of the key signs that your pack hierarchy might need fixing, among them: letting your pooch eat before you do, giving him free run of the house (like the bed and sofa), having a dog that pulls on the leash during the walk, and a dog that ignores your commands. i.e., refusing to 'come' when being asked to leave the dog park. For the full list of no-nos, and how to correct the imbalance of power, read the article. 

Tanner (far right) greeting his pals at the dog park

Speaking of the dog park, as many of you know, we've been regulars at the Trancas Dog Park since it opened in July of 2010. Except for super warm days and rare rainy ones, we make it a point to join the '4 o'clock gang' - Bobby, Cocoa, Rusty, Rocky, Lady, Magnus, Zoe, Alfie - as often as possible. While we dogs do the usual sniffing, running and wrestling, our humans trade gossip and local news. Yesterday brought a nice surprise when a newcomer told Lou that she had just purchased GIMME SHELTER from our soon-to-be-extinct Bank Of Books. While she didn't recognize the writer (time for a new author photo?), she did recognize the cover dog! Thanks to her and to all of the people who've made the book such a positive, fun experience .

FAREWELL TO A FRIEND!

We had hoped that this week's entry would convey good news about GIMME SHELTER but, as often happens in the arts, we're still waiting for Fate to deliver. Instead, we share the sad word that  Charlie, one of Tanner's best and oldest friends, has moved on to the dog park in the sky. Like all Cavalier King Charles Spaniels Charlie was small, but he had the heart of a lion, especially when other dogs dared trespass on the sand in front of his Malibu Colony home. He was 8-years-old, about the age Tanner is now, when the boys first met. True to their characters, Charlie hopped on Tanner's muscular back and started grinding away, letting the pit bull know exactly which of them was the alpha dog. The pattern never changed. If Tanner tagged along for a workout or a cookout, Charlie insisted they 'dance' a bit to get reacquainted. The boys shared many long walks together on the Colony Road and carefree jaunts on the beach, where neighbors gave wide berth to the feisty lap dog and his hulking but docile bodyguard. Charlie was 14 when his kidneys began to fail but his loving  'dad', Carl, and the team at Malibu Coast Animal Hospital kept him going for several more months, the last of which was spent nibbling grass fed New York steak. My fondest memory of Charlie is the day, nearly thirteen years ago, when I showed up for a workout with Carl to find his late wife, our dear friend Roberta, weeping uncontrollably.  "What's wrong?" I asked. Between sobs, she pointed down the beach and gasped, "My dog just ran away!" It was high tide and I was wearing long sweats and high-top sneakers but I took off, tramping through the knee-deep surf, until I found the runaway huddled with a neighbor and his Labs. Like a DB pouncing on a fumble, I scooped Charlie up and splashed back to the house, where I received a hero's welcome. We'll miss you, Charlie. 

Carl & Charlie

As anyone who's ever loved a pet can attest, their loss can shake us as profoundly as the death of a relative. In describing his attempt to cope with the sudden death of his beloved Doberman, Red, Washington Post Food & Dining Editor Joe Yonan had this to say: I'm no stranger to death. I was a mess of anger and confusion when my father, suffering the aftermath of a stroke, took his last gasps one day in 1995, his children gathered around his hospital bed. And three years later, the death of my sweet, beloved sister Bonny after a withering battle with brain cancer was nothing short of heartbreaking. Yet somehow, and much to my distress, the death of my dog seems even harder. I haven't felt grief quite like this since, well, the death of my previous dog five years ago. (read the entire article)

Tanner & Charlie

'THE ROCKETS RED GLARE'…PIT BULL MELTDOWN & LOVE FROM THE U.K.

Even though we're on the wrong side of the tracks (in this case, Pacific Coast Highway), every July 4th we get to watch the Paradise Cove pyrotechnics from our balcony. It's  huge treat for us humans but not much fun the neighborhood dogs. As he's done for the past 5 years, poor Tanner spent several hours shivering like a North Pole skinny dipper while searching in vain for a place to escape the skyrockets and firecrackers. Four days later, he's still not back to his normal, easy-going self.

                                                                            ~ ~ ~

While Independence Day celebrates America's breakup with England, this year the holiday brought us some love from the U.K. in the form of a glowing review of GIMME SHELTER courtesy of Emma Powell and The Review Group. Here's hoping that her kind words lead U.K. dog lovers to rush out and buy a copy. From the review: "You don’t have to be a dog lover to appreciate this book. I was happy to review it as I have always had German Shepherds, my latest one a rescue with problems, so can empathise with judgemental attitudes that surround certain breeds. But this book is so much more than dogs; it’s a person’s story of how he developed coping mechanisms, life-changing attitudes and how hard it is to work at changing lifestyles.  By having to work with a dog that had issues, such as fearing everything, surrounded by people with preconceived ideas of the dog, the author cleverly shows how this path forced him to take his own issues to hand. The author is very honest and open that he has anger problems stemming from childhood and through his 20s and I think this is a very difficult and brave thing to do. "

Tanner…American Staffordshire Terrier & Yankee Doodle Dandy

If they're anything like their Yankee counterparts, they'll likely enjoy the book's sidebars that offer tips on training and dog care, as well as pertinent statistics about dog-human interactions, such as dog bites and how to prevent them. Cesar Millan's latest newsletter puts the annual number of U.S. dog bites at 4.5 million, with 31 fatalities. On the surface, these numbers suggest that  man's best friend is nothing of the sort. As Tanner will attest, it's crucial for pet guardians to train and socialize their dogs and to safely restrain them if they show aggression towards people or other animals. But before you muzzle Bowser or show him the door, consider that every day in the U.S. 4.5 children die from abuse and neglect and that the Center for Disease Control is predicting 33,000 gun fatalities for 2015.

GONE TOO SOON

Unless you're a middle-aged human with a very young parrot, the odds say that you will outlive your non-human 'baby'. Their too-short life span can be heart-breaking, but it's also what makes sharing our lives with pets so poignant. In recent months, several friends have had to face this bittersweet reality: Jenniene, who lost her beloved Poodle, Stella, and her bird, Hymmie; Rob and Diane, who lost their canine boys Griffin and Sonny; and Craig,who just lost his best pal, Bud, an amazing Visla-mix. Almost anyone who's lost a treasured pet will tell you that the grief we feel at their passing is genuine, and sometimes greater, than when our human friends depart. But do our pets mourn for us, or for each other? We've all heard stories of incredible canine feelings, but perhaps none tops that of  the Japanese Akita, Hachiko (made famous in the movie Hachiko, A Dog's Story). Following his owner's sudden death in 1925, Hachiko returned to the train station, where he used to welcome him home, every day for next ten years. 

Hachiko, circa 1925

In the opening chapter of GIMME SHELTER, we recount how, when we lost our Irish Setter, Rebel, we were so devastated that it took a year before we'd recovered enough to retrieve his ashes from the vet's office. At the time, we doubted that his doggie sister, Roxanne, aka 'The Dalmatian From Hell', would even notice his absence. After all, her waking hours had seemed devoted to stealing his toys, usurping his place on the sofa, and making his life miserable. We were wrong. The day Reb passed, her usually perky tail hung straight down, like an antenna that had snapped in the wind. Her normally ravenous appetite was gone, and her non-stop barking muted. She carried on this way for several weeks before eventually returning to her terrible self. In an earlier post, we mentioned the work of neuroscientist Gregory Burns which makes the case that "Dogs Are People, Too'. Now dog guru Cesar Millan offers some insights in Dogs Mourning Humans. 

Roxanne and Rebel with Eugenie & Lou in Madison Square Park, NYC 1990