Willie the blind Beagle needed to have his eyes removed because they had become painful, and we took him to our local vet clinic for the surgery last week. But on the physical exam before the procedure, our vet Dr. Nancy Lefavour detected a very pronounced heart murmur. She thought it might be as high…

First, thank you for all your wonderful and heart-warming comments about our recent losses. We really appreciate it. I figured we were overdue for some good news, so here goes! Last Friday, when Alayne took Sparky over to see our internal medicine specialist, Dr. Tanya Donovan, she also took Widget and Dexter as well. Dexter…

Just a week after losing little Pip, we lost another recent arrival, blind Sparky.  I had mentioned in his introductory blog post that we suspected he had hip dysplasia because of the way he walked with his hind legs. Our primary care vet thought at the time that it was from lack of muscle tone,…

I took this shot the other day after giving my lunch plate to Wilbur to clean up. Alayne and I had enjoyed egg salad sandwiches for lunch, and I had some left over that I knew he'd love to lick up. Because of the lensectomy we had to do to save the vision in his…

This July 4th was a holiday we'd like to forget.  The previous afternoon, about 4 p.m., we had just come inside from afternoon chores to get something to drink before heading out again. Alayne and I were in the kitchen when we heard Pip, the tyke who had only arrived in mid-May, crying out from…

Well, we knew this would happen sooner or later. Blind Madison came across Dexter's sideways basket bed and found it very much to her liking. So she settled in for a long nap, leaving you-know-who to stare at the bed thief and wonder when he was going to get it back.

Dexter started having some leg issues a couple of weeks ago — his left front leg is kind of gimpy, and though he's been better with treatment, he still thinks he's just fine, of course, and doesn't know what the fuss was about. So we've been trying to make sure he doesn't overdo it, but…

The beautiful girl framed by ferns is Gena. She was actually "on the job" when I took her photo this afternoon. Gena is a livestock guardian dog — a Maremma, one of several breeds developed in Europe over the centuries for protecting livestock from predators. Gena had spent her life guarding goats and producing puppies…

Just a few weeks ago I had written a blog post about how Holly likes to steal Wilbur's food dish from his "apartment." She began by picking up his bowl to lick it clean, but only after it was empty. I had mentioned that we now have to put Holly outside while he finishes eating…

The other day Alayne heard Wilbur start snorting and saw his blanket start moving, and then he popped his head out from under one end of his fleece blanket. His eye looks a bit peculiar because of the absence of the lens, so you're seeing the light from the camera flash illuminating the fluid inside…