k2k9 K.S. Mueller's blog

My article in Cape Women Online "Weather Dogs" by K.S. Mueller

2011-11-30T18:45:00.001-05:00

http://www.capewomenonline.com/2011_Issues/Issue2011_Holiday/Articles/WeatherDogs.html

Weather Dogs

A Visit to Fatima,Portugal

By K.S. Mueller

Part of our gig in the student travel industry is toorganize, and often attend, the annual “Yuletide in (pick a city)”International Teacher Convention which is a perk offered to some of our employees,as long as we don’t mind taking a week away from our families between Christmasand New Year’s. Since I don’t have anykids, and my mother was in relatively good health for many years, I wouldattend the Yuletide Convention every holiday season for many years. Traveling in December takes a bit of gettingused to. The days, particularly in placeslike England and Germany, are very short in the winter. The weather is gloomy. Stores and museums are closed. Pair that with jet-lag and the holiday rushand you have a decent recipe for seasonal depression. Nevertheless, both prior to and after eachconvention, I would summon the courage to extend my trip and do some personalsightseeing.

The year I turned 40, I sadly realized I was probably notgoing to have any kids. To fill thevoid, I decided I needed another dog. Hobie came into my life in May of 2000. At just five months old at the time, I dubbed him Millennium Dog, sincehe was born in January. I fell instantlyand hopelessly in love with this dog – he was the child I never had.

Begrudgingly, I still booked my annual Yuletide trip at theend of 2000, and left my two dogs, Timba who was 17 at the time, and thenewly-crowned leader of our pack, Hobie, at home with a friend who was niceenough to house and pet-sit. I left forLisbon, Portugal on December 22, 2000, and quickly discovered that I, not mydogs, suffered from separation anxiety! It was gonna be a long, lonely fourteen days.

The advent of the digital camera was upon us, and I hadtaken a moment to take one shot of Hobie as he snoozed on the bedroom floorbefore I whisked off to Logan Airport, knowing nary a word of Portuguese andbasically nothing about the history of Portugal. During the trip, I would consult that photoof Hobie too many times, to soothe my ever-growing heartache.

Our post-convention travels took us to two places that standout in my mind. The first is Obidos, avery small town halfway down the west coast of Portugal, and very reminiscentof the Cape Cod National Seashore. Theentire time leading up to our visit to Obidos, my friend and I kept repeating“Obidos!” because it sounded like “HobieDobe!” my nickname for Hobie.

The second memorable city was the very famous spiritualdestination of Fatima. Imagine, visitingFatima just two days after Christmas. Itwas incredible. We witnessed dozens ofpeople making pilgrimages to the Marian Shrine, many of them crawling on theirknees as a symbol of their devotion. TheMarian Shrine is known for the Marian apparitions – when, in 1917, threepeasant children claimed to have seen an apparition six times, and on July 13,1917 the apparition divulged three secrets to the children.

While at Fatima, we visited several gift shops. It’s important to mention here that when Ifirst adopted Hobie he had a deformed left ear, which later miraculously righteditself. In one of the gift shops atFatima, just off the highway, I found a section of the store that containedcute little animal figurines that would change color when weather changed. I remembered having something like that as akid, it was a weathervane that would be pink if it was going to rain, or bluewhen the weather was fair, or some such thing. I have always collected figurines of dogs, cats, and horses, and wasfeeling the separation from Hobie in particular that day, having then been awayfrom him for about ten days, our longest separation ever. Of course, he was probably home, snoozing,oblivious to my heartache. And so, Ithought, I’ll pick up a souvenir -- a doggie figurine that predicts theweather. I carefully picked out one thatlooked almost exactly like Hobie. Thetour bus was waiting for us outside and my companions were getting antsy, so Ihurried to the cashier. When shepicked up the Hobie figurine, it slipped out of her hand, and, as if inslow-mo, I saw it crashing onto the countertop, head-first. I heard my own voice saying “Nooooooo!” inslow-speed. I dove for the figurine, andsaw to my horror that its left ear had broken off. Dejected, I just looked at it, clutching thetwo broken pieces in my hands, the dog itself in one hand, and a tiny piece of“ear” in the other. The cashier spoke noEnglish. I spoke no Portuguese. Yet, somehow, we communicated. She managed to offer, “Go get another one, toreplace.” I said, “I want THATone!” (I had spent ages picking out“the” dog that looked just like Hobie-Dobe.) She somehow retorted with, “Keep this one, and take another one, too,and I will only charge you for one.” Ithought, that sounds like a good idea… by now the tour bus driver is honkinghis horn, hollering at us to get a move on. I ran back to the shelves, which now seemed to carry thousands of littledog figurines! Too many choices! How would I ever find another one that lookedjust like Hobie? No two were alike. The handiwork was extraordinary. I just grabbed one, any old one, and ran backto the register, paid the lady (was it Euros?), shouted to her an “obrigada!”and leapt onto the bus.

Back in our hotel, I opened up my little bag with the twocanine statues inside, and much to my shock, they were BLUE! We figured out that they must be made out ofweather-predicting materials and chockedit up to that, rather than some religious epiphany. We did later find out that there are lots ofOur Lady of Fatima figurines sold in Fatima. They’re made of weather-sensitive materials that are supposed to changecolor and predict the weather. They comein many different figurines such as chickens, cats, goats, horses, etc.

When I returned home to Massachusetts, I put those two weatherdogs on my bedroom bureau and more or less forgot all about them. Every so often, I’d notice they’d change frompink, to blue, to white.

Six months later, Timba passed away, and soon after, we adoptedour hound-dog, Hector. One day, I lookedover at the two weather dogs on top of my dresser and realized they are thespitting images of Hobie and Hector.

There are no coincidences. It took me eleven years to write this essay about the weather dogs. I finally wrote this on October 13, 2011,having done no prior research whatsoever. The Fatima apparitions visited the threeshepherd children monthly in 1917 from May through October, and always on the13^th of the month. The lastapparition occurred on October 13, 1917 exactly 94 years ago.

Iams Home for the Holidays Blog Hop

2011-10-06T16:03:00.001-05:00

Iams Home 4 the Holidays, one of the world’s largest pet adoption programs, kicks off its annual adoption drive in partnership with Helen Woodward Animal Center. Their goal is to find homes for 1.5 million orphaned cats and dogs. Now in its 13th year, Iams’ Home 4 the Holidays, which runs up to January 3, 2012, has helped place 5.8 million pets in their forever homes.

This year, Iams and Helen Woodward Animal Center team up with more than 3,500 animal organizations worldwide to encourage pet adoption. In addition, Iams will donate 5 million meals to animals in need at adoption and rescue centers through its Bags 4 Bowls program.

We are asking bloggers to get involved by simply adding your blog to the Blog Hop below. It’s easy, fun and helps to feed animals in need.

Consumers can lend a hand by:

• Visiting the Iams Facebook page and clicking “Like.” For each “Like” comment or photo posted, Iams will donate meals.

• Becoming a fan of Iams’ Facebook page and creating a custom adoption announcement or holiday card to share the news of their new four legged family member or just send a season’s greeting to family and friends. For each card created and shared, Iams will donate meals.

• Purchasing specially-marked packages of Iams dog or cat food during the duration of the campaign. For every specially-marked package sold, Iams will donate one bowl of food to a participating Iams Home 4 The Holidays animal organization.

Joining the program this year are NASCAR driver Ryan Newman and his wife Krissie. The Newmans founded the Ryan Newman Foundation to educate and encourage people to spay or neuter their pets and to adopt animals from shelters and rescue centers. “As proud pet parents to five incredible animals, we are honored to join with Iams Home 4 the Holidays to find permanent homes to loving animals,” says, Ryan.

Iams Home 4 the Holidays strives to educate about the importance of adoption so every pet goes to a permanent, loving home. Those who adopt through the program will receive an Iams adoption kit loaded with important information about nutrition, training and proper care to ensure their relationship with the new animal starts off on the right paw.

Author weaves parents' love story with World War II history in collection of letters

2011-08-21T16:50:00.001-05:00

Author weaves parents' love story with World War II history in collection of letters

K. S. Mueller's "More Than Anything in the World: Volume 1, 1942-1943" documents her parents' new marriage and the hardships of their separation due to the war through letters written between them during World War II

SPENCER, Mass. (MMD Newswire) August 1, 2011 - - After her mother passed away in 2010, Kathleen Mueller and her brother found more than a thousand letters which their parents had written to one another while their father was away at war from 1942 to 1945. In "More Than Anything in the World: Volume 1, 1942-1943" (ISBN 1456547976), K.S. Mueller provides a personal and detailed glimpse into America during the 1940s and World War II.

Recently married, Sergeant Frank J. Mueller leaves his young wife for military training in the United States. While he is still stationed in the country, he is away from everything he knows and loves as he faces both mentally and physically challenging training. His letters depict life for thousands of soldiers who had to leave their homes and families to join the military during World War II.

In addition to the letters, Mueller includes World War II memorabilia and historical information to show the hardships and sacrifices made by "the greatest generation." She contrasts life in the 1940s, when individuals would sometimes wait hours to make a phone call, with life in today's age of instant gratification.

"I think that this work can relate to events happening currently," Mueller says. "Nearly seven decades later, the country is at war in Afghanistan. Loved ones are still separated due to the war, but we now have email and the internet for communication."

In Mueller's publication of the actual letters written in her parents' own words, she hopes to display the sacrifices and courageous efforts of World War II soldiers and their families through her parents' correspondence. This first edition in a three-part series focuses on her father's time in training while he was stationed in the United States. The next two volumes will cover Sgt. Mueller's deployment to Europe and the events he experienced throughout World War II. The author hopes that readers will develop an appreciation for soldiers like her father who risked their lives and futures for the freedoms we enjoy today--and, in the middle of it all, enjoy a poignant love story between two young Americans.

"More Than Anything in the World: Volume 1, 1942-1943" is available for sale online at Amazon.com and other channels.

About the Author:
K. S. Mueller writes short non-fiction essays about dogs, cats and other topics, aside from her "real job" as a travel executive in Massachusetts. She found a box of more than 1,000 letters written by her parents during World War II in 2010, and decided to publish these letters in a three-volume set that covers the three years her father, Sgt. Frank J. Mueller, was stationed in various locations worldwide with the United States Army.

MEDIA CONTACT:
K. S. Mueller

Email: k2k9dogs@gmail.com

Phone: (508) 450-9552

Website: www.ksmueller.com

REVIEW COPIES AND INTERVIEWS AVAILABLE

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The views and opinions expressed in this press release do not necessarily represent the views and opinions of CreateSpace or its affiliates.

Check out my web sites!

2011-08-20T12:26:00.001-05:00

I have three web sites. The first one consists of my essays about dogs, cats and other topics. It's http://www.k2k9.com/

The second one is my pride and joy: the collection of my parents' WWII letters! Visit me there at http://www.ksmueller.com/

And finally, my tales of woe living (and still working full-time) in the grip of fibromyalgia!. That's viewable at http://www.fibroworks.com/

You can follow me on Facebook, just look for K.S. Mueller

And on Twitter, I'm k2k9.

From Cesarsway.com: A Westminster Story: Teddy

2011-05-14T09:08:00.002-05:00

The dog show world caught the attention of the masses in 2000 with the viral popularity of the comedic film, “Best in Show.” But the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show has actually been a tradition for more than 130 years. In fact, it is the second-longest running sporting event in the United States behind only the Kentucky Derby. Hundreds of thousands of dogs have marched through the show ring to display the finest of pedigree and breeding throughout the show’s long history, and Teddy the Beagle is one of those many.
Teddy joined Richard Hilton and Diana Lipari’s family in May 2007. Diana, the President of the Southern California Beagle Club, had grown up with Beagles and wanted to bring another one into her life when her 14 and a half-year-old Beagle, Lionel B. Barrymore, passed away. Upon selecting a reputable breeder, Diana decided to take on her first show quality Beagle and chose Teddy from the litter. “Teddy is a natural show dog with a lot of charisma,” said Diana. “He comes from a long line of great dogs who had that extra something.” Read more at Cesarsway.com! http://www.cesarsway.com/news/dognews/A-Westminster-Story-Teddy

From Cesarsway.com: Ask the Vet: Remedies for Skin & Coat Issues

2011-05-14T09:07:00.002-05:00

I adopted a nine-year-old Westie last year that has had skin outbreaks continually! Vet visit after vet visit and a change of his food. Nothing seems to be a cure for this little guy and I am about to give up! This outbreak is so bad that he has lost most of his hair now! What kind of food does he need? I use oatmeal shampoo on him as the ones from the vet seem to break him out even more. Please help!
The fact that you have already tried several hypoallergenic diets with no improvement suggests that food hypersensitivity is not the cause of your Westie’s allergies or that there may be concurrent pruritic dermatoses in addition to food hypersensitivity. Other common causes of allergies in dogs are canine atopy and flea bite hypersensitivity and these should be ruled out since diet changes are not helping. West Highland Terriers have a known tendency towards canine atopy. Read more at Cesarsway.com! http://www.cesarsway.com/askthevet/skincare/Remedies-for-Skin-and-Coat-Issues

Breaking news from CesarsWay.com

2011-05-04T09:01:00.000-05:00

We wanted to alert you to the following story that just broke on CesarsWay.com : BREAKING-NEWS-Dog-Dumping-on-California-Highway

Samantha - GWP in need - Hit by car!

2011-03-10T16:55:00.000-05:00

http://gwprescueinc.blogspot.com/2011/03/samantha-gwp-in-need-hit-by-car.html

8-year-old Bull Mastiff needs a new home

2011-03-03T09:15:00.000-05:00

Gus is a 150-lb, neutered male, Bull Mastiff. AKC certified, likes other dogs, not sure about cats. Needs home without small children. Very well-trained, and a real sweet love-bug. Please contact me directly for more info - k2k9dogs@gmail.com. Gus is 8 years old. Needs a little companionship. He is smart and obedient, low-to-medium energy. Very loveable and quiet..

EO Products Dog Model Contest and Product Giveaway

2011-02-27T10:53:00.000-05:00

This contest ends March 8th, so get on the ball !!

To help promote their new line of natural and organic pet products, EO is hosting a Dog Model Contest from Feb. 22 through March 8. Five winning dogs will be selected to receive a full set of EO’s pet care products (value $27.95). Winning dogs will also have their images used to help promote the pet care line on EO’s website, Facebook page, newsletter and possibly product labels.

To enter, pet owners must fill out a registration form on EO’s website and upload a photo of their pet to EO’s Facebook page (owners can be in the photos too).

Winners will be asked to send back a photo of their pet with EO’s shampoo for promotion on the EO website. And videos of the winning dogs being shampooed with EO would be an added bonus (personally, I'd love to see those videos!)

EO Pet Care products are free of parabens, polysorbate, disodium EDTA, phosphates, animal bi-products, synthetic fragrances and sulfates. The bottles are made from 100 percent post-consumer recycled plastic.

Visit EO’s Dog Model Contest registration page for more information.

Three Back-to-Back Hours of BLUE-COLLAR DOGS on Nat Geo WILD (Mon Feb 21)

2011-02-18T19:18:00.000-05:00

Don't miss Monday's broadcast of Blue Collar Dogs on Nat Geo Wild!! This Nat Geo Wild special follows four-legged specialists hard at work in a number of different fields from medicine, to border patrol, proving to be indespensible to their human colleagues and those who benefit from their work. Check out the links below for a preview, and set your DVRs !!

Blue-Collar Dogs: Canine MD

Premieres Monday, February 21 at 8PM ET/PT on Nat Geo WILD

Many doctors, scientists and therapists are harnessing dogs’ extraordinary work capabilities to enhance and even save human lives. The medical field has expanded use of dogs from assisting the hard of hearing and the physically challenged to predicting blood sugar crashes, detecting oncoming seizures and sniffing out disease. With olfactory senses generally 100,000 times more powerful than a human’s, dogs are now being trained to detect epilepsy, diabetes and even cancer with a single sniff.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRXTBJ8Nqps

Blue-Collar Dogs: Border Hounds

Premieres Monday, February 21 at 9PM ET/PT on Nat Geo WILD

All across the nation, dogs are hard at work helping U.S. Customs and Border Protection stand guard over land borders, deserts and urban ports of entry. Using their extraordinary noses, these dogs can outperform man or machine in detecting smuggled narcotics or concealed humans, and even locating victims stranded in the desert. Follow a K-9 team from recruitment through graduation to learn about the methods and science behind training a dog team, and how handlers use natural elements in the field, such as the wind, to their advantage.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nu-ocb3UqQI

Blue-Collar Dogs: New York Police

Premieres Monday, February 21 at 10PM ET/PT on Nat Geo WILD

The New York Police Department’s K-9 squad is one of the nation’s most exclusive police units. For decades, dogs have been first responders to crime scenes and terrorist attacks, and have even traveled to help in the aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti. Go on patrol with NYPD’s K-9 Bomb Squad, Emergency Service Unit and Transit Units and watch as the dogs hunt for bodies through collapsed piles of wood and cement, patrol the bowels of NYC’s subway system, sweep major tourist attractions for bombs and guard the streets of the city’s toughest neighborhoods.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MauNOYHM81Q

My interview on cesarsway.com

2011-02-13T12:17:00.000-05:00

Ambassador Profile: Kathleen Mueller

At Cesar Millan, Inc. our goal is to make the world a better place, one dog at a time. The Ambassadors group was created to harness the power of the pack in order to make a greater difference in our world. Cesar Millan Ambassadors is a volunteer organization that helps spread the word about Cesar Millan events and products on the internet and in their community; assist in events, such as Dog Whisperer auditions or fundraisers for the Millan Foundation, that are held in their area; and share their participation and outreach in their community with other pack leaders. Together, we work to build a greater awareness of our dogs’ needs and create a positive “ripple effect” in the dog community.

For more information on the Ambassador Program and to apply, click here.

CMI: How did you first learn about Cesar Millan?

KM: About five years ago, I started visiting an on-leash, dog-friendly beach on Cape Cod near my home. I've had dogs my whole life, and at this time I had my two mixed-breed males, Hobie a Lab/Shepherd, and Hector a "Heinz 57" mix (we think he's Coonhound/Lab/Border Collie/and some large breed because of his height). My dogs and I had a reputation for walking long distances and often picking up loose neighborhood dogs, unintentionally, while we walked. I would often have a huge pack of dogs by the time we got home, and would return them to their homes by automobile or sometimes on foot. But, I had not done a very good job of training Hector, the younger of my two, to greet other dogs politely. As a result, when we started frequenting the beach, which requires leashes, I would get pulled down on the ground and "dragged" by my two dogs as I held on for dear life because "there's a leash law."

On one particular spring morning, something like this happened and my wrist got slightly injured, but the more insulting injury was the reaction of the other dog owners at the beach. They threatened me and said "Don't come around here anymore!" I was devastated. My dogs didn't hurt anyone (except me!); they were just overly-excited in their greeting behavior. Not one person asked if I was all right -- they just shunned me from the group.

That morning, after I calmed down a little bit, I turned on the TV to watch "Regis and Kelly". Their guest that day was a person I had never heard of: "Dog Whisperer" Cesar Millan. As I watched Cesar help the various guest dog-owners, including one of the show's crew, I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I was blown away watching the TV that morning, having just had this awful experience at the beach, and I started watching "Dog Whisperer" on National Geographic Channel that week, and have never stopped.

CMI: What is it about his techniques and philosophies that interest you?

KM: Based on my own experience with Timba, I knew, and agreed 100%, with Cesar's philosophy of "exercise, discipline and affection in that order." I have always been a person who walked my dog very long distances, daily. People would point at me and my dog(s) because it was such a rarity to see someone in my community actually walking a dog -- I live in a farming community way out in the countryside of Massachusetts, there are not a lot of sidewalks out here!

Cesar's leadership technique is also something that came naturally to me, and something I was already doing. In the old days, people would say it was "showing the dog who is boss". That seems a little too aggressive to me, but if you tone it down and you compare it to being a supervisor, teacher or parent, it makes a lot of sense. You are the dog's parent, teacher, supervisor and finally friend. The dog will not respect you if you do not lead -- he will challenge you for that leadership position. I knew this from my experience, and was happy to know that Cesar used this simple philosophy as part of his techniques. As a person who has supervised many humans in my career, I discovered that I naturally have the personality of a leader.

Another important point is not to treat your dog like a human. Dogs are wired differently than us, and I think that's what gets a lot of inexperienced dog owners into trouble -- they expect that the same techniques that work for their human children will work for their dog, and that just isn't the case. If humans simply did not expect dogs to be humans, they would appreciate normal dog behavior and it could solve a lot of problems in dog/human relations.

CMI: How did you hear about the ambassadors program and what made you apply to be part of the program?

KM: After I had been watching Dog Whisperer for a while, I noticed a little pop-up on the TV screen in the lower right corner announcing that viewers could join the discussion online on Nat Geo's web site. Back in those days, hundreds of people would login to the discussion board on Nat Geo's Dog Whisperer page and beg Cesar for help with their dogs. It sort of happened spontaneously, but a few of us just started responding "on Cesar's behalf" so to speak, indicating to the person that Cesar was not available to respond to their individual questions, but we would certainly try to help. There were about six or 12 of us initially who did this. The Nat Geo forum started to become somewhat unmanageable, and C.J. Anderson set up a Yahoo! group and moved the discussion there. About a year later, maybe less, I was asked by C.J. if I would like to be a part of the new program she was working on with Cesar Millan, Inc. --that was the Ambassador program, and I, of course, said yes.

CMI: What do you do as an ambassador?

KM: Due to my busy schedule, it is not always easy for me to do a lot in person, so I've remained doing what I did in the beginning as an Ambassador: communicating about Cesar's philosophies online. This means, responding to questions on the Yahoo! Dog Whisperer Fans group, which still exists today with a membership of several thousand; writing to bloggers who criticize Cesar's methods; assisting with internet outreach to promote Cesar's live appearances; reading Cesar's books and posting reviews about his books on sites that sell the book, such as Amazon and Barnes and Noble; and, mostly, networking on Facebook and Twitter with the hundreds (perhaps thousands?) of "dog people" I've met through this journey.

In 2009, I was lead Ambassador for Cesar's live appearance in Boston, and I arranged for several ambassadors to assist Cesar backstage and during the performance. I also promoted the show for several months beforehand by handing out fliers and sending email blasts to various dog-related organizations in the area. Being an ambassador requires teamwork, and the dynamics of doing things online vs. in person is extraordinarily challenging -- not only do you have the personalities like you would in any group of people, but there are time zone differences and lags in response, technical difficulties and a whole host of other challenges. It sure isn't boring!

CMI: What do you want people to know about Cesar and the Ambassadors?

KM: First and foremost is the important fact that not all dogs need Cesar's help -- only those who are unbalanced need rehabilitation using Cesar's Way. There is a continuing misunderstanding that Cesar is a "dog trainer," and people will often criticize his "training" methods. Cesar is not a dog trainer; he rehabilitates dogs that have often been given up on by frustrated, inexperienced owners. I want people to know about the countless dogs' lives that have been saved by Cesar. I want people to know that Pit Bulls and other powerful breeds are born as good dogs, it's the humans who raise them that make them turn out "bad." Cesar Millan's Ambassadors, in conjunction with the Millan Foundation, set forth to educate the public about these facts, and many others including the importance of spaying/neutering our pets; adopting from shelters or rescues; refraining from purchasing dogs from pet stores (puppy mills) or back-yard breeders; and just a general education on the most humane way to raise and train a dog. Cesar says it best when he says as long as the "training" method does not harm the dog, then use it -- there is no "one right way" to raise and train your dog.

CMI: When you’re not volunteering as an ambassador, what do you do?

KM: In real life, I'm vice president of U.S. operations at Passports, the student travel company based here in central Massachusetts. I currently live with my sweetheart, Gil, our two dogs Hobie and Hector, and three cats Newman, Tux and Cali.

I write dog and cat stories, and am currently working on a biographical account of my parents' early marriage which includes preserving and archiving what may be perhaps the largest collection of love letters written during World War II -- written by my parents. It's a fascinating project, and one I'm very proud of. Additionally, I live with chronic pain everyday due to fibromyalgia, and I run an online support group for women living in the same situation. I try to stay busy and active, because it helps, and I try to impress that strategy on others and help them by sharing my experiences.

CMI: Anything else you’d like to add?

KM: In my travel career, I've visited many countries, and I always marvel at the way other societies treat their dogs in comparison to we in the United States. In France, dogs are welcomed in restaurants, and lie at the feet of their owners while they dine on French cuisine! In the Caribbean, dogs still run loose, unfortunately, and spaying and neutering is a relatively new concept, but despite the somewhat adverse conditions, the dogs are balanced! I have observed Caribbean dogs knowing the boundaries of their homestead, and not venturing past a certain invisible line -- no fences, no leashes, just rules, boundaries and limitations. In each of these instances, the dogs are led by a strong but calm individual, they do a lot of walking and migrating, and the dogs seem remarkably happier than many dogs in our country.

It is my wish that we in the U.S. would all learn to take a calm, relaxed approach to dog ownership -- everything does not fit into a perfect little box, and I think we would have fewer unbalanced dogs if dog owners would try to understand dog behavior and not humanize their canine companions, and follow the exercise, discipline, affection recipe. In other words, help your dog be a dog. Above all, enjoy your time with your pets! Their time with us is short, and they teach us many lessons.

My interview on cesarsway.com

2011-02-13T12:16:00.000-05:00

http://www.cesarsway.com/packgallery/packpeople/Kathleen-Mueller?utm_source=mobilestorm&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feb11NL_2

Start Your New Year with Unlikely Animal Friends 2 on Nat Geo Jan 7th!

2010-12-31T11:12:00.000-05:00

Season 7 of Dog Whisperer starts Friday Oct 8!! Cesar helps Howie Mandel get along with his chihuahua!

2010-10-06T09:32:00.001-05:00

Cesar Millan LIVE! in Canada!

2010-09-10T12:04:00.001-05:00

National Geographic Channel's And Man Created Dog (8/8)

2010-08-06T11:15:00.002-05:00

Sunday August 8th 9 pm ET/PT, don't miss Nat Geo's "And Man Created Dog"

http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/episode/and-man-created-dog-3136

Dog missing from Holden, MA please help

2010-06-26T08:30:00.001-05:00

Chloe is a 1 year old hound dog mix with short white fur, tan freckles on her ears and body, a tan spot on her left side, NO TAIL (just a tiny stub). She weighs 30 pounds and is wearing a pink and green "paw print" collar. She also has a microchip.

Help us find a forever home for Cheyenne! Worcester MA

2010-06-17T09:50:00.004-05:00

Monday, June 14, 2010

WORCESTER, MASS. Dog needs re-homing!! Please cross-post!

Please cross-post and share as widely as possible. This is not spam.

A relative of one of my dearest friends needs help in rehoming their dog, Cheyenne. Description below. Photo to follow, but for now please help us get the word out. Thanks!

Cheyenne is a spayed four-year-old mixed breed Lab/Retriever, color of gold and white. Her behavior is excellent and she is very affectionate and obedient. However she tends to be aggressive to strange dogs and needs more training to walk on leash. A strong pack leader is essential, and so is an active person or family. This is a high-energy Lab/Retriever mix, she will need lots of exercise, discipline and affection.

This dog is great with children, and adapts well to other family members. Cheyenne will play fetch all day long, if permitted! A high-energy family would be the perfect fit for this gorgeous girl!

Currently she is staying in a two room apartment with a woman, another dog, and husband and that is not the life for her. She wants to run and play, which the family cannot provide for her. She was scheduled to go live with other relatives, but that has all changed.

Cheyenne is a devoted keeper for her family and her owners are seeking a home for her where she can thrive and be happy. This is a quote from Gail, the woman who is living with the dog right now: "I feel so safe when she is by my side and only wish I had the means to add her to my family but cannot. Can you help in any way? We are located in Worcester MA."

If interested, please contact me (Kathy Mueller) at k2k9dogs@gmail.com or post a reply to my blog, Facebook, or Twitter.

Thanks everyone! Let's find this gal a good home!

WORCESTER, MASS. Dog needs re-homing!! Please cross-post!

2010-06-14T19:28:00.003-05:00

Please cross-post and share as widely as possible. This is not spam.

A relative of one of my dearest friends needs help in rehoming their dog, Cheyenne. Description below. Photo to follow, but for now please help us get the word out. Thanks!

Cheyenne is a spayed four-year-old mixed breed Lab/Retriever, color of gold and white. Her behavior is excellent and she is very affectionate and obedient. However she tends to be aggressive to strange dogs and needs more training to walk on leash. A strong pack leader is essential, and so is an active person or family. This is a high-energy Lab/Retriever mix, she will need lots of exercise, discipline and affection.

Currently she is staying in a two room apartment with a woman, another dog, and husband and that is not the life for her. She wants to run and play, which the family cannot provide for her. She was scheduled to go live with other relatives, but that has all changed.

Cheyenne is a devoted keeper for her family and her owners are seeking a home for her where she can thrive and be happy. This is a quote from Gail, the woman who is living with the dog right now: "I feel so safe when she is by my side and only wish I had the means to add her to my family but cannot. Can you help in any way? We are located in Worcester MA."

If interested, please contact me (Kathy Mueller) at k2k9dogs@gmail.com or post a reply to this blog, Facebook, or Twitter.

Thanks everyone! Let's find this gal a good home!

RIP Daddy the Pit Bull

2010-02-20T19:33:00.001-05:00

All of us at k2k9.com mourn the death of Cesar's beloved Pit Bull, Daddy. May you rest in peace Daddy, with the knowledge that you've helped countless dogs and were a fine representative of your ever-misunderstood breed.

Cesarsway.com Celebrates Puppy Love in February

2010-02-03T09:57:00.004-05:00

Share the Puppy Love at CesarsWay.com

February is the month for love! Don’t just share your affection with your human companions; include your canine friends as well. At CesarsWay.com, we're celebrating Puppy Love. Visit the site to join the commemoration!

Share the Puppy Love Campaign

The non-profit Cesar and Ilusion Millan Foundation will celebrate its third anniversary this Valentine's Day! To celebrate, CesarsWay.com is donating 10% of the proceeds from Cesar Millan's Mastering Leadership DVDs for the month of February. You can form a better bond with your canine companion and help abused and abandoned dogs at the same time. What better way to express your love this Valentine's Day?

Find the Mastering Leadership DVDs at www.CesarsWay.com/puppylove

Junior and Duncan Fiona's Valentine Contest

Enter for your chance to win the heart of the dashing young pit bull Junior or the beautiful and mature Labrador Duncan Fiona. The lucky winners will each receive a prize package including a signed copy of the complete Mastering Leadership DVD series, the official Dog Whisperer t-shirt and hat, the Illusion collar, and more!

Find details on how to enter at www.CesarsWay.com/contest

New DVD Release: Raising the Perfect Puppy

Also in February, Cesar will be releasing the 6^th installment in the Mastering Leadership DVD series, Raising the Perfect Puppy. Everybody dreams of having a perfect dog - one that is happy, healthy, and well-balanced, and socializes well with other animals and people. In his new DVD, Cesar shows you how to make this dream a reality!

Learn more about how to pre-order a copy at www.CesarsWay.com/DVD

Happy Valentine's Day!

Dog Whisperer week Dec 28 - Jan 1

2009-12-28T15:03:00.002-05:00

NEWS FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

G’DAY BOY!

CESAR MILLAN KICKS OFF NAT GEO CHANNEL’S
ANNUAL DOG WHISPERER WEEK WITH A TRIP DOWN UNDER
TO HELP FRUSTRATED AUSSIES TAME SOME FEISTY CANINES

Episodes include Dog Whisperer’s first cases
taped outside the United States

Cesar Goes Down Under premieres Monday, December 28, 2009, at 8 PM ET/PT
Cesar in Oz premieres Friday, January 8, at 9 PM ET/PT
Dog Whisperer Week runs Monday, December 28, – Friday, January 1

(WASHINGTON, D.C. — DECEMBER 7, 2009) As the sixth season of Dog Whisperer continues, Cesar Millan, the “Dr. Phil for Dogs,” goes down under to the nation-continent of Australia, a country with nearly 400 million dogs, for two special episodes. This passport to the other side of the world is the first time Dog Whisperer has filmed outside the United States.

“I was amazed that even on the other side of the world, many of the dog problems are the same as here in the U.S.,” said Millan. “The owners may have a different accent, but they still need to be trained!”

Dog Whisperer: Cesar Goes Down Under premieres Monday, December 28, at 8 p.m. ET/PT (with an encore Friday, January 1, at 9 p.m. ET/PT), bookending National Geographic Channel’s Dog Whisperer Week, which includes back-to-back favorite episodes from 8 to 10 p.m. ET/PT every night, December 28 through January 1.

The following week, Dog Whisperer: Cesar in Oz premieres Friday, January 8, at 9 p.m. ET/PT.

In these special Aussie episodes, Cesar spends three weeks traveling across the Australian continent, from Sydney to Perth to Melbourne to Brisbane, seeking dogs of all breeds needing rehabilitation — and finding many owners in need of training. In the land with more than 11,000 beaches, the Great Barrier Reef and exotic animals including alligators, koala bears and 329 mammals, there is also no shortage of dogs in need of Cesar’s help.

In the first episode, Dog Whisperer: Cesar Goes Down Under, Cesar helps tame three dogs, Willow, Bonnie and Jack. The episode begins with Cesar traveling south of Sydney to teach Willow, a massive Great Dane, to stop biting his owner. Willow’s persistent jumping and biting tend to go way beyond “play,” particularly during runs through Australia’s massive sand dunes. Next, Cesar helps 4-year-old bearded collie bonnie. Bonnie’s unpredictable aggression has crushed her family’s dreams of enjoying the dog park. And finally, Cesar faces a true Australian challenge when he rehabilitates Jack, a 17-month full-sized French mastiff weighing a whopping 150 pounds. Jack’s owner fears the aggressive mastiff is going to hurt someone, and is in desperate need of Cesar’s expertise to help her stop Jack from jumping, biting and harassing visitors.

Link: http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/series/dog-whisperer/4511/Videos/07615_00

Dog Whisperer: Cesar in Oz continues with Cesar in Australia. Cesar begins working with Sydney, a 9-year-old Weimaraner who was attacked by a man on a postie motorbike, the vehicles used by Australian mail carriers. The incident turned Sydney aggressive against posties or anyone riding one of the motorized red postie delivery bikes. Cesar pulls out all the stops to stamp out Sydney’s postie phobia. Next Cesar faces one of his toughest challenges in Oz as he meets Vincent, a 4-year-old shar-pei who has a thirst for blood, attacking other dogs and his owner. Cesar’s Australian adventure is not over yet — he meets Australian red cattle dog Astro, who barks incessantly at the oddest activities, including making the bed, riding a bike or carrying an object out of the house. In this special destination episode, Cesar gets a taste of Australian wildlife … in canine form.

About Dog Whisperer
Each episode of Dog Whisperer follows dog behavior specialist Cesar Millan as he goes directly into the homes of dog owners — without any prior information about the dog’s case — and documents the remarkable transformations that take place under Cesar’s calm, assertive guidance.

The hugely popular series has grown into a pop culture phenomenon, including parodies on “South Park” and “Saturday Night Live”; references on popular shows including “Jeopardy!” and Bravo’s series “Work Out”; appearances on “Oprah,” “Tonight Show with Jay Leno,” “Martha Stewart,” “Today Show,” “The View” and “Live with Regis and Kelly”; and a guest star role for Cesar on the hit series “Ghost Whisperer” and the upcoming Jennifer Lopez movie “The Back-Up Plan,” scheduled for release in spring 2010.

Dog Whisperer has also been nominated three times for the Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Reality Program.

About Cesar Millan
With more than 20 years of experience working with canines, Cesar has been called a “Dr. Phil for dogs,” and for good reason. He has a unique gift of rehabilitating dogs and training their owners. His talent with dogs first developed on his grandfather’s farm in Mexico. His Dog Psychology Center in Los Angeles received as many as 100 calls a week from owners desperate for help and confronting a crisis with their beloved pets. Cesar has now moved his center to Santa Clarita, where he is at work on building a true sanctuary for his canine companions. Often, the dogs Cesar works with are “red-zone cases” that trainers or veterinarians have told the owners to put down. Cesar believes every dog deserves a chance at rehabilitation before such drastic measures should even be considered. His pack of dogs are largely dogs no one thought should be left alive — and they now live in harmony as part of Cesar’s pack, and make frequent appearances on the show.

Millan was made an honorary member of the International Association of Canine Professionals and was presented The Michael Landon Award for Inspiration to Youth Through Television at the 28th Young Artist Awards.

Cesar has published four best-selling books, and launched a new magazine, Cesar’s Way, in the fall of 2009. Other things Cesar include: the first three seasons of Dog Whisperer are available on DVD; Cesar and his wife Ilusion have founded the nonprofit Cesar and Ilusion Millan Foundation, providing financial support and rehabilitation expertise to shelters throughout the United States; Cesar has an exclusive product line available at Petco; and he is giving online seminars, “Sessions with Cesar,” an interactive coaching course. Additionally, Cesar's new magazine — Cesar's Way — from IMG Publishing is available on newsstands now and will feature celebrity dog stories and everyday dog lovers who have built a lifestyle around their companions. More information can be found at http://www.cesarmillaninc.com/.

Dog Whisperer is produced by MPH Entertainment and Emery/Sumner Productions for National Geographic Channel. For MPH Entertainment, executive producers are Jim Milio, Melissa Jo Peltier and Mark Hufnail. For Emery/Sumner Productions, producers are Sheila Possner Emery and Kay Bachman Sumner. For the National Geographic Channel, executive producer is Char Serwa; senior vice president of production is Michael Cascio; and executive vice president of content is Steve Burns.

For more information, visit natgeotv.com/dogwhisperer.

# # #

National Geographic Channel
Based at the National Geographic Society headquarters in Washington, D.C., the National Geographic Channel (NGC) is a joint venture between National Geographic Ventures (NGV) and Fox Cable Networks (FCN). Since launching in January 2001, NGC initially earned some of the fastest distribution growth in the history of cable and more recently the fastest ratings growth in television. The network celebrated its fifth anniversary January 2006 with the launch of NGC HD, which provides the spectacular imagery that National Geographic is known for in stunning high definition. NGC has carriage with all of the nation's major cable and satellite television providers, making it currently available in nearly 70 million homes. For more information, please visit http://www.natgeotv.com/.

Dog Whisperer's holiday tips

2009-12-25T12:15:00.002-05:00

Holiday Dog Tips from
“The Dog Whisperer” Cesar Millan!

Don't forget about your dog this busy holiday season! Here are Cesar's Top Tips for a balanced dog all winter long.

1.) Exercise your dog before taking him to visit, or receiving, holiday guests. Holiday visits may involve more excited energy than usual. Your dog is more likely to behave if you've drained its energy with a long walk first.
2.) Do your holiday boarding research in advance! Feel confident and comfortable that your pet is safe while you are away. Get recommendations and find two or three facilities that meet your requirements, and investigate further.
3.) Plan your trips ahead of time. Your dog will sense the tension and anxiety if you hastily try to pack and go. Be ready days beforehand so that your dog has a normal experience before getting in the car or on a plane.
4.) Beware of hazardous holiday items. Ingested poinsettia plants cause dogs to vomit; chocolate is poisonous to dogs; and tinsel has sent many a dog to the emergency room after being ingested.
5.) Protect your presents and decorations. A dog will be able to smell presents with food in them, so be sure to keep these items separate and ask guests to do the same. Keep all of your fragile ornaments near the top of the tree, place old sturdier ornaments near the ground.
6.) I don't recommend giving a puppy as a holiday gift. I strongly believe that the whole family needs to have basic knowledge about the commitment and responsibility of pet ownership before receiving an animal.
7.) Protect your dog from the cold. Many breeds are not built for cold weather. There are many products made specifically to help your dog stay warm such as doggy boots and paw waxes. Check out your local pet store for suggestions.
8.) Don’t forget rules, boundaries, and limitations just because it’s the holidays! New temptations abound in the form of sights, smells, and sounds during the holidays. Use this opportunity to reinforce the household rules.
For more Cesar tips and information, please visit CesarsWay.com

This February, join Cesar in celebrating Puppy Love! Get smitten with the new Mastering Leadership DVD Raising the Perfect Puppy, and help the non-profit Cesar and Ilusion Millan Foundation spread the love for pups in rescues and shelters to commemorate their third year anniversary!

From Cesarsway.com - Dog Whisperer's Tips for the 5 Most Common Canine Misbehaviors

2009-11-10T20:44:00.001-05:00

DOG WHISPERER CESAR MILLAN'S
TIPS FOR THE 5 MOST COMMON CANINE MISBEHAVIORS

Dog Whisperer Cesar Millan tackles the five most common issues faced by dog owners in the fifth edition of his Mastering Leadership DVD series, Common Canine Misbehaviors. Here are a few tips for each of these problems:

5.) Aggression towards other dogs – Watch your temper! If you are tense, frustrated, or angry, your dog will mirror that energy right back at you, so it's especially important to remain calm when dealing with an aggressive dog. But remember, always put your safety first! Seek the help of a professional to deal with this potentially dangerous issue.

4.) Overexcitement or hyperactivity – Overexcited or hyperactive dogs are not being challenged enough. Most often, they just require more exercise! Find a new activity to try with your dog – hiking, swimming, agility courses – or step up your current walk routine. Dogs require at least 30 minutes of a structured walk every day. Talk to your vet about how much exercise your dog can safely handle.

3.) Barking while the owner is away – This is most often a symptom of separation anxiety. You can help your dog to relax by communicating that being apart is no big deal. Instead of showering your dog with affection, practice no touch, no talk, and no eye contact for at least five minutes when entering or leaving your home.

2.) Barking at a specific stimulus – Take time to simulate the cause of the barking, and practice correcting your dog. If it’s the doorbell that sets your dog off, ring it when no one is coming over, so you can stay focused on the task at hand: helping your dog overcome this unwanted behavior.

1.) Problems on the walk - A canine pack leader leads, and so should you! Your dog should always be next to you or behind you, never out in front. Make sure you are the first one out the door and the first one to come back in.

Watch Cesar demonstrate these tips and more in his new DVD Common Canine Misbehaviors available at CesarsWay.com.

"Biggest Loser" Jillian Michaels gets a visit from Dog Whisperer Cesar Millan

2009-11-06T11:11:00.001-05:00

Dog Whisperer: Seven, Sara, and Madeliene
THE NEW SEASON CONTINUES
Friday, November 6, at 9P ET/PT (World Premiere)

Life coach and "Biggest Loser" fitness trainer Jillian Michaels whips contestants into shape, but when it comes to 14-month-old greyhound mix Seven, she is at a loss. When Jillian mounts her 2,000-pound horse Buzz, the 16-pound Seven barks incessantly and tries to nip him. Jillian is afraid Seven will get hurt or even killed by Buzz and hopes Cesar can ride in to save the day. Then meet Austin and Karrie's "Hairy Houdini" of a dog, a German shorthaired pointer named Sara with a knack for getting away. She has escaped the sturdiest of crates, their home, and has even ended up on the neighbor's roof. Can Cesar put an end to Sara's disappearing acts? Finally, Brittany's 3-year-old Yorkie, Madeliene has a strange aversion to the household broom and car windshield wipers. Whenever someone reaches for the broom, she starts growling; if the windshield wipers are on in the car, Madeliene attacks with all of her might, thrashing to get to them through the glass. Can Cesar stop this Yorkie from driving Brittany crazy?

Dog Whisperer: Pekaso and Yogi & Smokey Friday, Oct 23 at 9pm ET/PT

2009-10-23T14:41:00.001-05:00

Dog Whisperer: Pekaso and Yogi & Smokey
Friday, October 23 at 9PM ET/PT
http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/series/dog-whisperer/4507/Overview

As an artist, Daniel Maltzman relies on inspiration, but he can't inspire his 2-year-old Pekingese, Pekaso (Picasso), to eat or drink. Pekaso refuses dog food and gets freaked out by the ripples in the water dish; she's even become so dehydrated Daniel had to take her to the vet. Cesar works to repaint this dog’s canvas. But the real surprise is what Pekaso’s owner does for Cesar and Daddy…it will move any long time fan of the show! Then, Daniel's friend Brendi Blackburn has problems of her own with 5-year-old Chihuahua Valentino, who bites people. Can Cesar play muse and inspire these two to become true pack leaders? Then, Claudia Imson's two chow mix brothers, Yogi and Smokey, pick fights with each other. It's so bad that when the dogs are in the house, she has to keep them in separate rooms. Can Cesar put an end to this sibling rivalry?

Painting of Cesar's beloved "Daddy"

2009-10-22T14:17:00.000-05:00

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Friday Oct 9 Season premiere of Dog Whisperer on Nat Geo

2009-10-06T20:04:00.001-05:00

Don't miss this special season premiere of Dog Whisperer on the National Geographic channel, this Friday, October 9th at 9 pm (check your local listings). This episode is the companion episode to Cesar's new book "How to Raise the Perfect Dog"

Cesar Millan TV appearances, October

2009-09-27T19:27:00.002-05:00

Time for Cesar’s Book Tour. He'll be promoting his upcoming book "How To Raise the Perfect Dog: Through Puppuhood and Beyond" which will release October 6th

On the week of October 4th, Cesar will be in NYC doing publicity for the upcoming Puppy book and Dog Whisperer episode. You’ll be able to catch him on the radio and on various talk shows. Here are two notable appearances:

Oct. 6 – The Today Show at 10 am PT/ET
Oct. 9 – The View

Oct. 9 - Season Premiere of Dog Whisperer with Cesar Millan, special episode "How to Raise the Perfect Dog" on the National Geographic Channel

Check your local listings.

New show on National Geographic Channel - "Rescue Ink Unleashed"

2009-09-26T08:02:00.002-05:00

Check out Nat Geo's new show, which premiered last night.

southern California friends! A chance to meet Daddy, Cesar's sidekick!

2009-06-16T09:18:00.004-05:00

FOR THOSE THAT HAVE NOT HEARD YET... WE ARE HOSTING A HUGE FUNDRAISER! Meet Daddy the Pit Bull -- Cesar Millan's faithful, calm, relaxed sidekick.

Why?
TO BENEFIT THE CESAR AND ILUSION MILLAN FOUNDATION

When?
SATURDAY JUNE 27 2009

Where?
AT THE END OF YOUR LEASH REHABILITATION CENTER FOR COMPLETE CANINE WELLNESS
CLICK ON THE LINKS BELOW for more information

Jen Freilich, Owner/Trainer/Behaviorist> West Coast Regional Cesar Millan Ambassador> > At The End of Your Leash! (tm)> Dog Training & Rehabilitation Center for Complete Canine Wellness
http://www.attheendofyourleash.com
www.myspace.com/jeniferfreilich
www.twitter.com/jfreilich

or call: 951-288-5034>

Landlords who allow pets also save lives

2009-06-02T18:27:00.004-05:00

As owner and manager of several rental properties, it is unimaginable to me to forbid my tenants from having pets. I've rented to tenants with dogs, cats, birds and even snakes, lizards, tarantulas, various rodents... well, you get the picture. If there is a pet in your family, it is welcome to stay with you when you rent from me.

Now, don't all get excited submitting applications and inquiries to me. My properties are all rented, and I don't foresee them becoming available any time soon.

My purpose in writing this post today is to give encouragement to two kinds of people:

1) Pet parents.

2) Property owners/managers.

We all remember the heartbreak we felt when watching thousands of New Orleanians leave their pets behind because pets were not allowed at human shelters during Katrina, and there were no provisions to accommodate pets in case of a disaster.

Today, years later, we pet lovers watch as the housing crisis hits millions of families who have been forced to relinquish the dogs and cats they love because property owners/managers will not allow pets in the apartments and houses that are for rent. This is a crushing blow to American dogs and cats, most of whom will be placed at shelters for a week and then euthanized if not adopted. "No-kill" shelters are few, particularly in certain parts of the country. Others are lucky enough to be placed at a no-kill shelter, but may be destined to live many, many months and years there without being adopted.

Meanwhile, children and adults alike are left heartbroken at having to "give away their best friend". And at a crucial time when a family has lost their home, jobs, and many other material things, to also lose that special furry friend couldn't happen at a worse moment. People who own pets are proven to be healthier because of sharing their lives with a pet. Pets comfort us in our moments of grief and sadness. Dogs and cats cuddle with us and show us affection, and allow us to express affection and emotions without judgment. They also bring us out of depression by not letting us sit and wallow in our grief "Take me for a walk!" "Let's go out and play ball!" "Let's go the the dog park!" There is nothing like the love and companionship of a dog to drag a human out of his or her funk.

And so, I ask pet parents who may be facing foreclosure or eviction, exhaust all your efforts before giving your pet over to a shelter. Ask friends and family members if your pet can stay with them until you get back on your feet. Ask more than one, so they can perhaps share the burden. Offer your new landlord extra money per month for your pet. And, most importantly, explain (nicely) to the property owner or manager that a carpet or door jam can be replaced, but Rover and Fluffy are living, breathing creatures who can never be replaced and are not disposable.

Landlords and property managers, please re-read that last part.

Thanks for listening.

K2

Dog Whisperer special "Inside Puppy Mills", Friday, May 8th

2009-05-06T21:15:00.002-05:00

NEWS FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Dog Whisperer Cesar Millan Teams Up With
Animal Welfare Group ‘Last Chance for Animals’
To Rescue and Rehabilitate Dogs from Factory-Style Kennels

Cesar Gets Firsthand Look Inside Puppy Mills in Special Episode

Dog Whisperer: Inside Puppy Mills Premieres Friday, May 8 at 9 p.m. ET/PT

(WASHINGTON, D.C. — APRIL 15, 2009) Every year, more than one million purebred and “designer” dogs are born and bred into puppy mills — often packed in tiny wire cages, neglected, dehydrated, dirty and chronically sick, with little or no human interaction or affection — and then sold legally to pet stores throughout the country. Now, in a powerful new Dog Whisperer episode, Cesar Millan goes undercover to witness the horrors of puppy mills firsthand and works to rehabilitate dogs who have never known a world outside their overcrowded cages, or learned how to interact with humans.

Premiering Friday, May 8, at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT on the National Geographic Channel, Dog Whisperer: Inside Puppy Mills exposes inhumane conditions at these factory-like breeding operations, as Cesar joins an undercover mission with the animal welfare organization Last Chance for Animals (LCA). With hidden cameras, LCA operatives spot-check several Los Angeles County kennels — essentially dog-breeding facilities that may be exceeding legal capacity limits. After negotiating with the owners of one of these kennels, the team, including Cesar, is able to rescue 11 dogs considered worthless by breeders — a small start in their hope to save as many dogs as possible from these conditions. The team members then learn from Cesar as he teaches them how to rehabilitate the traumatized dogs from the moment they are taken out of their cages. “We are from two different points of rescuing,” Cesar says of LCA. “They do the physical rescue, I do the psychological rescue. So together it’s a team, it’s a good pack.” Entertainer Sharon Osbourne even adopts one of the rescued pups!

Dogs bred at puppy mills can typically exhibit hyper or nervous behavior, acting fearful, obsessive or aggressive. Cesar has seen this behavior frequently during his career, but he has never seen the factory-style breeding grounds and caged conditions that cause it. For the first time, he’ll find out what it’s like inside the kennel facilities, how these dogs are living and who’s running the operations.

“It takes of a lot of concentration not to judge [puppy mill owners] when you know they’re doing something wrong. But in order for me to help and influence them, I have to see what they’re doing,” he says. “I saw a dog that was blind. I saw many dogs in one kennel. I felt a lot of frustration; I felt a lot of confusion … definitely aggression … a lot of anxiety.”

LCA has done amazing work investigating and uncovering overcrowding and deplorable conditions at local breeding kennels. Earlier in the year, after one of LCA’s investigations, World Kennels in Lancaster, Calif., was ordered to release 75 dogs and puppies to local shelters. The following day, World Kennels agreed to discreetly release another 40 dogs to LCA. Among these dogs were Sophie, a 5-year-old Pekingese, and Lovey, a 6-year-old Yorkshire terrier. LCA volunteer Kim Sill offered to foster the two dogs but was unprepared for the problems they displayed. Kim believed she was the first human outside the kennels to have contact with Sophie. From day one, Sophie has been aggressive to every person she comes in contact with, except for Kim, to whom she is very attached. Lovey, on the other hand, has no problems with people, except that she obsessively licks them.

Cesar quickly identifies Sophie’s aggression issues and corrects Kim’s response to them, showing her how to improve Sophie’s behavior around strangers. Within minutes, Sophie is calmer than Kim has ever seen. Then, Cesar works with Lovey to teach her to calm her nonstop affection. Lovey’s obsession might seem sweet at first, but it quickly becomes burdensome. With Cesar’s help, LCA learns how they can go one step further in their puppy mill rescue efforts and give the dogs a normal, happy life.

“When you bring a dog into your life, please do your homework and don’t buy a dog from a puppy mill. Visit a local shelter or rescue group instead,” Cesar says.

For more information and exclusive clips, visit www.natgeotv.com/dogwhisperer.

About Last Chance for Animals
Last Chance for Animals is a national, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating animal exploitation through education, investigations and legislation. LCA's work advocates conscious and informed lifestyle decisions, and the organization is committed to disseminating truthful information about societal animal abuse to improve the treatment of animals.

About Dog Whisperer
Each episode of Dog Whisperer follows dog behavior specialist Cesar Millan as he goes directly into the homes of dog owners — without any prior information about the dog’s case — and documents the remarkable transformations that take place under Cesar’s calm, assertive guidance.

The hugely popular series has grown into a pop culture phenomenon, including parodies on “South Park” and “Saturday Night Live”; references on popular shows including “Jeopardy!” and Bravo’s hit series “Work Out”; appearances on “Oprah,” “Tonight Show with Jay Leno,” “Martha Stewart,” “Today Show,” “The View” and “Live with Regis and Kelly”; and a guest star role for Cesar on the hit series “Ghost Whisperer.”

The series celebrated its landmark 100th episode in September 2008 with a grand reunion of many of the past guests — and their dogs. The second and third seasons of Dog Whisperer each received nominations for the Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Reality Program.

About Cesar Millan
With more than 20 years of experience working with canines, Cesar has been called a “Dr. Phil for dogs,” and for good reason. He has a unique gift of rehabilitating dogs and training their owners. His talent with dogs first developed on his grandfather’s farm in Mexico. Now, at his Dog Psychology Center in Los Angeles, he receives as many as 100 calls a week from owners desperate for help and confronting a crisis with their beloved pets. He is their emergency responder, and often their last resort. Often, the dogs Cesar works with are “red zone cases” that trainers or veterinarians have told the owners to put down. Cesar believes every dog deserves a chance at rehabilitation before such drastic measures should even be considered. His pack of dogs at the center are largely dogs no one thought should be left alive — and they now live in harmony as part of Cesar’s pack, and make frequent appearances on the show.

Millan was made an honorary member of the International Association of Canine Professionals and was presented The Michael Landon Award for Inspiration to Youth Through Television at the 28th Young Artist Awards.

Cesar’s most recent book, “A Member of the Family,” released in October 2008, is his third New York Times best seller. Other things Cesar include: the first three seasons of Dog Whisperer are available on DVD; Cesar and his wife Ilusion have founded the nonprofit Cesar and Ilusion Millan Foundation, providing financial support and rehabilitation expertise to shelters throughout the United States; Cesar has an exclusive product line available at Petco; and he is giving online seminars, “Sessions with Cesar,” an interactive coaching course. More information can be found at www.cesarmillaninc.com.

Dog Whisperer is produced by MPH Entertainment and Emery/Sumner Productions for National Geographic Channel. Executive producers for MPH Entertainment are Jim Milio, Melissa Jo Peltier and Mark Hufnail. Sheila Possner Emery and Kay Bachman Sumner are producers. This special episode was coordinated by Dog Whisperer co-producer Christina Lublin. For the National Geographic Channel, senior executive producer for season four is Char Serwa; senior vice president of production is Michael Cascio and executive vice president of content is Steve Burns.

# # #

National Geographic Channel
Based at the National Geographic Society headquarters in Washington, D.C., the National Geographic Channel (NGC) is a joint venture between National Geographic Ventures (NGV) and Fox Cable Networks (FCN). Since launching in January 2001, NGC initially earned some of the fastest distribution growth in the history of cable and more recently the fastest ratings growth in television. The network celebrated its fifth anniversary January 2006 with the launch of NGC HD which provides the spectacular imagery that National Geographic is known for in stunning high-definition. NGC has carriage with all of the nation's major cable and satellite television providers, making it currently available in nearly 70 million homes. For more information, please visit www.natgeotv.com.

MEDIA CONTACTS:
Chris Albert, National Geographic Channel, 202-912-6526, CAlbert@natgeochannel.com
Photos: Lauren Jones, National Geographic Channel, 202-912-6708, ljones@ngs.org
NGC-516-041509

2009-05-06T07:40:00.001-05:00

Subaru announces sponsorship of the ASPCA

2009-04-24T08:07:00.000-05:00

Animal Magnetism: Subaru Announces Sponsorship of the ASPCA
Cherry Hill, NJ, March 23, 2009 -- Subaru of America, Inc. today announced the Company's inaugural sponsorship of the nation's oldest humane organization, the ASPCA® (The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals). A key component of the sponsorship includes Subaru's support of three 'Go Orange for Animals' festivals in celebration of April's Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Month. The festivals, which will include mobile adoptions and opportunities to get advice on pet care from animal behaviorists, will take place in three cities across the country - New York, N.Y. (Union Square Park, April 7, 2009); Austin, Texas (Zilker Park, April 18, 2009) and Los Angeles, Calif. (Venice Beach, April 25, 2009).

"We're very happy to sponsor the good work of the ASPCA, especially since many Subaru owners are also pet owners," said Tim Mahoney, senior vice president and chief marketing officer, Subaru of America, Inc. "Subaru has a long history of supporting organizations that are good stewards of our environment - including our animal friends - so this sponsorship is a terrific fit with our ideals as a company. In fact, earlier this year, the ASPCA was one of five charities which shared in a donation of more than $4.6 million by Subaru of America, the results of our 2008 year-end "Share the Love" marketing campaign in which our buyers were able to designate a $250 gift from Subaru to one of the charities."

"We are thrilled to welcome Subaru on board this year as we gear up to celebrate Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Month," said Jo Sullivan, Senior Vice President of Development & Communications for the ASPCA. "The outpouring of support we received throughout the 'Share the Love' campaign from the Subaru faithful has shown us how truly dedicated they are to supporting the vital work of the ASPCA, and we hope they will continue their support by pledging to 'go orange' for us this April."

The sponsorship also provides colorfully-wrapped, co-branded Subaru vehicles, local support, and additional events, in six communities (Austin, Texas; Charleston, S.C.; New York, N.Y.; Philadelphia, Pa.; Spokane, Wash.; and Tampa, Fla.). These cities have been selected as part of ASPCA Mission: Orange™ - a focused effort to improve animal welfare and education in these target communities by partnering with regional animal welfare and community organizations.

Beyond the six cities targeted for of ASPCA Mission: Orange, Subaru dealers in communities across the country will have the opportunity to partner with ASPCA-recommended local animal welfare organizations to host Subaru Adoption Days - at an animal shelter, a Subaru dealership, or a local mall or park. The collective goal of the adoption days is to put the spotlight on animal shelters as the best places to adopt, while finding loving homes for adoptable pets.

For more information about the ASPCA's Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Month and its 'Go Orange for Animals' campaign, please visit www.ASPCAApril.org.

About Subaru of America, Inc.
Subaru of America, Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. of Japan. Headquartered in Cherry Hill, N.J., the Company markets and distributes Subaru Symmetrical All-Wheel Drive vehicles, parts and accessories through a network of nearly 600 dealers across the United States. Subaru makes the best-selling All-Wheel Drive car sold in America based on R.L. Polk & Co. new vehicle retail registration statistics calendar year-end 2007. In addition, Subaru boasts the most fuel efficient line-up of all-wheel drive products sold in the market today based on Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) fuel economy standards. All Subaru products are manufactured in zero-landfill production plants and Subaru of Indiana Automotive Inc. is the only U.S. automobile production plant to be designated a backyard wildlife Habitat by the National Wildlife Federation.

About the ASPCA®
Founded in 1866, the ASPCA® (The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) was the first humane organization established in the Americas, and today has more than one million supporters throughout North America. A 501 [c] [3] not-for-profit corporation, the ASPCA's mission is to provide effective means for the prevention of cruelty to animals throughout the United States. The ASPCA provides local and national leadership in animal-assisted therapy, animal behavior, animal poison control, anti-cruelty, humane education, legislative services, and shelter outreach. The New York City headquarters houses a full-service, accredited animal hospital, adoption center, and mobile clinic outreach program. The Humane Law Enforcement department enforces New York's animal cruelty laws and is featured on the reality television series "Animal Precinct" on Animal Planet. For more information, please visit www.aspca.org.

PRODUCERS FROM DOG WHISPERER HOLD AUDITIONS

2009-04-23T15:09:00.000-05:00

PRODUCERS FROM DOG WHISPERER HOLD AUDITIONS
IN HOUSTON, TEXAS ON SATURDAY, APRIL 25

Don't miss your chance to meet with the producers of Dog Whisperer to audition to be on the show! Be prepared to describe your dog's issue and bring video footage which shows the problem behavior to submit to the producers. Submissions cannot be accepted without a video.

Dog Whisperer is looking for a wide variety of dog problems, including unusual phobias, obsessions, fearful behavior, aggression, or any other unique situations that Cesar could help transform.

Dogs are welcome, but your dog does not need to attend to be considered. For safety reasons, the producers ask that you leave your aggressive dog at home. In order to capture footage of aggression, they recommend keeping the dog on a leash, behind a fence, or in a muzzle. Please do not put yourself or your dog in danger while trying to film the behavior.

SATURDAY, APRIL 25th

10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
PETCO
22511 State Hwy 249,
Houston, TX 77070-1532

2:00 PM - 4:00 PM
PETCO
2410 Bay Area Blvd, Ste B,
Houston, TX 77058-1520

Can't make it to the audition? Submit a video application. In the video, we would like you to introduce yourself and your dog. Give us your name, age, and occupation, as well as the dog’s name, age, and breed. Tell us the problems your dog is having and how these issues are affecting your life. Also, let us know what you love about your dog. We would like you to capture at least three instances of your dog’s bad behavior.

For details on how to submit a video or for further information about the auditions, please visit http://www.cesarmillaninc.com/dogwhisperer/submissions.php

National Pet ID week starts today

2009-04-19T08:57:00.003-05:00

A few nights ago, I nearly hit a black dog who was darting out in front of cars on a pitch black road in the dark. I sat outside of the closest house and honked my horn for nearly 10 minutes, but no response from anyone. I managed to coax the dog into my car, brought him home where he played with my dogs for an hour, and called the dog officer who promptly came and picked him up. The dog had on a makeshift collar appearing to be made from a cut leash, with the leash clip clipped to a loop in the leash material. Absolutely no ID.

I learned today that the owner was found and very grateful. The dog, a 4 or 5 month old puppy, belonged to a person who was visiting a neighbor. This dog could have been killed because he was darting out in front of cars (obviously bored, and trying to entertain himself). He also could have been lost forever, since the owner does not live around here, but was visiting.

National Pet ID Week starts today. Please help us get out the word that pets should always wear an ID. Whether that's a traditional hanging tag, a microchip or some other product or method, everyone should do it. Here's what Dog Whisperer Cesar Millan has to say about National Pet ID Week: http://www.cesarmillaninc.com/newsletter/archive/2009/200904_2.html

I use Boomerang tags. They are inexpensive, hold up to 5 lines of text, and slid onto the dog's collar instead of hanging. Hanging tags can get caught on something, can easily be taken off by a person, and make a lot of noise. I get lots of comments on the Boomerang tags. For more information, visit their web site. www.boomerangtags.com

Take care of your pets, and have a great day

Dog Whisperer tonight: "A Member of the Family"

2009-04-10T17:33:00.002-05:00

Tune in to National Geographic Channel tonight at 9:00 p.m. eastern.
for a very special episode of Dog Whisperer with Cesar Millan.

"A Member of the Family" is the name of Cesar's latest best-selling
book, and also the title of tonight's episode. This episode features some
of Cesar's cases, both old and new, featuring the process of adopting a dog,
including introducing him/her to a new home the correct way, setting rules, boundaries and limitations, and how to handle the loss of a pet.

Check your local listings, and enjoy the show!

Press Release: Cesar Millan becomes a U.S. citizen!

2009-03-12T19:36:00.003-05:00

NEWS

EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE UNTIL
THURSDAY, MARCH 12, 2009 AT 11:00 AM PST

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CHANNEL’S DOG WHISPERER CESAR MILLAN BECOMES A U.S. CITIZEN

Popular TV Star and Best-selling Author Sworn in This Morning in Los Angeles

(WASHINGTON, D.C. — MARCH 12, 2009) Cesar Millan — star of the Emmy-nominated National Geographic Channel hit series Dog Whisperer and best-selling author — took the oath today to officially become a U.S. citizen. Cesar, who passed his citizenship test earlier this year, attended the swearing in-ceremony this morning with dozens of others in Montebello, Calif., just north of Los Angeles. Cesar was joined by his wife Ilusion and two sons, Andre and Calvin, who attended to cheer him on (they are already U.S. citizens).

“This is the ultimate culmination of living the American dream,” said Millan. “Becoming an U.S. citizen has been a goal of mine since I first came to this great country. I have much to thank this country for, and all of the success it has afforded me and my family, and now I am proud to be a citizen.”

Millan, who shot to fame in 2003 when his series premiered on the National Geographic Channel, was born in Mexico. He has a special gift for rehabilitating dogs and training their owners. His unique talent with dogs first developed on his grandfather’s farm in Mexico, where he learned at a very young age the importance of respecting Mother Nature. He chronicles his childhood in Mexico and how he crossed the border as a young man in his first best-selling book “Cesar’s Way.” He has been a legal resident of the United States since 2000.

Cesar is currently working on his fourth book, to be released this fall, and starts filming this week for the sixth season of Dog Whisperer.

Dog Whisperer — which celebrated its 100th episode last fall — is a staple of NGC’s Friday night programming. The second and third seasons of Dog Whisperer each received nominations for the Primetime Emmy for Best Reality Series. The show continues to document Cesar’s amazing rehabilitations of problem dogs, and will also include special episodes such as an upcoming look at puppy mills.

About Cesar Millan
With more than 20 years of experience working with canines, Cesar has been called a “Dr. Phil for dogs,” and for good reason. He receives as many as 100 calls a week from owners desperate for help. By the time people call Cesar, they are confronting a crisis with their beloved pets. He is their emergency responder, and often their last resort. Often, the dogs Cesar works with are “red zone cases” that trainers or veterinarians have told the owners to put down. Cesar believes every dog deserves a chance at rehabilitation before such drastic measures should even be considered. His pack of dogs are largely dogs no one thought should be left alive — and they now live in harmony as part of Cesar’s pack, and make frequent appearances on the show.

Millan was made an honorary member of the International Association of Canine Professionals and was presented The Michael Landon Award for Inspiration to Youth Through Television at the 28th Young Artist Awards.

Cesar’s most recent book, "A Member of the Family," released in October 2008, is his third New York Times best-seller. Other things Cesar include these: The first three seasons of Dog Whisperer are available on DVD; Cesar and his wife Ilusion have founded the nonprofit Cesar and Ilusion Millan Foundation, providing financial support and rehabilitation expertise to shelters throughout the United States; Cesar has an exclusive product line available at Petco; and he is giving online seminars, “Sessions with Cesar,” an interactive coaching course. More information can be found at www.cesarmillaninc.com.

About Dog Whisperer
Each episode of Dog Whisperer follows dog behavior specialist Cesar Millan as he goes directly into the homes of dog owners — without any prior information about the dog’s case — and documents the remarkable transformations that take place under Cesar’s calm, assertive guidance.

The hugely popular series has grown into a pop culture phenomenon, including parodies on “South Park” and “Saturday Night Live”; references on popular shows including “Jeopardy!” and Bravo’s hit series “Work Out”; appearances on “Oprah,” “Tonight Show with Jay Leno,” “Martha Stewart,” “Today Show,” “The View” and “Live with Regis and Kelly”; and a guest star role for Cesar on the hit series “Ghost Whisperer.”

Dog Whisperer is produced by MPH Entertainment and Emery/Sumner Productions for National Geographic Channel. Executive producers for MPH Entertainment are Jim Milio, Melissa Jo Peltier and Mark Hufnail. Sheila Possner Emery and Kay Bachman Sumner are producers. For the National Geographic Channel, senior executive producer is Char Serwa; senior vice president of special programming is Michael Cascio and executive vice president of content is Steve Burns.

# # #

National Geographic Channel
Based at the National Geographic Society headquarters in Washington, D.C., the National Geographic Channel (NGC) is a joint venture between National Geographic Ventures (NGV) and Fox Cable Networks (FCN). Since launching in January 2001, NGC initially earned some of the fastest distribution growth in the history of cable and more recently the fastest ratings growth in television. The network celebrated its fifth anniversary January 2006 with the launch of NGC HD which provides the spectacular imagery that National Geographic is known for in stunning high-definition. NGC has carriage with all of the nation's major cable and satellite television providers, making it currently available to more than 69 million homes. For more information, please visit www.natgeotv.com.

MEDIA CONTACTS:
Chris Albert, National Geographic Channel, 202-912-6526, CAlbert@natgeochannel.com

NGC-505-031209

"Canine 9-1-1" Dog Whisperer episode

2009-02-22T21:15:00.004-05:00

Tonight, I watched the most amazing Dog Whisperer episode of them all.

The title of the episode is "Canine 9-1-1", and it originally aired on National Geographic Channel on August 1, 2008.

If there is still anyone out there who hates Cesar Millan, I insist that you watch this episode, and then tell me you still hate him and still think he is "abusing" animals. This episode proves that I have been right all along. Cesar is a true inspiration to dog lovers everywhere, and has a very special gift with both canines and humans.

Cesar vs. Chihuahua on tonight's Dog Whisperer!

2009-01-30T09:04:00.002-05:00

Dog Whisperer week begins December 28th!!

2008-12-26T09:06:00.004-05:00

Tune in to National Geographic Channel for Dog Whisperer week, beginning December 28th!

Check your local listings!

central Massachusetts ice storm

2008-12-13T20:54:00.005-05:00

Storm damage, Spencer MA
For video, click on my videos to the right, or go to my YouTube page k2k9dogs

Sessions With Cesar, a great holiday gift!

2008-12-07T09:29:00.009-05:00

Finally a chance for the average person to learn from Cesar Millan, without having to audition for the Dog Whisperer TV show, or live in southern California!

It's Sessions With Cesar, the interactive online coaching course available from Cesar Millan for the first time, ever.

Sessions With Cesar. Login, enroll (for a low monthly fee), choose your dog's behavior problem, and you're ready to go. The course consists of tutorials, audio clips from Cesar, and video clips where you can see exactly how Cesar works his magic with dogs.

After completing each section of the course work (at your own pace), you take a brief quiz. It's that easy, and it's fun! As a special added feature, Cesar's Pack is an online community forum where you can ask questions and communicate with other dog lovers. Cesar's Ambassadors are also there to help guide you through the course and try to answer your dog behavior questions.

For more information, go to http://www.sessionswithcesar.com/

Sessions With Cesar makes a great holiday gift for that "dog person" in your life!

Sessions With Cesar Ambassador

Cesar Millan Inc Ambassador

Cesar Millan seminar in Atlanta December 6, 2008

2008-11-30T15:37:00.005-05:00

Fellow Dog Lover!

If you are a dog owner or just love dogs, I hope you will take a moment and share this wonderful opportunity with your friends, families, co-workers and in and around your communities.

As a Cesar Millan Ambassador, I am proud to be able to share the opportunity for you to see Cesar Millan, LIVE! As you may know, Cesar's Way has swept this nation empowering dog owners the knowledge to rehabilitate their own dogs behavior issues instead of surrendering them to shelters and rescues, where many would have ended up losing their lives!

I ask that you help save even more lives by posting the attached information to your website, put up flyers in local businesses and around your communities, and share it through emails! And don't forget to purchase tickets for yourself, as well!

Working together, we can change the way the world treats animals and live healthy, happy and balanced lives with our dogs!

Cesar Millan, LIVE!
National Geographic's, The Dog Whisperer
December 6, 2008 in Atlanta, Georgia.
TICKETS AS LOW AS $25.00

Thank you for your consideration,

Kathleen S. Mueller, Ambassador

Cesar Millan, Inc.

"Exercise, discipline and then affection. In that order."

Cesar Millan's new book: "A Member of the Family"

2008-10-08T19:11:00.003-05:00

I received Cesar Millan's third book, "A Member of the Family" today. I have both of Cesar's other books, and figured by the third book it probably wouldn't be so great. Boy, was I mistaken!

I turned randomly to the chapter written by Ilusion Wilson Millan, Cesar's beautiful wife. I was instantly hooked, and could not put this book down. I then turned to the chapter Cesar wrote about his beloved sidekick, Daddy, the greatest representative of Pit Bull known to man.

I know there are a lot of people whom I call "anti-Cesareans". These are people who dislike Cesar Millan because a) he doesn't have a degree and b) they (erroneously) believe he is cruel to dogs and c) they (erroneously) believe he is an illegal immigrant. For those anti-Cesareans, I have a message for you. READ THIS BOOK. You will find out about a man who has a deep and abiding love for dogs of all kinds, his family, his friends, and all human beings. Millan is a true specimen of humanity. The definition of "a good guy".

After reading this book, there should be no doubt in ANYONE's mind that Cesar is uniquely qualified to work with problematic dogs as perhaps no one else in popular culture today. But what is most remarkable is his open-arms approach to other dog behaviorists (some of whom have degrees, some who may not), and his understanding that there is room enough in this crazy world of ours for everyone. There is time and space for every method of interaction with canines, as long as it does NOT harm the dog. That is what Cesar Millan stands for.

I cannot stress enough (and for the bazillionth time!) Cesar Millan is not a dog trainer. He understands canine behavior and "what makes a dog tick" (pun, sorry) based on a lifetime of living with, and LOVING dogs (and humans alike).

Do not pass "GO". Get this book, now! I promise you, you will not be disappointed.

And for those anti-Cesareans: life is too short. Stop being so petty and give this guy a chance. If he were standing in a room with you, he would give YOU a chance, of that I am positive.

Happy tails.
K.S. Mueller

Anemia - the often undiagnosed epidemic

2008-06-28T09:56:00.001-05:00

I generally reserve this blog for dog-related or other non-medical stuff, and use the Fibro-Fog Chronicles to post about medical info. But this topic is important enough to broadcast more widely, so I'm posting it on both blogs.

Women: please! Get yourselves checked for anemia. This is an often easy-to-treat problem, and incredibly easy to diagnose. However, this epidemic (as some experts believe) is often overlooked and undiagnosed, with perhaps millions of women being told "it's all in your head" or "there's nothing wrong with you". There is no excuse for this. Doctors: please! when a woman comes to you with annoying symptoms do not "diss" her -- test her for anemia, and then educate yourself on the symptoms of anemia.

I was told that my symptoms were NOT from my hereditary anemia by several doctors. Guess what, that is not true! All of my symptoms are from anemia. Every single one of them. Yet not even the hematologist nor the neurologist nor the rheumatologist suggested anything of the kind. It was simply "No" (from the hematologist) and "there's nothing wrong with you" from the others. Do not let this happen to you! Get yourself tested, and educate yourself on anemia. Below are some links to help you get started. Check out Wikipedia as well.

I found this web site anemia.org. This non-profit organization was created by medical professionals who see anemia as a huge epidemic in the United States and want to bring this fact to the attention of the medical establishment, ordinary physicians, and citizens in general. They estimate that 3.4 million people have been diagnosed with anemia (in one form or another), but that this estimate is low, and that anemia is much more serious of a health concern than people realize.

Anemia is often UNDIAGNOSED, even though a simple, routine blood test can detect anemia very easily.

As you can imagine, since I have been diagnosed with a hereditary form of hemolytic anemia, I am on my latest crusade! I totally agree with these folks that anemia is seriously under-diagnosed. In fact, perhaps my journey of the last 5 years would have been significantly shortened had any one doctor taken the time to learn that the symptoms I am experiencing ARE symptoms of anemia (contrary to what they all told me).

I hope to be able to invove myself in this organization somehow, and am planning to write a letter to their executive director.

In the meantime, here are some links you may find interesting:
http://www.anemia.org/patients/symptoms-quiz/
http://www.anemia.org/resources/education-kit/about.php
http://www.anemia.org/patients/faq/
http://www.anemia.org/
http://www.anemiainwomen.com/html/home.htm

K2

Jimmy Buffett wannabe? (or, sunset at the equator)

2008-03-10T18:23:00.004-05:00

My luggage has still not arrived. Tobago story. That's what we call a mishap that is SO TYPICAL of Tobago. A beautiful island, but you can't get ANYTHING DONE around here without hitting beaurocracy and laziness in the extreme.

Anyway, when we go out to the store, etc. I have to wear Gil's clothes.

Here's a very attractive photo of me making a lame attempt at imitating Jimmy Buffett, or so it would seem.

Here's a photo of Echo, the Tobago dog

2008-03-09T16:51:00.003-05:00

Echo

Easy-Walk Harness by Gentle Leader Company

2008-02-05T08:22:00.000-05:00

I just bought two "Easy-Walk Harnesses" made by the people who make Gentle Leader. I had read about the harnesses in a magazine. I went to Target today, and I was just looking at pet supplies like I always do, and they had them, so I bought two of them. Well, lemme tell you, these things are AMAZING! The leash hooks onto the front of the harness at the dog's chest. It automatically makes the dog walk behind you. Then, if the dog does try to pull, you give a tug to the side "a la Cesar" and the dog (supposedly) stops pulling. I haven't tried that part yet. I just put the harnesses on, fit them to each dog, and then we walked around the living room and kitchen. I would have tried to go outside, but the road is all ice and I'm really tired from being in Boston and driving all day. So, I will try them out tomorrow for real, outside (during the Super Bowl lolol). If this works, I will be able to walk my dogs together again with no panic attack!!!! I'm so excited!

And later....

I walked the dogs across the other side of the lake and back today with the new harnesses and it was WONDERFUL!!! ! Hector didn't know what to think LOL It threw him for a loop! I felt SO confident. It will be interesting to see what happens when we encounter a strange dog or cat.

And the next day....

Yay!! Just got back from walk number 2 with the new harnesses. What a DREAM! Whomever invented this thing was a genius. It's way better than the Illusion Collar (sorry Cesar!), and runs circles around other harnesses (literally lol). Hector just walked right by my side the whole time. The leash was loose "briefcase style" like Cesar demonstrates. This time we went on our usual route, only it is a big hill and extremely icy (all that melted stuff from yesterday froze overnight), so I got a little panicked about that and made the dogs turn around because I didn't want to fall on the ice just from being a klutz lol. They didn't pull at all. I think Hobie is mad because he can't do his little "back out of it" routine like he tries with most collars lol. And I'm so happy because I don't feel like I'm choking the life out of my dogs by having collars on them "show-dog style". I think this thing is amazing. So far, so good. I'll keep ya posted!

Altenburg family members

2008-01-11T09:11:00.000-05:00

If anyone from the Altenburg legacy happens to stop by this blog, I am looking for any relatives who may be diagnosed with one of the porphyrias: AIP, HCP, VP, etc.

Our family is from Cook County, Illinois and parts of Wisconsin. My mother is "Mook" Altenburg, her parents were Ernest and Lucille.

If you are one of my cousins or their offspring, and think you may have information regarding a family medical history of porphyria, please contact me privately by email at kathleensmueller@hotmail.com

I'd also like to connect with Altenburg cousins anyway!! lol

All the best,

K2

Happy Birthday Millennium Dog!

2008-01-06T18:45:00.001-05:00

Hobie the Y2K K9 turns eight years old today.

Here is a fun video of Hobie listening to wolves howling on CD.

All-new Dog Whisperer tonight!

2008-01-04T08:28:00.000-05:00

Dog Whisperer's regular season resumes tonight after the holiday marathon break.
Don't miss it! Sounds like a good episode! 8 pm eastern, repeated at 11 pm.

Don't forget to watch the new show about dogs immediately following Dog Whisperer at 9 pm eastern, repeated at midnight.

Happy trails!

Dog Whisperer Week on NGC

2007-12-28T09:23:00.001-05:00

Whoops! Forgot to post here announcing Dog Whisperer Week on NGC, which ends tonight.

My bad!!!

Dog Whisperer Marathon Friday!

2007-11-20T09:21:00.001-05:00

Dog Whisperer Marathon on the National Geographic Channel starting Friday at 2:00 pm Eastern. Check your local listings!
For fun, go onto National Geographic's web site, and take the "Diagnose The Dog" test on the Dog Whisperer page! Fun!!!
Happy Thanksgiving everybody.

Since Hector was a pup!

2007-11-19T10:14:00.001-05:00

Some of you may have read my essay on k2k9.com about my wonderful dog, Hector, and how he got his name. His name came about because of a phrase some of us at work used "we've been doing things that way since Hector was a pup". This is a phrase evidently popular for centuries. When I got Hector, we couldn't think of a name, and I was at work with my dear friend Roberta and she used the phrase (as we always did) and we looked at each other and said "HECTOR!!" and that's how my Hec got his name.

Somebody was Googling over the weekend, looking for "since hector was a pup cartoon" and landed on k2k9.com (yeah, I can spy on them and see how they ended up on my web site).

I decided to Google the same phrase and see what else comes up. Here is a great article explaining the possible origins of the phrase "since Hector was a pup".

"since Hector was a pup"

Dear Editor:
I sometimes hear the phrase "since Hector was a pup" and can't for the life of me find its source. I suspect it refers to the Hector of Homer's "Iliad." Can you confirm this hunch?
—M.E., Scottsboro, Ala.
Dear M.E.:
No one seems to be quite sure of the origin of this curious phrase. "Since Hector was a pup" is one of a variety of expressions meaning basically "since way back when," another favorite being "since Pontius was a pilot."
Several sources offer the unsubstantiated suggestion that the expression is based on the once-common practice of naming big dogs "Hector," most likely after the hero of Trojan War fame. Names for dogs, just as for people, go in and out of style. (We wouldn't even want to guess how many dogs were named "Lassie" in the 1960s.) According to the theory, "Hector" was in vogue for dogs in the mid-to-late 19th century, and the expression refers to the long past puppyhood of the family dog.
If this theory is true, it would discredit other suggestions that the expression was coined later by W.C. Fields or by the creator of a comic strip popular in the 1920s, "Polly and Her Pals."
It may be that one or both of these humorists was simply the vehicle for popularizing an expression already in existence. "Since Hector was a pup" may also have been a favorite expression of poet and dog-lover Ogden Nash, who works a variation on it in these lines:
"She seems to pant, time up, time up!
My little dog must die,
and lie in dust with Hector's pup;
So presently must I."

so proud of my hector!

2007-11-16T19:28:00.000-05:00

I have to brag about my wonderful dog, and how great I handled a potential panic-attack situation!!

So, I stupidly accepted a vet appointment for 5:15 pm tonight. Bad idea since the vet's office is on the main highway called "Route 9" (the old Boston Post Road for any of you historians out there), and very heavy work traffic at 5:00-ish.

It was pouring rain, and already dark by the time I left the house with Hector in the car. I decided to leave my eyeglasses at home even though I have a hard time seeing at night, and especially in the rain with that glare, but the other challenge is walking the dog with glasses on... my glasses make me a little dizzy, and Hector pulls so I was afraid I'd fall down and the glasses would smash into my face.

So, perfect setup for a panic attack:

1) Having to take Hector somewhere where there will be other dogs (and cats)
2) Pouring rain
3) Pouring rain in the dark
4) 5:00 work traffic on Route 9
5) Route 9 itself, which I avoid like the plague at all costs
6) Having to make it to an appointment on time
7) Driving on very dark back roads which are under construction and heavy work traffic to get to Route 9

I made it all the way to Route 9 which is about 10 minutes from my house on awful back roads. As soon as I get to the set of traffic lights where I need to turn right to go to the vet's office, there is a HUGE accident in the middle of the intersection, police blue lights flashing, cars backed up for miles. I'm early, but now I'm thinking "I'm gonna be late" and then, "That could've been ME" Yep, somebody ended up with our worst nightmare: a car crash, in the middle of a busy intersection on route 9 in the dark at rush hour in the pouring rain.

I get to the vet's office, and we are 15 minutes early. I see a person with another dog go inside ahead of us. I do not want to encounter them, so I park in the back of the building. I calmly take Hector out of the car and we go for a little walk. Remember, it's dark, and pouring rain. I have to make sure I have my keys, credit card, and his papers from the previous vet because I've changed vets since the last time he had shots. Hector and I walk around in the back parking lot for a while, and we're getting soaked and he does his "business" (thank goodness).

I go back to the car, and realize we've still got 10 minutes to kill, and I don't want to encounter the other patient (dog). So, we get back in the car, I start it up to turn on some heat, and I sit there and read the newspaper which happens to be on the floor of the car. I decide I am going to go inside at 5:14 exactly. I read until 5:14. Then, I gather my keys, credit card, papers, put them in my pocket, grab the dog, and we walk up to the building.
Yippee! The waiting room is empty!

The ladies greet us and everybody ooohs and aaaahs over Hector because he is so handsome and so goofy all at the same time.

We sit down after we weigh him, and he's had some treats. As we're heading to the waiting area, a customer comes out of the exam room with a German Shepherd Dog. Hector and the dog sniff each other, but no problems ensue. This is remarkable, if you know Hector. He usually goes nuts when he sees another dog.

A minute later, a man, and a young boy of about 11 years old, and an elderly woman come in with a Yellow Lab/Mix who is shaking and all three of the people are freaking out. The dog has no collar on and the boy is holding the collar and leash in his hand, saying, "It's not my fault. It was an accident." What happened was, the dog pulled so hard that it broke its collar and was loose in the parking lot with no collar, no leash, during rush-hour on Route 9. (Our second worst nightmare, those of us who own dogs). The grandmother assures the boy that everyone knows it's not his fault, the dog is safe now, and they are amazed that the dog ran in to the office instead of out into traffic! The man is holding the dog on the ground and trying to tell it to calm down, but the man is shaking so badly the entire family is petrified. The grandmother tries to fix the collar (a flimsy prong collar made for a chihuahua, not a Lab!). As I'm watching this, I am amazed that Hector is within 12 inches of this dog and could care less. He is just totally relaxed and calm, and so am I!

As grandmother fails to fix the collar, I offer the advice of taking the leash and looping it thru the handle, thus making a collar and leash combo out of the leash. They all smile at me, toss away the broken collar, and do as I suggested. Everyone breathes a heavy sigh of relief.

Just then, a little baby Chocolate Lab comes in with its owner. Of course, the puppy greets everyone, and everybody is ooohing and aaahhing again. Once again, Hector sniffs noses with the pup but doesn't cause a ruckus like he's been known to do. The perfect gentleman, he just sits quietly beside me.

We get called into the exam room, and Hector gets fussed over by two assistants and the vet himself. Hector gets his shots, and off we go.

When we get back into the waiting area, there are two more dogs. Again, Hector either ignores or just sniffs and keeps walking.

After I pay the bill, two people come in with two CATS. One loose, being held in the owner's arms, the other in a crate. I tell Hector to sit, and we wait for the people to pass us before we proceed out the door. Hector again, the perfect gentleman, he almost didn't even care that there were two cats in the room!!

I was so happy, I actually did one of those skip-jump things like you see on TV as we were jogging through the parking lot on our way back to the car!!! and I think I even let out a little WHOOP!! LOLOL I was so proud of Hector, I smothered him with kisses when we got inside the car! ROFL

Wait, there's more... afterwards, I went to WAL MART to get dog food and some food for us people! WOW!!! and guess what? No panic attack!!!! (that's the same Wal Mart where I had the bad one a month or two ago)

I am so proud of Hector for being so well-behaved, and of me for not having a PA!!!!!

K2

k2k9 forums and blogs now ready!

2007-11-12T10:30:00.000-05:00

Hope you'll visit k2k9's forums and blogs, located here:
http://www.fibroworks.com/k2k9/

Forums

2007-11-01T19:29:00.000-05:00

Coming soon! On k2k9.com we will host a forum for dog enthusiasts as well as a place where each forum member can create their own Dog Blog!! Should be up 'n' running in a few days! Stay tuned!!

In the meantime, if you are a person with fibromyalgia, or know anyone who has fibromyalgia who might be interested in my forum on my other web site (www.fibroworks.com) please send them my way!

Here is the URL: www.fibroworks.com/board2

New photos

2007-10-27T17:13:00.001-05:00

Just wanted to share these. Hector at the top of the stairs, and a rainbow in my backyard.

tori does beantown

2007-10-21T10:55:00.000-05:00

The show was awesome!! Tori came out dressed as Pip (photos here are from the actual show I attended!), and did several songs, then she went offstage costume changed to Tori.

I downloaded the show from toribootlegs.com! She played 25 songs.

Miss Massachusetts was in the audience, and Tori did an improv song to Miss Massachusetts. It was hilarious!

Pip played: Cruel, Bliss, Fat Slut, Smokey Jo, Teenage Hustling (awesome!!), and Waitress.

Then Tori came out and did Professional Widow, Big Wheel, Crucify, Conertina, Cornflake Girl, a very emotional rendition of Putting the Damage On, Take to the Sky, Jackie's Strength (OMG so good!), Etienne (a song I'd never heard before ? I'm shocked at that one!), Virginia, Hotel, Code Red, Precious Things. (Oh, and in the middle there she did the Miss Massachusetts thing).

She said goodbye, then came back and did Digital Ghost.

Said goodbye again and came back again and did Bouncing off Clouds and Hey Jupiter.

(so cool that I have the playlist and can recount everything!!! I never would've remembered!)

Afterwards people were talking about how they were blown away that she did 25 songs!

Doggie In The Window videos

2007-10-12T18:23:00.000-05:00

Look, I made a little video of my dogs set to Patti Page's "How Much Is That Doggie In The Window?" and added it to my video list on You Tube. For some reason, every time I look at my blog page, it shows all these other videos set to the same tune, not mine! To see mine, please click your "refresh" button, and my videos will appear. Jeesh, you'd think in the 21st Century, they'd be able to get this right!

Tori Amos concert next week!

2007-10-11T09:43:00.000-05:00

One week from tonight, Susan and I go to see Tori Amos play in Boston! I can hardly wait! Tori is the most inspirational, phenomenal, outrageous and beautifully talented musician, singer, songwriter and pianist of our time. In my quite-biased opinion.

I posted some videos on my blog last week from You Tube. I was so thrilled to find this episode of VH1 Storytellers from 1998. It was the first time I'd ever seen Tori perform "live" (well, on TV!). I was absolutely mesmerized by her. I had been listening to her records for several years, but never had I seen her perform. I was entranced and enchanted. It changed my life forever. Of particular note was her performance of the song "Father Lucifer". I was over the moon last week when I found this on You Tube. I played it over and over. It is just beautiful.

Well, to my chagrin and extreme annoyance and disappointment, somehow this video of "Father Lucifer" is "no longer available" on You Tube. Why? All of the other clips are still available. I am truly devastated at the second loss of this great televised performance.

What I would give to have a VHS or DVD of this episode of VH1 Storytellers. If anyone has it, contact me privately at k2k9dogs@yahoo.com

October 1st - 23 years in student travel!

2007-10-01T10:07:00.000-05:00

The entire state of Massachusetts used area code 617, and dial-up speeds of 300 baud were considered fast. In fact, nobody else even had dial-up, or new what a "baud rate" was, except us!

How amazing that twenty-three years have passed since I started my first job in the student travel business: October 1, 1984. I was 24 years old, married, going to college and travel-agent-training full-time. I needed to get a full-time second-shift job since the collection agency would not let me go back to full-time (I had reduced my hours to part-time a year before). I was putting my then-husband through college at the prestigiuos Worcester Polytechnic Institute, and, well, one of us had to earn a steady paycheck. That one would turn out to be me, and the resentment that ensued would be the reason for the dissolution of our marriage shortly thereafter.

I kind of fell into my career in student travel by accident and karmic coincidence.

I started job hunting, and responded to one of those ads in the newspaper classifieds that read "Send resume to Box X, Worcester Telegram and Gazette bla bla bla" An unknown company needed a second-shift person to operate their IBM System 36 computer system -- a system I had operated for four years at Associated Credit (Worcester's premiere collection agency) and at Easy Day/Suburbanite in Framingham (the household cleaning product manufacturer), for four years prior to that.

I mailed my resume to the T&G, and received a call practically the next day. It was Charlene Flannery, asking me to come in for an interview, to a travel company located at the Worcester Airport. The company's name was ALSG (American Leadership Study Groups) the first of the "alphabet-soup" stutrav companies, and owned by one "Gilmartin" (as my friends in Worcester erroneously referred to Gil Markle). "Gilmartin" was more well-known for having brought the Rolling Stones to Worcester two years earlier, in 1982, and owned the countryside recording studio Long View Farm. He also owned ALSG.

Flannery hired me practically on-the-spot, and introduced me to Gil Markle during the interview. When Gil and I shook hands and smiled politely, "Nice to meet you," there was a spark of electricity which I vehemently denied at the time, but was irrefutably love at first sight on both our parts. On my first night of work, I called my former co-worker, Jeannie, at the collection agency and whispered into the phone, "His name isn't Gilmartin, it's Gil Markle. Gil is his first name." as Gil himself walked around the corner and heard me, and I quickly ended the call.

I started work on that October 1st. Whether that was a Monday, just like today, I can't recall, but it probably was. My job, exactly as it was at Associated and at Easy Day, was to operate the large System 36 CPU, run backups, run reports and do data entry, and work a modified second-shift from 2:00 pm to 10:00 pm. I arrived practically fully trained, plus I was going to school for travel and tourism. If this was not fate waving its mighty hand, I don't know what was. It was as if the job were tailor-made just for me.

Flannery stationed me at a desk at the far end of the mailroom which everyone called "The Bowling Alley" -- a long corridor just inside the exit door from ALSG's offices to the main terminal of the deserted Worcester Airport. I was completely isolated from the rest of the "DP" (data processing) staff, except for the computer programmer who would sit at the desk next to me once a week. At 5:00 pm, when the other DP girls would go home, I would move to their area and run reports, do backups and all the data entry they'd left behind.

My DP colleagues would complain when Flannery and her cohort Debbie Condon were out of earshot, saying it was very unfair that I was kept apart from the rest of the team. To make matters worse, because I worked a second shift (same shift as the sales staff) I was doubly-isolated because the sales department would never include me in their social events or business meetings. I was a lone worker, sitting in my little booth down at the end of the bowling alley by day, and inside the roaring computer room by night.

Each day, around 3:00 pm, Gil Markle would make his trek from his cavernous, plant-filled executive office to the airport lounge and bar. As he walked by my cubicle, he would always stop and say hello. We were both painfully shy, and the conversation basically amounted only to "hi" with a smile, and that darned electricity between us every time. In the evenings, before he went home to Long View Farm, he would stop in the computer room and visit me. He liked to sneak up on me when I was in the middle of those roaring machines and scare the living daylights out of me. He wore sneakers, and was always very silent. I'd be engrossed in a sales report and I'd look up from the report and he'd be standing within ONE INCH of me, reading over my shoulder! I would jump and exclaim, "Ugh! You scared the shit outta me!" and then I would laugh, and he would keep a poker face. On his way out to various trips he would take, he'd always visit my desk and tell me where he was going. And when he returned, I think I was the first person in the office he'd visit.

ALSG was ahead of its time. We had the internet in 1984. Gil owned another subdivision of ALSG called modemcity, and we had email and people could login and set up an account with a credit card. There were chat rooms and bulletin boards, long before that became the norm. I "met" people from all over the world on modemcity. And Gil and I started writing each other love letters by email. Or, as we called it at the time "modem mail". Gil was smart enough to keep and archive those emails, which we still have today. It's great looking back at them, and even the business emails still exist, which are often times hilarious.

Gil wrote the following poem, which I always figured was about me! See his footnotes at the bottom of the page after you click here:

http://www.studiowner.com/essays/essay.asp?books=0&pagnum=23

The photo of me on my profile here on blogspot.com was taken in 1986, and I'm standing beside the modems and the large "Vax" computer that drove modemcity, and which I co-operated for many years. The series of photos taken that day include the one at the head of this blog posting, which would soon appear in Worcester Business Digest, accompanying an article about Gil and modemcity.

(see http://www.studiowner.com/essays/essay.asp?books=0&pagnum=132)

During another interview, Gil made mention of the little pink "While You Were Out" slips, and, for effect, crumpled one up and tossed it across the room, claiming that the paper office would one day be obsolete. It was only this year, 2007, when we came to that reality, now scanning almost all of our office documents instead of keeping paper files. Twenty-two years later!

We moved the Vax, the System 36, and all of ALSG's employees, equipment and furniture out of Worcester Airport in 1986 and in to the old Sibley's Neighbor restaurant in Spencer. And, we've been there ever since. Except ALSG eventually got sold, moved to Boston, and went out of business in short order in June of 1993.

The reincarnation of ALSG, passports, began in 1992, a year prior to ALSG's demise, and is still going strong today. Stronger than ALSG ever was, in fact.

I'm now Vice President of U.S. Operations at passports. Every day, I still do backups, operate computers (although they no longer take up the space of an entire room!), and still do the same data entry tasks I did back then. Plus wear a thousand other hats, including supervising and managing up to 50 people, with a lot of help from my senior colleagues.

And Gil and I still send each other love-letter emails.

It's been an amazing 23 years, and it went by in the snap of a finger. No two days are ever the same, and I am never, ever bored. Gil and I have stayed together through it all, and are more in love today than we were then. The electricity is still there. We make a great team.

One time, on a long-distance motorcoach filled with 50 passports clients and about 10 employees, a client asked us each to go up to the microphone and talk about how we got our start in student travel. Without exception, each and every one of us said, "I kinda got into student travel quite by accident." and then proceeded to tell our stories. There are no coincidences. It's been a wild ride.

In Memory of John2

2007-09-10T08:27:00.000-05:00

Saturday, we had the memorial party in honor and memory of our dear friend John Farrell. I called John "John2" (say with a French accent "jean-tu"!) because both of our computer names at ALSG and Long View Farm ended in the number 2. I'm kathy2 and he was john2. We called each other brother and sister because we had the same "last name" LOL. I often would call him up and greet him with "Brother John?!" when he answered the phone.

Some background history: John and his life-partner Geoff met Gil in the mid-1960s down in Truro. They hit it off, and Gil offered them both work at Long View Farm where they lived and worked for a couple of decades. They re-built Long View when Gil purchased the property from an elderly lady. Meaning, they designed and renovated the whole inside of the two buildings, put recording studios in and everything -- you name it from soup to nuts they did it. They also re-built/renovated the building that now houses Passports, which is a building almost identical to Long View (white farmhouse and red barn).

John was a very talented singer, songwriter and a fabulous chef and avid gardener. He was one of the funniest people I've ever met in my life. He would have you cracking up laughing within one second of being with him, and the laughter would continue all day long. He did all the cooking at Long View for all the various musicians that used to stay and record there. And all the time he was cooking, he'd be singing. It was such a shame that he died of cancer of the larynx and lungs. He couldn't speak for the last two years of his life, let alone sing. A real tragedy. And he was far too young at 60 years old. After all, he'd tell you himself that 60 is the new 40!

(continued below, after photos)

K2 & Vincenzo

K2, Gil & Moe

Gil & Moe: A Tradition, what's a party without a photo of Gil and Moe!?

Jubilee and Abby (Jubilee is 19 years old! I call her
Jumpin' Jahoozabee because she used to jump so high!)

Brother Bill and Scott. That's our building behind
them.

Geoffrey, sitting at one of the built-in desks he
created in 1986. Another is behind him. He also
installed the bay windows.

K2, Sue and Tacke (the "church lights" behind us
were chosen by John2 in 1986 when a local church
was being renovated and they were selling their used
light fixtures. Whenever I turn the church lights on or off,
I think of John.)

John and Geoff had a somewhat well-known band in the area called "Fragile and the Eggs". You can find all of their stuff on Gil's website (www.studiowner.com) just search "John Farrell" in the Media Library section of the web site.

Watching John perform in some of the videos is priceless. He was a great performer, but I guess I'm a little biased!! We played the videos on three plasma screens all day Saturday.

Around the time that Gil and I left the farm, John and Geoff moved to Florida and retired.
Geoff is an artist (painter and sculptor), and a lot of his work is sold in Provincetown. They owned a vacation home in North Truro up until about 4 years ago when John started getting sick they sold it. I went down to Florida to visit them about a year after John was diagnosed with cancer. I'm so glad I went. I almost cancelled the trip because... yes.... I had a fibro-flare. I flew down there in horrible pain, which lasted throughout my visit. I'm so glad I went because it was one of the last times I saw him. He came up here that summer to visit, but he was so sick by then, it was difficult for him to be away from home.

What a wonderful day Saturday was. The party was perfect, perfect, perfect. Even the relentless thunderstorms that started halfway through the (outdoor) party were perfect, and we figured they were sent special delivery from John himself! We hadn't had ANY rain in 7 weeks, so it was actually welcome, and everyone stayed outside even though they could've gone indoors whenever they wanted!

It was more like a reunion than a memorial service, and we planned it that way on purpose. There were people there that I hadn't seen in years and years, and some I never met before. John was the heart and soul of Long View. He and Geoff lived there full-time and John was really the glue that held the place together.

Gil and Dave have been working on videos and audio during the year since John died (he died Aug 29, 2006), in preparation for this event.

It was John who, in the past, would organize the kind of party we threw this weekend in his memory.

Guests came from out of state, and even from other countries. Gil somberly noted, in his eulogy, that some of them hadn't seen each other in 20 years, and may never see each other ever again if the same time pattern continues. During the eulogy the lightning was so vivid, and the thunder so loud and incredible, as we all huddled under a huge canopy in the pouring rain and laughed because we knew that John had sent the thunderstorms to us! When Gil passed the microphone to Geoff, Geoff said very few words, but they were heartwarming and we were all crying. Geoff and John were together for 42 years! They were the first committed gay couple I ever met, and we became very close and dear friends.

We had the videos of John with his own music as the soundtrack set up on a constant loop on three plasma screens in our office building (which John and Geoff re-designed and renovated in the mid 80s when Gil bought the property) and the video ran repeatedly all day, and people would go inside and sit for a while and laugh and cry and reminisce.

The food, which we had catered, was excellent. Our office building is located at a horribly dangerous intersection, so we hired a town cop for the day to do traffic detail. The last of the guests left at about 11:00, and we had two of our employees stay behind to provide building security. Gil and I stayed up really late watching video footage that I and two other people had shot throughout the event.

Traffic detail cop and Lupo, videographer extraordinaire!

What a week it's been!!! I had no houseguests after all, so now I have a spotlessly clean house! Bonus!!!

Happy Birthday, Hector!!!

2007-09-04T10:02:00.001-05:00

Hector is 6 years old today!!!!

Happy Birthday, Hec !!

Hobie 'n' Hector meet Monty!!

2007-08-14T09:40:00.000-05:00

Mike called tonight to ask if he could come by and intro his puppy, Monty, to Hobie and Hector.
I of course said yes right away. We had already planned in advance that he would walk up to the fence from the outside and let them sniff and we'd take it from there. If Hobie and Hector were good, we'd bring Monty inside the yard.Well, my dogs were perfect angels!

First, while I was waiting for Mike and Monty to walk over from their house, I picked up all the toys of value and their rawhide bones, any food, etc. I put everything away in the closet and left two boring tennis balls (there is diff between tennis balls if you ask Hector. There are the boring kind and the high-value kind. The high-value kind got put away in the closet).

Then, my dogs and I walked around inside the fence together. I picked up dog doo-doos and they just hung around and were VERY relaxed. I was so proud because I have just started taking my new anti-anxiety meds so I was relaxed and it obviously translated to the dogs. We had about a 10-15 minute wait. And while we were waiting, all of the dogs in the neighborhood were announcing Monty's arrival. It was so funny! I could tell where they were on the walking route by which dog was barking (yes, you can recognize their voices!).

Mike and Monty approached the fence, and it was delightful. This little puppy, so cute, and my dogs were just perfect gentlemen. I told Mike to bring Monty in through the HOUSE, so we all went back up to the house -- Mike and Monty in front, and me and my dogs in the back. We all entered the house simultaneously from the back door and the front door (this was unplanned) and they greeted in the kitchen. Then, we all went into the back yard together. I had Mike carry Monty down the stairs. He's still a bit small for stairs!

We let him off-leash and they had a ball! They were sniffing like crazy, and then running and leaping and running, running, running. Hobie, the one we were most worried about, was actually almost "motherly" towards Monty. He was just so wonderful with the puppy. I was so proud of him. Hector was a little bit stimulated and tried to mount this little dog a few times and after the meeting was so over-exerted it took him over an hour to stop panting! But all in all, he did very well. He and Monty have almost the same markings so it was so delightful seeing a mini version of Hector running alongside of the big doofus!

They were very gentle with Monty. I noticed that they allowed Monty to be the leader. It was not really like they were chasing Monty, it was more like they were FOLLOWING Monty. They moved as a pack, at a slow trot. It was awesome! But then, Monty would lie down and flip over and show his stomach very submissive. It was just a great, great experience and I am SOOOO happy.

Afterwards when Mike got home he called me and we talked about it for 10 minutes! We were both very happy that it was such a successful meeting. Now the ice is broken, and I don't have to worry. Oh, and did I mention how proud I am of my boys?

Cat attack!!

2007-08-11T13:11:00.001-05:00

Wait'll you hear what happened on this morning's walk.

I had watched "Greta and Hoss" on DW last night -- every time that episode is on I point at the screen and go "That's me!" Hoss does exactly what Hobie does on walks. I noticed that when another dog approached, Cesar did make the people STOP, make the dogs sit and calm down, and then continue walking. I can't imagine how that is done without incident, but that's definitely what he trained them to do! Hopefully I can master that one day!

I decided to take a friend's advice and use the prong collars this morning. Thank goodness I did because they definitely gave me a (little) more control over the dogs. My goal was to walk them over to the other road so they could hopefully meet Mike's new puppy. But, in order to do that, we have to walk up three dead-end dirt roads: mine, another one, and then Mike's. My street is good because they know everybody; the other street is deserted (no houses) so there are no problems there; Mike's road is very populated and lots of pets. But I noticed that there were very few cars in the driveways, it being Saturday morning and "tax-free weekend" here in Mass, everybody is probably out shopping. Hooray! It would be an easy walk!

Not so fast. I made it to Ralph's house (this is the dog-hater -- his property abutts mine but he lives on the other road -- same road as Mike, only further down). I didn't see the cat snoozing in the brush, but the dogs sure smelled her. They zoomed to the left and then I realized there was a cat! Thinking back, I realize that the dogs were perfectly fine, it was only when I said "NO!" that things started to escalate. Darn it!!! But those prong collars sure came in handy. The dogs were straining at the leashes and I figured out that because I'm so short I have a low center of gravity and I could feel that I was about to go down on the ground face first. So, instead of letting them pull me down, I SAT down deliberately! !! If anyone had looked out their window at this point, heaven only knows what they would've thought! (Meanwhile, my house, which is RIGHT THERE? Well, Gil is home all right, but he has the music on FULL BLAST so he can't hear the ruckus. Hobie is barking, Hector is whining, and I'm saying "NO!" in as calm a voice as I can muster). I do feel bad because I shouldn't have been pulling CONSTANTLY on those prong collars. I know they're only supposed to be used for "snap" corrections, but I didn't know what else to do. I was terrified that if I let go, the cat would run, they'd chase her, and kill her. And, in hindsight, I should've just kept walking instead of stopping and sitting down on the ground!

It gets better. All of a sudden, the cat springs into action and she rears up on her haunches and starts PUNCHING the dogs and hissing at them! Between this, and me sitting on the ground and foot-tapping the dogs' legs so that their feet keep going out from under them, the dogs completely calmed down. I said, out loud, "Everyone has to calm down!" and I looked in Hobie's eyes. After all I was sitting on the ground, and so was he. And I did not see a killer. I saw curiosity, love, and beauty.

Once they were completely calm, I stood up, dusted myself off (it had rained so the dirt road was all MUD!), and decided not to go to Mike's but to turn around and go home. As we started walking back down the road from whence we came, the cat started to trot after us. I looked at her, and she was so darned cute! And I thought, "Aw, isn't that sweet, she's walking with us!"

WRONG!!! She trotted up to us, and stood on her hind legs and started punching the dogs and hissing!!! It was amazing and hilarious. It was all I could do not to laugh, but at the same time I was scared it would make the dogs escalate again. Instead of continuing down the road, I made the radical decision to cut through Ralph's yard (dog-hater) which brings me to the back gate of my yard in about 12 seconds. I made it inside the gate, having to tromp through thickets, thorns and hopefully not poison ivy. I entered first, made the dogs go in and then dropped the leashes. Then, I started to have what I think was an asthma attack or something! I don't have asthma, but I couldn't breathe and I was coughing. I guess it was probably panic attack, who knows! I walked around the yard to cool off. The dogs knew I was mad, they both sat in the shade FAR AWAY from me.

But at the same time I was fascinated by what that cat had done. Amazing.

Hey, if nothing else I'm good for a story or two!

"Hey, Lady!"

2007-08-06T21:09:00.001-05:00

I just thought this was funny, and I had to memorialize it someplace.

This is as good a place as any.

I was pulling out of a parking lot today, and stopped at the end to look both ways before I made a right turn toward home. Coming at me from my right was a huge dump truck, and it was maneuvering around a family walking five-abreast on the road. Thus, the truck was in the wrong lane. And so, I waited, and kept my eye on that truck as it careened toward me in the wrong lane.

I suppose it must have looked, to a woman riding a bicycle coming from the left, as though I was going to pull out -- which would've been really stupid since there was a truck in my lane, going the wrong way. Bicycle-riding-woman was coming from my left, right up alongside my car, and she and her four companions were apparently not worried about the large Mack truck heading their way in the wrong lane, but were instead worried about me because I hadn't (yet) looked to my left to see if anyone was coming.

I, of course, learned from my mother, Mook, many years ago "head on a swivel" when pulling out of anywhere. What Mook meant by that was to turn my head back-and-forth several times before moving forward in an automobile. In England they say, "Look Left!" (because they drive on the "wrong" side of the road). And, being one to always be extra-super-duper careful, I was simply sitting and waiting for the truck to go by and then I was going to start my head-on-a-swivel, which eventually would've meant turning my head to the left, then back to the right, then left again, right, left, right until I was satisfied that it was safe to proceed.

"Hey, LADY!" Bicycle-riding-woman hollered as she passed close by the front of my car, four companions close at her heels on their own bikes. I hadn't looked left, so I hadn't seen them (yet) but I think she thought I was just an absent-minded old lady. Those thoughts went through my brain rapid-fire, and instead of glaring at her, I just smiled. As she rode past, she said, "I just wanted to make sure you saw us!" and then all five of them waved. I pulled out behind them, real, real slow, and stayed way back until they turned up the bike path 100 yards away. As they turned, and I drove past them, they all waved again.

It was the first time anybody ever yelled, "Hey, Lady!" directed at me.

"OMG," I thought, "I have become 'lady.' That word. It's connotation, "Old hag." "Lady!" the very sound of it like something that smells bad.

"Hey! Lady!" Jerry Lewis.

Stephen King's "Hitchhiker" ("Thanks for the ride, Lady.")

"Jeez, Lady, watch where you're goin'!"

"Ugh! LAAAADY!!!" as some gray-haired woman cuts you off in traffic.

"Hey, Lady! Wake up!"

"Hey! Lady! Pay attention!"

But it was none of those things. It was Smart Lady, waiting for the truck to pass before moving into traffic.

massachusetts legislators take a bite out of lyme

2007-07-23T11:47:00.001-05:00

Today, Massachusetts legislators announced a proposal by Rep. Jennifer Callahan of Worcester that would result in a special facility, possibly located right here in Worcester (!!) devoted to educating health professionals about chronic Lyme disease which is often undiagnosed and untreated. Here is a news article on the topic, which was announced just one hour ago.

http://www1.whdh.com/news/articles/local/BO58179/

In addition, here is an article written about three weeks ago regarding the controversy over chronic Lyme diagnosis, and the difficulties patients like me often encounter in trying to geta diagnosis.

http://tinyurl.com/2kckz2

This, along with the recognition of Fibromyalgia by the FDA just last month, is fantastic news for people like me who have been living with these bizarre and annoying symptoms for many years with no diagnosis.As you know, I've long suspected that I may have chronic Lyme disease. I was tested for Lyme by a reluctant physician in 2004 when I first developed chronic fatigue, pain and other symptoms consistent with Lyme (as well as MS, fibromyalgia, Lupus, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and several other syndromes). That test came back negative. This is a common problem with chronic Lyme because only one testing lab in the U.S. is equipped to properly test blood samples for the presence of the Borelia bacteria in the blood. If your test doesn't get sent to that lab (and most don't), and you don't have the telltale "bull's-eye" rash, then your test comes back negative and you're told you don't have Lyme. This is more than a common occurrence, and part of the focus of Ms. Callahan's proposal.I have been exposed to ticks constantly due to my interactions with my dogs as well as the frequency of my visits to Cape Cod. Ticks are also rampant in Worcester County as well. The way I figure it, if I don't have Lyme disease, it would be a miracle! While I have, to my knowledge, not seen the typical bull's-eye rash, I have often found ticks on myself, although I am not aware specifically of an actual bite. I check myself and my dogs for ticks constantly, and I'm more than vigilant about doing so. We are over-run with ticks here on Cape Cod, and it's not unusual to find one crawling up my leg! The dogs, who often sleep with me, are always loaded with ticks. I spend a good part of our post-walk routine picking ticks off everybody.Since neurologists are the specialists most often dealing with chronic Lyme, it is more than ironic that these two newsworthy developments would occur just days before my upcoming introductory appointment with a neurologist.I intend to discuss both issues with her: Lyme and Fibromyalgia.Stay tuned!

k2 announces k2k9 group on Yahoo Groups!

2007-07-18T18:41:00.000-05:00

Having been a member of several Yahoo groups over the last year or so, and always being a natural-born leader, I wanted to have a group to call my own.

Click to join k2k9
When I started searching Yahoo Groups I was astonished to learn that there are over 50,000 groups in the "dogs" category.

Wanting to make my group stand out in a crowd, I knew I'd have to come up with something unique, original and upbeat.

As the proud owner of two dogs when I was a child (Sam, a wonderful old howling Beagle; and Fritz, the scariest dog in the whole neighborhood --a German Shepherd Dog that my brother had gotten when he was a recruit at the police academy), I knew the special challenges that came with owning a pack of dogs.

I was fortunate enough to spend the lion's share of my adulthood with my most loyal friend and companion, Timba, a black Labrador Retriever who lived to the ripe old age of 18 (that's about the equivalent of a 125-year-old human). She died when I was 41 years old, and at the time I knew her longer than I'd known most people, including my sweetheart,Gil.

Shortly before Timba's death, I adopted Hobie, a yellow Lab/Shepherd mix who instantly took on the role of the love of my life, but not the well-behaved "perfect" dog that Timba had always been. Nevertheless,Timba actually taught Hobie many things, and when she passed away that sad day on Memorial Day weekend in 2001, I was ready to have Hobie takeover Timba's job.

But a very interesting thing happened. One September 4, 2001, exactly one week before "9/11", my dear friend Nancy announced that her daughter's dog, Oreo, had just given birth to a litter of black Lab-mix puppies. Missing Timba like crazy, and having such a good time raisingHobie, I decided I'd take a puppy when they were ready.

When 9/11 hit, it was like a ton of bricks to me personally. You see,I work in the travel business in a specialized "niche" market, and the terrorist attack hit our business hard.

Sad and depressed, I started visiting the puppies at Nancy's farm everyFriday afternoon. Hobie actually picked out the pup we would eventually take home: Hector, a black Lab/Coonhound mix who howled from the moment we put him in our car one November afternoon, and hasn't stopped howling since! I describe my Hector as "the nicest dog in the world." He hasn't got a mean bone in his body, and I often wishI could draw cartoons because he'd be a perfect cartoon character! If you watch Hector's antics for a while, you can see what kind of canine must have inspired the creators of Pluto, Snoopy, Marmaduke, and all the other cartoon dogs!

But soon after Hector and Hobie, who are both male and very close in age, reached adolescence, I also reached my mid-40s. I would never change a thing in the world (except my leadership skills, which are often weak)! Having two dogs is often challenging, difficult and exhausting, but at the same time rewarding, fun, joyous and did I mention exhausting!?

It is that which perhaps sets this group apart from others. I want to hear from others who live in multi-dog households. Whether you feel outnumbered, or want your pack to grow to epic proportions, we can help each other grow and have some fun doing it.

Before I sign off, I have two requests:

1) Please refrain from personal attacks or flaming of any kind.

2) Do not ever say anything bad about Cesar Millan here. Go do that somewhere else. Bashing of the Dog Whisperer is not allowed.

Violators of either of these rules will be removed from the group without additional warning.

Now, claim that gate, come on in (in front of your dog)!

Welcome to K2's Dog Park!

K2

dog whisperer week in review

2007-07-14T10:08:00.000-05:00

I spent every single night this week watching Dog Whisperer, riveted to the TV and even rewinding the DVR to watch some parts over and over. The show was run in a marathon format since it's on hiatus, and we fans need our "fix"!

Gil was away at the Cape, and I am back at home, so I had the whole house to myself and was able to watch it without his complaints or comments (he likes DW, but gets annoyed at the "marathons").

I learned SO MUCH even though I have seen the episodes so many times before (except for the two new ones). The show is so inspiring for me. Every night when I finished watching (sometimes I'd let the repeats run while I was sleeping lol)I would be so PSYCHED to take my dogs for a walk, but of course it being 11 pm I couldnt lol.

But the next day I would take what I learned and use it. I can't believe how many new things I learned, even from episodes where I thought it wouldn't apply to me. Like last night was the "Desert Bulldogs" episode. I've seen that 50 times before. But when the Cocker Spaniel ran to the fence and the other two dogs followed and Cesar explained that he had to correct them at thefence, and then let them go away from the fence, something clicked in my brain. That's why the dogs keep charging the fence -- because I'm not correcting them and calming them down at the fence! I have so much trouble at the Cape because we're on a public walking route, and everyone walks their dogs past our house. My dogs have no problem with dogs they KNOW (like at home, it's only dogs we KNOW that walk by). But the UNKNOWN dogs? Fergit it!! My dogs go berserk. I now know exactly what to do,and I can't wait to go back there and try it again. Thanks to Cesar!! That's just ONE example of what I learned.

Another thing was repeating over and over and over until you get the right results. I would try to get Hector to go down the stairs AFTER me, but if he didn't do it after one try, I'd just give in and follow him. I don't know why it took me watching these episodes 100 times beforeI realized that I have to stop on those stairs, bring the dog up again, and make him sit, and do it over and over until he stops trying to go first. What a revelation!! I did it today, and it only took three times and he "got" it!

Today, I walked my dogs in a completely different direction. I threw them for a loop because we always go on the same route every day.Or, lately I've been so frozen in fear that we go nowhere. Today,instead of taking a right at the end of the road and then doing "the safety zone walk", I went LEFT and went across the bridge over the lake. It's only a 5-minute walk, but that's ok because there are no other dogs and it was really hot out anyway. I had both leashes slack by my side and gathered them up holding them like a purse, instead of Hector running WAY out front, and Hobie being at my side. What a great walk we had! Every time Hector pulled, I corrected to the side or up, just like Cesar explains, to surprise the dog and keep him a little off-balance. It worked!!

What I need to do is watch Dog Whisperer every single day. I have not been this inspired in months. I'm going to set small goals each day, and go different routes to keep the dogs paying attention to me as leader.When we go back to the beach next week, I'm going to walk them up and down in the same 50-foot area in the public parking lot until I'm comfortable to go further -- back and forth, back and forth.

My ULTIMATE goal is to be able to walk them both, as a pack, safely on the beach with no problematic encounters and no angry humans. I AM going to do this. It may take years, but with the inspiration of Cesar I know I can do it. I'll just pop the DVD in and watch it,even if it's an episode I've seen 100 times who cares? I can't wait 'til Season 2 comes out on DVD, so I'll have more material to inspire me.

Well, I am so psyched right now. I hope I can continue this positive mindset, and not go back to my anxiety-attack state. BTW, fans of DW: don'tcha just LOVE the episode with A.J. that lady who has the Panic Attacks? That is one of my favorites (and obviously a lot of other people's since it was on fan-favorite night!). And wasn't it cool to see her in the new episode at the nursing "hotel"? I had mixed feelings, that woman inspires me so much, but at the same time I felt the other lady with the two little dogs had a bit of an "in" with Cesar because of the connection. Oh well, whatever works I guess. Good for her!!

And of course they played my favorite, favorite episode which is at the beginning of Katrina Dogs Part 2 -- Major Jones. I LOVE that segment with the older woman and her GSD Major Jones. I cry everytime I see it. That woman is truly an inspiration to us all.

doggie backpack!

2007-06-30T14:18:00.000-05:00

Hi everybody!

We finally fenced in our yard at the Cape. This is where,about a month ago, my dogs got into YET ANOTHER incident. A fight with the neighbor's little Beagle (see posting "dog fight!" below).

Between that, and my being dragged down on the ground by these guys at least a half-dozen times down here by the beach, it was no longer feasible to be walking on-leash as my ONLY option.

Last week, my best girlfriend fell while walking her dog and broke her arm and got 9 stitches in her forehead. Her dog is the most well-behaved, mellow, relaxed dog I have EVER known. He is 9 years old or so. What happened was, a cat crept out from under a bush and walked right under his nose sort of "taunting" him, and he lunged. My friend was looking in the other direction, and didn't let go of the leash until it was too late. I can't tell you how many times this kind of thing has happened to me, and I am damn lucky that I have only had minor injuries, considering that I'm walking two 80-lb dogs, and I never let go ofthe leashes for fear of traffic or ticking off some human!! Thus, I have been dragged, on my face/stomach, several times.

Back to the fence. So, I put the dogs in the yard when we arrived here the other day, after taking a very brief 5 minute walk. They were SO relaxed, I've never seen them so calm here. They usually are tied up on long ropes in the yard, or have to stay indoors, or walked on leash, so all that pent-up energy had nowhere to go. Now that they can walk around in the yard, they are like different dogs.

On Friday, the satellite installation took place and we finally have high-speed internet. It took NINE hours, and we have this hideous dish in our yard, which detracts from the 1950s "beachy" feel of the place, but not so bad now that I've had a few days to get used to it! lol. Well, having the yard fenced in, the dogs hung out all day with the guy who was doing the install. They did not bark at him, not even once, upon his arrival. They slept all day, and that was without a walk. It wasn't hot, so that wasn't the reason they were so relaxed, they just were relaxed. They were able to go in and out of the house on their own, just like they do at home.

Bored out of my mind, I took them for a walk at 6 pm (the guy didn't finish until 8 pm!). On the walk, the dogs were insane. On the next morning's walk they were insane again. Later, I was working in the yard, and a woman walked by with a giant Schnauzer. My dogs barked ONCE. This is amazing. When they were tied up on ropes in the yard, they would go BERSERK when a dog walked by. They just let out one little "woof" apiece, walked calmly up to the fence, sniffed at the dog, followed it as far as they could from inside the fence, and then trotted back to me and laid down on the ground.

Cesar said on a recent episode (before the season ended) that it's ok to just walk a few minutes if that's all you can feel comfortable doing, and try to increase each day. He said if you can just walk to the next door neighbor's driveway and back, then that's all you can do and don't beat yourself up for it. I really feel that I am back to basics as far as walks go. I used to be such an expert, and fearless, until I started getting into all these scrapes (mainly with other HUMANS!!!). Now, I am a nervous wreck. Then, to top it all off my friend's incident happened, and another friend about 6 months ago fell walking her dog and broke her ankle in three places. It really makes me think how lucky I am that I haven't been seriously hurt with these two. It's important to also note that I suffer from a chronic fatigue and pain condition (as yet undiagnosed but I'mworking on it with the drs) and this creates challenges I never had in my life as a younger woman. I am no longer strong like I used to be, I'm very unsteady on my feet, I'm dizzy a lot of the time, andI'm always extremely exhausted, so it's unsafe to walk two big dogs on leash most of the time. Then, I fence in the yard, and the dogs are more calm than they've ever been their whole lives.

On my web site, I have a whole page entitled "The Importance ofWalking Your Dog". I totally agree with Cesar that dogs are meant to walk, and that we have to walk with them as a pack. I was doing that way before I ever heard of Cesar. My Timba and I were such a great team, we could walk without a leash. We'd walk several hours a day.When I adopted Hobie, it was for one and only one reason: Timba could no longer walk, and I needed a dog to walk with me (ok, I also fell in love with him when I saw him lol). I tell EVERYONE who has a new dog that they MUST walk the dog at least 20-60 minutes a day, if not more.But now, I've witnessed in my own life that all of my dog problems occur ON the walk, and that when I walk around the fenced yard with them (by the way, that's important to mention -- I walk with them inside the yard, I don't just toss them out there alone), they seemto be SO unbelievably calm. Friday, during the satellite installation, they were so calm and relaxed, I just couldn't believe it.

Am I crazy, ifI say that I think we are better off not walking as much right now?

I don't know, but today, I decided I'd put the backpack on Hector before our morning walk. We had encountered three dogs during Sunday morning's walk, and I'm just so stressed out over this. There are so many dogs here! Maybe the backpack will help to calm him down by giving him a job to do other than "protecting" us.

I didn't put any weight in the backpack, just empty water bottles and empty grocery bags for poop-pickup. Just putting the backpack on Hector calmed him down. It was amazing. We only walked for 10 minutes because the dogs started to get excited about something I couldn't see. Probably a wild animal in the woods, or a cat, I didn't wait around to find out. I turned around and went home. Just as we approached our house, the lady across the street was outside with her tiny dog walking up and down the barricaded end of the road. Had Hector not been wearing the backpack, he would've lunged and dragged me. But instead, his leash was slack, and I just gathered it up like a purse string, did the same with Hobie, who has always been more manageable, and jogged up and into our driveway, depositing the dogs into the car with a bribe of "we're goin' for a RIDE!" Off we went to get coffee, pastries, dog food and stamps.

When we returned, the lady was outside walking her dog still. I made Hobie and Hector get out of the car separately and put them into the fenced-in yard. Yay!! They're completely relaxed again today. I'm gonna keep using that backpack. Remember: it's almost always something the human is doing (or not doing)!! It's not the dog, it's the human!

morning at k2's

2007-06-24T13:30:00.000-05:00

Here is a funny video I took one morning.

i love my dog

2007-06-05T09:34:00.001-05:00

I love both of my dogs, but this essay is about Hobie.

I have discovered that poor Hobie is "unstable" as Cesar would define the dog. An unstable dog is not calm and balanced. An unbalanced dog is nervous, frightened, hyper and at times aggressive.

Hobie has a horrendous fear of fireworks and thunderstorms. Last Saturday night, the neighbors around the lake were at it again, lighting off dramatic homemade fireworks displays, complete with whirring, whistling colorful things that flew over our house and exploded into the night air. These are punctuated by "cherry-bomb" or M-80 firecrackers, the likes of which shake the entire house even though the person who exploded it was clear across the other side of the lake. The poor Canada geese squawk and fly away in terror, in the middle of the night, the poor things, and Hobie would like to join them if he could.

When the first "boom!" hit Saturday night, Hector stood up, looked out the screen door "on alert", decided everything was fine, and laid down and went to sleep for the rest of the night. Different story with Hobie. He proceeded to claw at us, and pant so hard that I thought he would have a heart attack. He could not find a proper place to hide, trying to crawl under the desk, then deciding that wasn't good enough, and trying to get me to go into the basement. Now, this last part is my fault. When he was a puppy, long before we had Hector, the two of us would go into the "bomb shelter" (the laundry room) and I'd sit and read a book in a lawn chair while he chilled out. I'd play music on a radio or something, and run the washing machine so he couldn't hear the fireworks. So, I have obviously "trained" poor Hobester to seek shelter in the laundry room. Only now, 7 years later, the laundry room is gross and dirty and wet and moldy. Someone accidentally threw away the lawn chairs, so there's nowhere to sit except if I'm lucky enough to be backlogged on laundry, in which case I can make a pile and sit on it. I decided to do just that on Saturday night. Hector laid down beside me and snoozed. Hobie paced and panted and hid behind the drying rack. It was hours later that he was finally calm enough to go to sleep, long after the neighbors had put away their toys for the evening.

During all of this, a surprising thing happened. I've been following the advice of Cesar Millan, who says never give your dog affection when it is upset. So, when Hobie is doing all of his neurotic behavior, I try to make him calm down by being a leader to him and not giving him affection. This means no patting or saying, "Awwww, honeeeeey, it's OK." stuff like that. Whereas I used to do nothing BUT affection, I have flip-flopped and rarely give my dog affection anymore, under any circumstances, until he's had his exercise and discipline. Most of the time is spent on discipline!

That night, Gil took Hobie, practically in his arms, and patted him and loved him and told him everything would be OK. Gil's not a fanatic follower of Cesar like I am, but he does like the guy and enjoys watching the show and read the book bla bla bla. What Gil did actually calmed Hobie down.

I was both amazed and sad all at the same time. For the first 6 years of his life, I kept Hobie from things, I didn't socialize him, I never allowed him any freedom from having a leash attached to his body. He became a frustrated dog. But the last year and a half, since I discovered "Dog Whisperer" I have once again kept Hobie from enjoying life, but in a different way. I have been his leader, and haven't shown him as much love as I probably should. This is by no means a reflection on Cesar Millan. I am still his biggest fan and supporter. It is my fault. As Cesar always says, the problem with dogs is always something the human is doing. The dog is just being a dog. How right he is. Once again, I have made mistakes.

So, I'm trying to get a good balance with Hobie now. I'm trying to be conscious of the fact that this dog, this wonderful dog with whom I fell in love at first sight, will not be with me forever. He is a great dog, and he deserves a balance of leadership and love, not a lifetime of saying "NO!" to him constantly. I feel like that's all I do these days, "No, Hobie. No. NO. NO!"

I'm going to try to be a better pet parent to my dog. To both of my dogs.

dog fight!

2007-05-29T20:53:00.000-05:00

Last night, I did some really stupid things on my dog walk, and got into a tussle with YET ANOTHER neighbor.

I was at the Cape this weekend, and everyone blew outta there by 3:00 Monday afternoon. The place was deserted. Around 6:30, which is really late for us, I decided to take the dogs for a walk down our dirt road with just regular buckle leashes -- no choke collars (my first mistake). I always use choke collars there because I have better control and there are tons of dogs. But I figured everyone was gone and there'd be no encounters with other dogs (or cats).

There is one year-round home on the road, and they got a new dog about 6 months ago. It's sort of like a Beagle, but single-color, sort of a golden color. Cute dog, howls like a Beagle. I sometimes let Hector walk off-leash on this road, it is totally deserted except for my house and this other one at these times when the summer crowd hasn't arrived yet to fill the rental cottages. I always, always hook up Hector when walking past that house. I don't want him on their lawn, and I don't want to disturb their dog. So, I hooked the leash on Hector and we walked by. Their dog started going ballistic inside the house. A few minutes later, I looked behind me and the lady was walking with the Beagle-type dog a little bit behind us on a flexi-lead, going in the same direction as us (which happens to be further away from home).

Feeling social, I turned around and started to walk towards them (second mistake). My dogs went nuts, and I figured I'd just let Hector off-leash, and that was perfectly fine, he is such a peach, he never causes any trouble. (third mistake)

Hobie went berserk, probably jealous that Hector was loose and he wasn't. I held his leash really tight and close to me (fourth mistake -- tension on the leash) and we walked up to the lady and her dog, who was already cavorting and socializing with Hector, and they were perfectly fine. By this time we were in the lady's yard. I forgot to mention I don't know these people, except the husband did give my dogs water one time a couple years ago. So, Hobie started pulling REALLY hard, and without the choke he is so powerful I could barely control him. I held on, but I allowed him to "greet" the dog in the dog's own yard (fifth mistake).

The woman was scared TO DEATH of my two big dogs. I kept saying, "They're fine, they're really friendly, just really strong" (as I was being dragged onto her property by Hobie). She started asking me questions rapid-fire, and I could tell she was scared witless: "Are they fixed? Because he isn't." she said. "There's a leash law, you know. You're supposed to have him on a leash." ("Him", being Hector who was doing NOTHING but standing there being the big
doofus that he is). I said, "I took the leash off because if I hadn't they would've pulled me down on the ground, they outweigh me and they were too excited."

"Will they gang up and attack him?!!" she cried in total fear.

I'm like, "No way! They're really friendly! They love other dogs!"

Well, just about that time, Hobie's leash and the lady's stupid flexi-lead got tangled right at the collars. Hobie, who was doing his play-mount-dominance thing that he does with every new dog he meets had his head pulled right down next to the Beagles. Hobie flipped out and CHOMPED down on the Beagle's neck from the back and wouldn't let go. I VERY CALMLY said "He's never done that before. What the hell are you doing?" (that last part to Hobie, not the lady).

But the woman was freaking out. She started screaming and kicking Hobie as hard as she could repeatedly. I CALMLY told her, "Their leashes are tangled. Will you hold on a minute, let's fix the leashes." By distracting her in this way, it stopped her from flipping out and Hobie let go of the dog's neck, thank doG.

I dragged Hobie back out onto the dirt road. Hector then ran up and gave a resoluate "WOOF!" to the Beagle for good measure, and the lady promptly kicked Hector as hard as she could. I decided, because I was on her property I will say nothing, but she is damn lucky she didn't get bitten acting like that. THAT is how people get bitten by dogs. She was completely hysterical, and her question: "Will they gang up on him?" her voice already shaking, and her mind already made up, and her energy, well she MADE IT HAPPEN. I was so disgusted with her, and myself. If only I had turned around before her house, as I sometimes do. Or kept going away from her house instead of attempting to socialize. And of course, being so lazy as to not use the choke collars. That was really stupid.

Then, the husband comes out of the house, apparently drunk and goes, "WHAT THE F*** IS GOING ON OUT HERE?!" "A LOOSE DOG! THERE'S A LEASH LAW YOU KNOW." (Little do they realize that the LEASHED dog was the one who got aggressive -- since there's this very common problem called Leash Aggression in the dog world, which many people don't realize is a very real issue with many dog owners). I kindly gave Husband Of Freaked Out Lady the same explanation about the choice of being dragged down on the ground, then I promptly put Hector's leash on him, asked if their dog was all right (four times!!! before the woman finally looked him over and confirmed that he WAS all right), I apologized, and started walking home.

The lady asked me where I was "staying". I said, "I'm not 'staying' anywhere. I live here. I'm here all the time." (By this time I'm incredulous that these people acted like they'd never seen me before, this is my regular walking route, I go by their house twice a day when I'm in town! The husband has even given my dogs water before!) She asked me my name and the exact house I live in, which is just up at the end of the same road. I told her, and figured for SURE the
police would show up at my house just in time for dinner.

As I walked away, I heard the husband SCREAMING at her, and then they had a huge argument that I could hear clear down the street as I was walking. No police ever came to visit me last night.

I know the things I did wrong, as I pointed out above. I think I will start running with the dogs instead of walks -- it will keep them more occupied so they won't have the choice to stop
and "socialize" -- if we're running, we don't stop. I have backpacks in the car, do you think I ever take them out and use them? Heck, no! I will start using them immediately.

At one point right after I got home, I was so discouraged I was thinking that the ONLY time I get in trouble with my dogs is when I walk them. Cesar Millan says to walk and master the walk. I'm so close, but just so far away. And then I started thinking, if the ONLY time we get in trouble is when we walk, then why keep doing it? Does that make sense, am I explaining this right? -- hard to do in email. Why not just stop taking my dogs for walks, since that's the only time we ever have problems. You know what I mean?

spencer, massachusetts

2007-05-26T19:55:00.000-05:00

In the month-plus since my birthday, life has been unbelievably crazy. Crazier than I can ever remember. I live in the tiny towns of Spencer and Eastham, Massachusetts. The happenings in these two remote villages have been staggering this last month.

I posted last about the nor'easter that ruined the stairs at Nauset Light Beach. I visited Eastham that week and took photos, which I haven't had time to post here. I went back a couple weeks later, to find, to my delight, stairs with several landings at various intervals. Not only are they easier to maneuver (particularly going UP) but will be infinitely better to navigate with two hounds, if I ever get up the courage to do so.

Tomorrow, I venture forth to Eastham again. On my way there, I will take on a new challenge. I'm going to visit my friend Sue, in Bourne, with both dogs accompanying me. She also lives across the road from a dog-friendly beach. This will be interesting! I will report back after it's all said and done.

On to my primary residence in Spencer. Let's see. First, there was the contaminated water. That one made national news headlines. Spencer, Massachusetts was the #2 story on The Today Show. Wow! Spencer's town water supply became tainted with unsafe levels of lye. Lye is used in the water treatment under normal circumstances, but something malfunctioned. The result being that 100 people were burned by taking showers or washing their hands or faces, and some drank it. Thankfully, I live in such a remote part of town that we have private well water. But our office is located right on Main Street. The number of ambulances that day, you would've thought we were in the big city! Interestingly enough, nobody ever contacted our place of business to tell us about the water. We heard about it through the grapevine. But that's another story, for another day. I wrote a letter to the town a few days after the water contamination, but never sent it.

Shortly thereafter, we had a (possible) murder-suicide in Spencer, and the wife who was allegedly murdered has not yet been found. They're declaring her "missing" still, and we sure hope she is alive. We made the news again.

The third thing that happened, and we made the local papers on this one, was that the house across the street from mine got struck by lightning and burned beyond repair. Its occupant, a dear, dear friend of ours, lost just about everything he owned.

It was one of the most horrific things I've ever witnessed in my whole life. The storm came out of nowhere. I was downstairs at my house, doing laundry of all things. Thank goodness our friend was not home when this happened, so no one was in that building when it went up. I thought it was a tornado, it came up that fast, and the wind was howling, and then BLAM! a wicked strike of lightning! I yelled (to the dogs) "WHOA! That HIT something!" I ran outside in the middle of the storm because I was sure it had hit my house. I smelled burning plastic (which I would later find out was the cable TV wire from the pole to my house). I walked around outside and inside my house, crawling under the deck in the back, trying to see if and where it hit. All the other neighbors were doing the same. Because the strike hit the back of Mike's house, we didn't see it. We all went back inside, and about 10 minutes later, I see Steve -- he's running. Steve doesn't run, so I knew something was wrong. I hollered out my door, "Steve! What's the matter?"

"Mike's house is on fire!"

I asked him if he called 9-1-1, he had. And then, for good measure, I called myself.

The fire was really nothing at that point. We could hear the trucks coming, a crowd had gathered, and we were saying to each other, "It's gonna be OK. It's nothing." Then, within ONE second, BLAM! something caught and the thing erupted into an inferno. The kitchen went up in one second flat. The huge picture windows in the room that got hit by lightning blew right out of the building.

We were so scared, and there was nothing we could do but stand there and watch, my hands "Home Alone" style. Turns out the trucks (7 of them) came from three towns other than Spencer. There was talk afterwards that some got mis-directed and went up the wrong dirt road, there are so many on the lake.

Even though I didn't live in that house, we spent a lot of time there, and the fact that "but for the grace of God" Mike wasn't home that afternoon, and it didn't hit my house, well, it is just too scary for words. I cried on and off for two days. It was just awful. It was one of the most frightening things I've ever witnessed in my life.

A chapter ended, and lots of memories, both good and bad, for all of us.

I'm hoping Spencer stays out of the news for a while.

birthday

2007-04-21T11:19:00.000-05:00

Today is my 47th birthday. It's the first time, ever, that this day doesn't feel like my birthday, and I keep forgetting that it is my birthday. I have always put great stock in birthdays, particularly my own. As the baby of the family, and the only girl, and born on my father's birthday and on his aunt Annie's birthday, it was such an important day in my life. I was fortunate to always have my birthday during school vacation week here in Massachusetts, and got quite accustomed to having that day "off" from obligations such as school, work, etc. In my adult years, I started taking that day off as my own personal holiday from work, and eventually took the entire week off as a present to myself. This year is different. I used up my April vacation in the unpleasant city of Las Vegas, and have to work today, a Saturday no less! All because I want to es-Cape to Cape Cod tomorrow in a mini-celebration-vacation. It's the best I can do.

This past week, a horrendous nor'easter pummeled Cape Cod with gigantic waves which destroyed the 45-step stairway from Nauset Light Beach Road to Nauset Light Beach. The only entryway to the beach, Mother Nature has ironcally solved a problem for me -- my fear of taking the dogs onto the beach and encountering angry people who don't quite get the concept that the dogs outweigh me and are really quite goofy and friendly. Ah, well, I don't have to worry about that for the time being. There is no indication in the news whether the steps will be rebuilt. For now, the only way to Nauset Light Beach is to jump off a cliff, or walk all the way to the Coast Guard Station and walk up. Problem is, you have to go all the way back to the Coast Guard Station after that. I will most likely do this tomorrow or Monday, and will take some photos and video. Unless the beach is too littered with debris, or the tide is too high. Stay tuned!!

Here are some photos of the steps. I got both of these from the Cape Cod Times web site, having apparently never myself taken any photos of the steps (how strange).

This photo was taken in 2005 during/after a late-October storm that brought the ocean swirling to the bottom of the steps. I remember The Weather Channel being parked in the parking lot, and my friend Craig calling me to tell me. I turned on the TV, back in Spencer, to discover one of the Weather Channel dudes standing on "my" steps, reporting about the storm! Here's the photo:

The next photo is one taken this week, which I found on the Cape Cod Times web site. It's an aerial view of the steps in the midst of being destroyed. The waves, gigantic. I have never seen them so high. Not a great picture, due to the size. It looks better on the Cape Cod Times web site. Here it is, anyhow:

Finally, here is another photo from the Cape Cod Times, showing some folks having a "Disappointing Day At the Beach" this past Thursday. As you can see, the boardwalk is cordoned-off by a barrier so as to prevent people from going down the now non-existent steps. The waves, as recently as Thursday, still pummeling all the way up to the dune. Other parts of the Cape, most notably Chatham's "North Beach" have been changed forever. Parts once reachable by car as recently as a week ago, are now an island reachable only by boat. Here are the disappointed folk:

dog whisperer: truly an inspiration

2007-04-01T11:28:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, I finally broke down and started deleting some of the Season 2 episodes of Dog Whisperer from my very-full DVR. The DVR has been acting up, unable to function at times, because of so many Dog Whisperer episodes being saved onto it. During this process, a very interesting thing happened. I became inspired all-over-again by Cesar's true gift. He trains people, oh yes, he does.

I had recorded episodes all the way back to March, 2006 on the DVR. I started watching the segments that pertained to me, saving the ones that really pertained to me, and deleting whole episodes if nothing in any of the two-or-three segments related to my situation.

To reiterate: I have been immobilized by fear and unable to walk my dogs on longer walks because they have pulled me down on the ground in pursuit of cats or other dogs. I have been injured physically, and even got into some scuffles with humans during these incidents. The dogs even killed a cat (by accident) exactly a year ago this week.

A wonderful thing happened yesterday. I started taking snippets of information away from the various episodes I watched, committed them to memory, and took the dogs for a walk around the block.

In the "Bearz" episode, I heard Cesar say that you should go down the stairs slowly. I captured that in my brain for future use.

On to "Greta and Hoss" -- claiming the door. Well, I've pretty much mastered that, but there was information that I needed to hear again, and it helped.

The "Eppie" episode (eppie-sode!) reminded me of the fact that I have to keep my eyes forward, and that the dog has to pay attention to me, not the other way around. That I can feel what the dog is doing without looking at him.

My very favorite episode has always been "Major Jones." I cry every time I watch it, so inspired and in awe of what Major Jones and his owner accomplish in such a short time. I got the most out of that one yesterday, because Cesar said that if there's a trouble spot, you need to work in that area over and over and over again until it becomes second nature. In the case of Major Jones, it was going in and out of the gate calmly. In my case, it's passing the next-door neighbor's house, where the cat was killed last year, and two more houses on our regular walking route where cats congregate. I realized I can just keep walking, back and forth, back and forth, in the cat areas until the dogs become so acclimated to gentle, calm walking that they will no longer become excited and get into "chase" mode.

I took the dogs for a walk yesterday, after watching all of these segments of Dog Whisperer. I looked straight ahead, and didn't "scope out" looking for cats. I stayed completely calm, shoulders down, head forward and up. I didn't allow Hector to "scope out" for cats, either.

Hobie always walks with a slack leash, but Hector likes to pull in front and scope out the situation, in his hound-dog way. I know I have to use the backpack with him. Yesterday, I kept thinking a thought over and over in my mind, silently: "Slack leash, Hector." Within minutes, Hector was walking "in the zone", head low, as relaxed as Hobie, with a slack leash. I had spent a lot of time with Hobie during the year before we adopted Hector, and Hobie has always been very obedient on-leash, except when he's competing for a cat or strange dog's attention.

After our walk, we went for a very long drive. When we returned, the next-door neighbor's cats were in the yard. Same exact situation as last year. Hobie saw the cats as we drove by, and he perked up. Not wanting a repeat (and anyway he wouldn't be off-leash) but not wanting excitement, I gave Hobie a bite and a stern "Hey!" as we drove by. (I imitate Cesar's "Hey!" that he uses on the show.) I made sure my energy was right before getting out of the car. I calmly put the leash on Hobie. I got out of the car first. I left Hector in the car, and put Hobie in the yard, safely away from the kitties. Then, I let Hector out of the car, on-leash. A far cry from last year's incident, when I thought they'd follow me (the non-pack-leader!) into the house, loose, and instead they ran next-door and chomped down on the cat critically injuring it so it had to be operated on and eventually euthanized, at great financial and emotional cost to me.

This morning, I woke up and the old dread came up again when I thought of taking the dogs for a walk. But I said, no, I'm going to beat this thing. I started thinking about the things I heard Cesar say on the show. Things like, "If you only go one step, that is an accomplishment." For so long, I had been setting my sights on a one-hour walk (like we used to take). But thanks to Cesar, I realized I don't have to do that. If I walk only five minutes, that is an accomplishment. And, it's up to me to decide. I don't have to feel bad for the dogs because they're not getting an hour-long walk. That is attaching human emotions to the dogs. If I decide the walk ends after 12 minutes, then the walk ends. We live in the moment, and maybe we'll do a second walk later.

As it turns out, we took a 45-minute walk this morning. We even encountered a running cat, and I was able to turn the dogs around and go in the other direction, then walk past the cat's house a few minutes later with both dogs "in the zone", heads low, leashes slack.

And me, completely in charge.

Dog Whisperer meets Ghost Whisperer

2007-03-25T09:16:00.000-05:00

Check your local listings Friday, March 30th, when Dog Whisperer, Cesar Millan makes a guest appearance on CBS's "Ghost Whisperer" starring Jennifer Love Hewitt. The show airs at 8:00 p.m. Eastern.

Since "Dog Whisperer" usually airs the same night, at the same time, 8:00 p.m. Eastern time, on the National Geographic Channel, the National Geographic people have graciously decided to run Dog Whisperer at 9:00 p.m. that night.

For information on March 30th episode of "Ghost Whisperer", follow this link. There's also a video preview.

http://www.cbs.com/primetime/ghost_whisperer/

Hail Cesar!!!!

frank mueller day, march 9, 2007

2007-03-10T11:37:00.000-05:00

Wish I'd been able to login here before midnight last night and do this post, but alas, I was at my brother Frank's retirement party and so this post will have to contain today's date instead.

The reason I'm concerned? Yesterday, March 9, 2007 was "Frank Mueller Day" in the tiny town of Northborough, Massachusetts.

Above, here, is my brother, Frank, our cousin LouAnn, and me (I'm the baby). Frank, 14 years old when I was born, is not only my brother, but also my godfather. LouAnn, my godmother. This photo was taken in 1960, the year that Mook (see previous post) gave birth to me.

Frank retired from the Northborough Police Department in December, 2006. The party honoring his career was last night, and it was one of the best events I've ever attended. Very well done. A lot of laughter, and a brief shedding of tears.

Frank was given a number of awards, by the town, surrounding towns, fire departments, and even the State of Massachusetts.

My brother is the true definition of "hero." Having self-enlisted in the US Army in the mid-1960s, Frank served in Vietnam on a one-year tour of duty as an MP. Tales of his experience there were never-before-heard until last night. I remember vividly his homecoming from Vietnam, myself having been pulled out of my second-grade classroom to drive to Logan Airport with my folks. My teacher, Mrs. Sullivan, tearful herself, practically jumping up and down at the news of his return home. After that, Frank worked 7 years as a New Jersey State trooper -- a job he qualified for after being accepted into the police academy literally two days after he stepped off the airplane from Vietnam in 1968. He began his career as a trooper with only a few weeks of training, a reportedly unprecedented career move. To his 30 years of service with Northborough, a job he also secured in only a couple of days, and which he accepted in favor of the Southborough Police Department's offer, which came on the same day, only minutes after he'd already accepted the job with Northborough.

Early in his career in "Jersey", as a very young man, Frank was one of hundreds of officers who participated in taking back control of Rahway State Prison from the inmates who had rioted and took over the facility.

Frank was responsible for a number of interesting well-known arrests in the Worcester County (Massachusetts) area, including the infamous "Honeymoon Bandit" -- a man who would "crash" weddings throughout Worcester county and make off with baskets of gift envelopes. Frank was the officer who nabbed the guy, making front-page news headlines for the arrest.

Frank also saved a man from a burning car, twice. The man was so drunk, he crawled back inside the car after Frank dragged him out! Frank was given a medal of honor for saving the man's life.

The stories of Frank's heroism and dedication to "the department" are numerous and inspirational. I am honored to be related to this man, and thrilled to have been part of the celebration of his career.

In his personal life, Frank won several body-building titles in the 1980s and 1990s, rivaling the likes of "Arnold" and others. Frank's four children, (my nieces and nephew) pictured here, are beautiful and a source of pride in and of themselves.

On to bigger and better things -- what will it be next? One can only imagine, and dream.

mook turns 87

2007-03-05T20:30:00.000-05:00

When she was a little girl, my mother's siblings called her "Mook". This is because she couldn't pronounce the word "milk," and it came out "mook." The name stuck. All the cousins call her Aunty Mook. Her sisters still call her Mook.

Mook turned 87 today.

Recently, we were at a family gathering at a local restaurant. I helped Mook into the ladies room. It was one of these fully-automated restrooms, the kind with motion-detectors on everything -- sinks, toilet, paper towel holder.

Poor Mook was completely lost. "How do I flush the toilet?" "You don't," I replied, "it flushes itself when you stand up."

Turning on the sink was a feat in itself. Even computer geek me couldn't get the motion detector to turn the water on.

Once Mook's hands were wet, it was another challenge to get the paper towels to come out of the electronic holder. Again, no matter how many hand-passes across its little red sensor, I couldn't hit it just right for those towels to come streaming out. I finally did it.

When we visited the restroom a second time that night, we went through the entire process all over again. It doesn't help that Mook is nearly 100% blind to begin with.

Here are just a few of the things that have been invented or changed since Mook's birth in 1920:

The tumble dryer

Refrigerator/freezers for home use

Hairdryers

Television

Color Television

Video-tape recorder

Digital video recorder

The Walkman

Portable cassette player/recorder

Cathode-ray tube

Computers

MS-DOS

Electric typewriters

Liquid Paper (aka "White Out")

Cordless telephone

Mobile telephones (1947!!)

Push-button telephone

The modem

The microchip

Remote control devices

Commercial (passenger) airplanes

Jet engine

Liquid-fueled rockets

The helicopter

Radar

Doppler Radar

Hi-fi/stereo sound equipment

The jukebox

The dynamic loudspeaker

The car radio

Frequency modulation (FM radio)

The transistor

Stereo recordings

The drive-in movie theater

3-D movies

Polariod photography

The photocopier

Adhesive tape

The Band-Aid

Bubble gum

Pez candy

Barbie dolls

Cabbage Patch kids

The ball-point pen

The aqualung scuba-diving tank

The lie-detector

Insulin

Penicillin

Tetracycline

Oral contraceptives

Traffic signals

Frozen food

Cake mix

McDonald's

Spiral-bound notebooks

Nylon

Teflon

Neoprene

Velcro

Contact lenses

Aerosol spray cans

Canned beer

Credit cards

ATM machines

Post-It notes

The Segway human transporter

a fresh start

2007-02-21T11:10:00.000-05:00

Like I mentioned in an earlier post, February for me is goal-setting month. I don't do New Year's Resolutions, I make changes in February, after all the New Year's people have dropped out of the gym and so-forth.

I can already feel spring in the air. Mom's birthday is in about 10 days, and that means the start of spring. I can hardly wait!

Last night, I learned that all the tip-toeing around I do in the morning so as not to disturb Gil while he's sleeping isn't necessary, according to him. I try to keep the dogs quiet, and do as little as possible each day while he sleeps in a bit. Well, he said he doesn't really care about the noise, it doesn't disturb him that much.

So, today, I took the dogs for a morning jog. We didn't even make a whole lot of noise, since I carry the kennel leads in my pocket, so I just went outside to put the leads on the dogs. We just went up around the corner and back, and I actually had them run. Hobie and I are both pretty much out-of-shape after sitting around all these weeks, and Hobie's nails are long, so I didn't want to overdo it.

Overnight, we had indigestion, and so I decided this morning that we are no longer going to eat late at night. Our lifestyle really sucks. One thing we can change is what time of the evening we eat. We will feel better, and will probably lose weight, too.

After my run this morning, I washed the dishes, and then went to the gym for the first time. Met Myriam there, and we laughed, learning how to use the treadmills together, and then swam about 8 or 10 laps in the pool. It was actually pretty good. I am not a gym-person, but I may actually keep doing this from time to time. It wasn't crowded, and it was actually much more enjoyable than I would've thought. The bathroom was disgusting, but I simply won't use it. I only live 5 minutes away anyway.

The reward at the end was getting a Dunkin' Donuts iced coffee. Mmmmmm! My favorite. DD is right next door to the gym. There's nothing like an iced coffee on a sunny, spring morning. And no donuts or anything to offset the wonderful work I did exercising!

hector meets riley!

2007-02-16T09:27:00.000-05:00

Took the dogs for a very short walk this morning. Man, they are climbing the walls with cabin fever. This weather is ridiculous. Hey, whatdya want? It's February in New England! It was ok enough to walk for a few minutes.

I tried to get them to walk about the back yard -- no go. They both stood at the top of the stairs on the deck and just looked at me as if to say, "Are you nuts, lady? We want a walk!"

My trusty kennel leads in my jacket pockets, I went back into the house, and brought the dogs out the front door for a stroll up the lane. Hector, loose, brought "Toy" with him (pictured above) and bounded down the steps. At the end of the driveway, he stopped, "Toy" in mouth, did a classic "point" stance, and ran up the road like a car in a drag race, dropped Toy partway down the lane, and started sniffing like the hound he is.

Hobie, wearing a blue kennel lead, and me, walking calmly behind the hound. The kennel lead had looped over Hobie's ear, so that his ear was being flattened under the collar part of the lead. Wearing big overstuffed gloves, it's not easy to put a leash on a dog. I fixed his ear, and moved on.

They sniffed and peed on everything in sight, and we went up to the cottage for a look around. The plow guy had piled the snow so high, the three of us couldn't safely approach the door. I will have to shovel there later.

Across from the cottage is where a new dog, Riley, lives. Hobie met Riley on a walk a few weeks ago, when Hector was recuperating from his foot injury. They smelled Riley today before they saw him.

I had picked up Hector's toy, which he had once again abandoned in favor of sniffing. I spotted Riley up by his house. Hobie spotted him visually next, and then Hector spied Riley.

In true Cesar Millan style, I used no words. I made Hobie follow me. Hector bolted, at first, towards Riley. Riley stood like a soldier, but ears forward and wagging his tail, very much the calm and assertive, yet friendly, dog. Riley made no sounds. Very interesting. He is a silent dog. Hector slowed, and they greeted. Then they play-bowed and started romping together in the snow. I called Hector's name a couple of times, but not showing any upset or panic. I kept walking, Toy in hand, Hobie in the other, towards home.

Once we got closer to our house, Hector said his goodbyes to Riley, and followed us home. We walked a few more minutes, abandoning Toy at various intervals, me picking Toy up and enticing Hector with it: "Got your toy!! I've got Toy! Where's Toy?"

Hobie's feet started to bother him from the cold, and that was the signal to head indoors and have breakfast.

an anniversary, of sorts

2007-02-08T08:18:00.000-05:00

This day marks 19 years that I've been clean and sober. February 8, 1988 is my A.A. "birthday" or "anniversary."

It's very strange mentioning this, since it seems like another lifetime and a different person who went through all that. The idea of having a drink, getting drunk, taking drugs, is just completely foreign to me now. I even stay away from prescription and over-the-counter medication as much as possible. An extra cup of coffee can ruin my day! Booze? I wouldn't even consider drinking today.

I have most certainly moved on. I haven't attended an AA meeting in about 6 years. The last time I went to one was around my anniversary when Hobie was just over a year old. I had been having a really hard time at work, and decided I needed something. So, on a Sunday morning, I went to the open meeting at the big Mass. Electric building out on Route 9. It's a wonderful meeting -- they always have free Dunkin' Donuts donuts and coffee.

But this date of February 8th is a bittersweet one.

On my very first AA anniversary, February 8, 1989, my dear friend Bob died, apparently due to the use and abuse of drugs and alcohol. The circumstances of his death are not clear, but everyone in our circle of friends believed it was suicide. My ex-husband shared an apartment with Bob at the time, and found Bob dead in his bedroom that morning -- the morning of my first AA anniversary. Being newly clean and sober, his death devastated me. Why had I been given a second chance? Why me? Why had Bob died? Why him?

Here's Bob, on the left (he's the guy who looks like Steve Perry, the lead-singer of Journey). I'm the bride. Ex-husband is the guy w/the glasses.

Whenever we'd tell Bob that he looked like Steve Perry, he'd always reply, "I don't look like that f***in' guy!!" lol. I still think of Bob today whenever I hear a song by Journey or AC/DC. He loved music, and so did I. We had such great times together, playing records (yes, vinyl record albums) late into the night.

One of my most vivid memories of Bob is the time I had taken a vacation day from work. I was not married to the guy with the glasses yet. In fact, I was living across the hall from him and Bob, with my boyfriend at the time. Halfway through the day, I heard music coming from their apartment, and I realized Bob was home, too. I called him and he said he had taken a day off, too, and was trying to figure out the lyrics to a song on the brand-new Fleetwood Mac album "Tusk". The song was "Sara". He asked me to come over and help him figure it out. We played that song 1,000 times that day, with pen and paper, figuring out each word that Stevie Nicks baaaaah-ed in her barnyard-animal-noises way.

Sara, you're the poet in my heart,

Never change,

Never stop,

And now it's gone,

It doesn't matter what for,

But when you build your house,

Then call me. Home.

To this day, whenever I hear that song, I know that Bob is sending me a special hello from wherever he is. And yes, I sing along, and smile, and know every single word.

In the movie, "It's A Wonderful Life", Clarence the Angel says something about each person touching our lives in so many ways. Bob breezed in and out of my life quickly. He was there in 1979, and he was gone in 1989. Ten very brief years of friendship. We were like a family, me, Bob and my then-husband. Bob lived with us on-and-off for most of our brief marriage. He was like a teenage son to us, and was always a troubled soul. He would come to our doorstep in the middle of the night, having tried to live on his own and failed... and we would always take him in. Months later, some kind of fight or argument would occur (just like a family), and away he'd go. Only to return a few months after that.

In 1983, Bob returned to our house and brought with him a little friend. A black Labrador Retriever puppy whom he had named "Timba." Bob had brought the little pup out into the woods for a walk, and was trying to think of a name for her. He looked up at the trees, thought of trees falling and someone saying "timberrrrrr!!" and came up with the name Timba (with an "a" on the end, not with a New England accent!).

Husband-at-the-time wouldn't let the dog in the house. He had been brought up in a "dogs live outside" family. I loved that dog, and would sneak her in the house when husb wasn't home. I would take Timba for long, long walks every morning. All of the neighborhood dogs would follow us. We'd walk all the way from our house in Princeton to the Holden town line and back again. I looked like the Pied Piper with all those dogs! We'd drop them off at their homes on the return walk. We lived way out in the woods, and leash laws were a concept of the future in 1983 in central Mass.

By the time that particular chapter ended, Bob owed me a lot of money in back rent and household expenses. I was the breadwinner of the household, putting spouse through college and working full-time and going to school myself. I made a deal with Bob. Give Timba to me, and you won't owe me a cent. He accepted the deal. I divorced the other guy and got "custody" of Timba. Bob and my ex got an apartment together. Everything had come full-circle. When I met the duo, they were sharing an apartment, and after 10 years of "Three's Company", there they were, bachelor roommies again. It would be in that apartment that my ex would find Bob, dead in his bed, having taken too many sleeping pills. The ex would live in that apartment for several more years, with Bob's cat (ex hated cats!), until he married again and moved away. Every so often, I or someone else in our circle of friends bumps into my ex. The last time I saw him was in a grocery store parking lot, literally two weeks after Timba died. How odd. There are no coincidences.

One of the best things that ever happened to me, was due to this person, Bob, being in my life for ten years. Timba became my best and most loyal friend. At her death in 2001, I had known her longer than most of the humans in my life. Timba was the inspiration for my avocation as an writer and author -- the stories I've written about her are the basis of the creation of my web site www.k2k9.com Here's Timba, in 1983, in the kitchen of my house in Princeton.

Bob, I will always be grateful to you for bringing Timba into my life. I know that the two of you are together right now, walking in the woods together, singing songs from the 80s, and remembering me.

I downloaded several different versions of "Sara" onto my iPod. I'll play them today, along with some AC/DC, Journey and REO Speedwagon. And I'll think of Bob, and smile and cry at the same time. Here's a picture of Bob and me, in 1982, in that other lifetime.

bowling with ben on his 1st birthday

2007-02-03T18:46:00.000-05:00

getting back out there

2007-02-02T09:59:00.000-05:00

The snowstorm that was supposed to hit overnight missed us, and the sun is shining and it's actually sort of warm outside, for a February morning.

Hector's foot is healed. He is putting all of his weight on it.

I decided to take both dogs for a walk, to start reaching towards our goal.

I did what Cesar recommends: visualize the walk from start to finish.

1) What kind of leash/collars am I using? Regular buckle collars and matching leashes. No choke collar, no Illusion collar, no skinny leash.

2) How long of a walk? 20 minutes, maximum.

3) The route: To the end of our dirt road, across the main road, up the next dirt road on the left, and back again. Skip the third dirt road on the right -- could be cats and ice. I'm not ready for that.

Everything went exactly as planned.

Hector was way out in front. Since this was his first walk in over 6 weeks, I didn't make a fuss about that. He needed to burn off that energy. So, instead, I looked at it as a job for him to burn off the energy. It would be neat to give him a pulling job like a sled, bike or cart. He would be really good at that.

To prevent myself from having a muscle-pain flare-up, I constantly checked the leashes, making sure there was no tension on the leash. So, even though Hector was out in front, the leash was slack and my shoulders were down and relaxed, not tense.

On our return trip, Hobie wanted to go up the third dirt road on the right. I leash corrected, Cesar-style, a couple of times, while using my old standby command "Not today" which Hobie knows means: we're not going that way today!! (of course!) and we went home.

I went into the fenced-in back yard, me first, and dropped the leashes after entering through the gate. Both dogs stood and waited for me to take the leashes off. Then, they play-bowed and romped around for a minute or two.

We went inside the house, and I washed the dishes while they laid down and rested. (Exercise, followed by discipline.) This is our daily routine, regardless of whether we walk or just go out into the yard. The exercise is always followed by my washing the dishes while they rest.

After they've rested, we do "yogurt time". This is so that I, as pack leader, can eat first without having to eat a whole meal. I eat several spoonfuls of plain yogurt, and then I give them each a spoonful in their doggie bowls. This is followed by dog food which I scoop out with my hands, hold in my hands prayer-like, and make each of them sit before putting the food from my hands into their bowls.

After that, I let them finish the cat's leftover food from last night. They each get half of whatever she did not eat. It is a job, actually, because they clean her bowl and get all the dried on cat food off!

Then, they each get a "chewy chew", which is a beef or chicken-flavored rawhide stick. They, of course, have to sit for the cat food as well as the chewy chews.

This is affection.

Exercise, discipline, affection!! Ta daaaaa!

february, spring is just around the corner

2007-02-01T10:52:00.000-05:00

To me, February means springtime is not too far away. March is better.

My Mom's birthday is in March, and her birthday signals for me the official end of winter.

My thoughts now turn to opening our house on Cape Cod. I think about it constantly now. The days are getting longer, but not yet warm enough to turn the water back on or stay there overnight (no heat except for a fireplace in the living room).

2006 was special because we were able to wait to shut down the house due to the warm weather. Unfortunately, I jumped the gun and shut down after my last visit on November 29th. But we could've kept going there through the holidays and into the first week of January. If only we had known. And so, the place sits, empty and cold, waiting for the warmth of our hearts and sunshine.

I am afraid, still, to walk the dogs together. At the Cape, I have no choice because we can't fence in our yard. So, I have to walk them, on leash. It will be a challenge, since I've now gone months without walking them together, due to Hector's foot injury and my not feeling well on most days.

We live within one minute's walking distance of one of the most beautiful beaches on Cape Cod. Dogs are allowed, yet there is a strictly-enforced leash law. The irony: you can bring your dog to the beach, but you can't let him run loose. And if you have more than one dog, then you really have to have control over them. Everyone and their brother brings their dogs to "our" beach. Try controlling 170 pounds of male, excited dog when you're only 5 feet tall and they've got at least 20 pounds on ya. It just ain't gonna happen. So, I end up leaving Hector at home, and taking Hobie to the beach. Hector is somewhat afraid of water, and doesn't require as much activity as Hobie does. Still, it makes me sad that I can't handle them confidently enough to enjoy the beach together. (Notice that the dogs are loose in the photo above, snapped during "off-season" when nobody was around.)

February is my goal-setting month. I don't do New Year's resolutions. I do February resolutions! Goal #1 is to start walking the dogs on leash, on long walks, again. Hector's foot is still bothering him a little, so it's not time yet. But by the end of March, we have to get back to that, or I will lack the confidence I need when we return to the beach.

Here are photos of Hobie, taken during a visit to our beach, after Thanksgiving.

hector goes to the office!

2007-01-12T22:40:00.000-05:00

Hector had his follow-up appointment with the new vet today (because of a foot injury sustained when he jumped the stone wall). Rather than drive back and forth from home to work, then home, then all the way back to the vet which is practically next door to work, I decided to take Hector to the office with me this morning. He spent three hours at work with me, and it was delightful.

First, on the way there, we had to take an alternate route due to construction on the regular road. My dogs know the various routes, so this threw him for a loop. He started doing his little "talking" thing when I turned up the different road.

Lo and behold, a half a mile down the road, there is a flock of wild turkeys -- about a dozen of them to be exact. Now, if I had had both dogs in the car, Hobie would have started getting all anxious and antsy about the birds. He starts making noises and sometimes will try to lunge, although that has gotten tons better since I learned to stay silent and not fixate on the distraction myself! (Thank you Cesar Millan!) Hector truly lived in the moment. Yes, he was curious, but he just looked at the birds ( I had to drive by them really slowly because they may have crossed the road), and then he lingered looking at them after we drove past, and then turned his head forward and enjoyed the rest of the ride.

At the office, everyone was falling all over themselves patting him and paying attention to him. He went straight into my office! He hadn't been there in months, but he knew the drill! He attended our daily sales administration meeting, and it was really funny because we all hate that meeting and after a few minutes he wanted to leave but the door was closed. Mike said, "I know how you feel Hector" to which I replied, "He's picking up on all of our energy. He's saying get me outta here!"

We left a little early for the vet appt, and when we drove in there was a dog in the parking lot. Not wanting the confrontation (I am a chicken!) I went for a little drive. But when I brought him back, there were two dogs in the waiting room. He was a perfect gentleman. Again, everyone was fawning over him and saying how well-behaved and handsome he was.

Another patient had a 17 year old dog. I said to him, "It's nice having an old dog around" -- at that precise moment, the vet came out into the waiting room, and he goes, "My wife says that to me all the time!" We were all cracking up!

my family

2007-01-07T19:49:00.000-05:00

On Christmas Eve, I visited my Mom's house, and while I was plugging in her mini Christmas trees, she opened a drawer and there were 100 photos that I'd never seen before. I asked if I could borrow them and scan them (Nick later gave me 100 more to add to the pile!). I've scanned them all, and here are some choice cuts. Enjoy!

happy birthday, hobie!

2007-01-06T19:54:00.000-05:00

I couldn't close up shop for the night without posting happy birthday wishes to my favorite K9 himself, The Hobester!

While I don't really know the specific day of Hobie's birth (like I know Hector's was September 4, 2001 -- exactly one week before "9/11")... I do know that Hobie is my Millennium Dog. He was born in January, 2000, but came into my life 4 months later, in May of 2000. The photo here is the first one I ever snapped of Hobie, and we've been partners ever since. Here is a scan of the receipt from Petco -- our first excursion by car, which we did only a few moments after our love-at-first-sight meeting! The toys in the photo are the ones I bought at Petco that day!

Since I usually travel during the week of Christmas/New Year's annually, I started choosing a day shortly after my return to the States as Hobie's "official" birthday. So, when he was a year old, I returned home from my annual trip on January 2nd or 3rd, and decided a few days later that his birthday should always be celebrated on January 6th.

Here we are 7 years later. It seems hard to believe that my little Hobie is 7 years old. 49 in dog years, which means he is now older than me.

Years spent with our pets are precious -- and filled some of life's greatest pleasures, challenges and lessons.

I love Hobie more than words can describe. He is the coolest dog on the planet.

Happy Birthday, Hobes!!

Love,
K2 ("Mommy")

zonkaraz

2007-01-01T09:04:00.000-05:00

Hundreds of graying hippies descended upon WPI's Alden Hall last night, New Year's Eve, 2006, to witness the reunion concert of Worcester's own Zonkaraz, a band of locally-famous rock musicians whose jam sessions have been compared to the Dead, and who really brought the house down, closing 2006 in style.

New Year's Eve 2006 marked the 25th anniversary of Worcester's "First Night" celebrations.

Gil was mentioned in the Telegram & Gazette as having recorded Zonkaraz over the years, and had been in contact with Joanne (Barnard) List by email recently, in anticipation of her return from sunny Florida to perform to the standing-room-only crowd. I think Gil was really happy he went. Gil got to talk to Joanne, Ricky Porter, Paul Vuona, John Webster and Walter Crockett. I got introduced to everybody (I had met Walter and Joanne before, but not the others, although I'd always gone to see their various post-Zonkaraz bands in Worcester).

The only difference between today and 1970 were CELL PHONES. Everyone had them and were snapping photos left & right. Of COURSE I started it! Being one of the younger ones in the crowd (lol). Cell phone photos aren't great, and I took this home and enhanced it, but too much white light on the faces. In any case, here it is, to capture a moment in time:

Before the show, we stopped at the Boynton for a bite to eat, and the place was packed. We looked over at the bar, and there were two empty seats, and who is sitting right there but our next door neighbors Tom and Alana!! We shoulda car-pooled! Then, we arrive at the show, and who is standing right next to us but Liz (the woman who designed k2k9.com!) and her hubby Donald. Turns out Lizzie had designed the First Night 25th-Anniversary buttons that gained all of us entry into the various venues around town.

The concert itself was magic. The band was tight, and the guys played like they'd still been jamming together all these years. The entire crowd was on its feet, dancing. I looked around from time to time, and remember seeing these very people at the local bars, doing the same thing, only then they had brown hair, or in some cases, HAIR. They all looked familiar. It was the same group of people, reunited in an attempt to recapture the good ol' days.

And recapture them, we did.

Joanne blew everyone away. Having never seen Joanne perform in person, despite the fact that I have heard her recordings thousands of times, I was mesmerized and delighted. Joanne has soul. A consummate performer. Not to mention she can really belt out a tune. Despite now being a grandmother, Joanne has still "got it". She's ageless, and her voice is as strong and confident as ever. Visiting with her backstage, Joanne remarked as she ran off to prepare for Zonkaraz's second set, "This is young woman's work!" I was surprised to hear her say that, she had made it look so easy.

walkin' the dog

2006-12-29T09:52:00.000-05:00

Today, I walked Hobie around the block. Hector can't go on long walks because of his paw injury. Gil tells me Hector was very unhappy being left behind -- he "howled like a wolf", baying and lowing at the absence of his pack.

Hobie and I had the lucky streak of being able to practice greeting other dogs. This is something I can rarely do successfully when I have both Hobie and Hector on leash. Mainly because they will pull me down on the ground, but also they scare other dog owners. They are just so excited to greet other dogs -- not aggressive, just excited.

I counted the number of dogs we encountered this morning. Seven. First was Billy, who is a regular playmate of Hobie and Hector. No big deal there. Next, we met up with Shannon's brother-in-law and his three dogs. This was great. I blocked Hobie by standing between him and the other dogs. I was calm and gentle, didn't use loud vocal commands, just quiet and as few words as possible. The man asked if his dogs could say hello. "Sure, definitely!" I replied. His three dogs were unruly, barking, growling carrying on (except for the little female she was very sweet -- I think Hobie has a crush on her!). Hobie was an exemplary student.

Onward and upward. We walked by Oscar's house -- where, predictably, Oscar proceeded to bark, bark, bark, bark, bark until we passed in both directions. After Oscar's house, at the end of the dirt road is Alana's sister's house -- she has a really friendly Border Collie. We didn't get to greet him, as he had turned his back and was apparently avoiding us. But that's ok, that, too is an exercise in dog behavior.

Back past Shannon's sister's house, and right before we get there, I see a dog I've never seen before. Hobie doesn't see it. It's loose. No owner in sight. I again positioned myself between Hobie and the other dog, who had by that time gone out-of-sight. I shortened Hobie's leash so he was right beside me, but kept it slack so as not to have any tension on the leash. New-dog, whose name I found out a few minutes later is Riley, was up on the porch of the house with his owner. When he spotted us, and Hobie spotted him (her?) Hobie perked up and I was not making eye contact with Riley or his owner, but I heard the woman say, "AHCK!" then, "No, Riley!" Well, of course Riley gave her the paw and came out to the road to greet us. Riley and Hobie were perfect gentlemen -- great body-language, ears up, tails up, happy faces, sniff, sniff, sniff. Riley's owner was unhappy that Riley had approached us. Riley wanted to follow us! I said, "C'mon Hobie, we're going home," at which point Riley fell in line and was going to join our pack! I saw what was happening and immediately made Hobie stop, resulting in Riley stopping. Riley's owner was able to grab Riley's collar and bring him back home. And Hobie and I went back to ours, where Hector was waiting, happy to see us. I took Hector outside in the back yard for a quick stroll, just me and Hector, and the new ball he got for Christmas.

photos

2006-12-26T21:19:00.000-05:00

I stumbled across some really old photos over the holiday weekend.

The first set are old photos from my infancy and childhood, and they have to be scanned, so they won't be up here for a little while.

The set I'm going to post here are treasures I found this evening -- photos of Hobie when he was a young pup, me when I was thinner and had good hair.

Gil with Hobie when Hobie was just about 5 months old.

And here are some pics of our first grandson, Ben, on his first Christmas!

Ben & his dad, Dave

Ben meets Hobie & Hector, through the window!

virtual strangers

2006-12-26T20:57:00.000-05:00

I find myself a part of a cultural phenomenon. It doesn't surprise me that I'm so "mainstream" -- I've always been into pop-culture. Check my 36-year addiction to the ABC soap All My Children, my obsession with the band Bon Jovi, and a slathering of other mainstream, pop icons and fads that I've gotten sucked into over this lifetime. (As I'm writing this, Gil yells upstairs to me to turn on Larry King Live because CNN is re-running Larry's recent interview with none other than the gorgeous, talented, mega-talented, oh, did I say gorgeous, Jon Bon Jovi!).

But the phenomenon I am writing about today is that of virtual relationships. I belong to several "groups" on the internet. A couple of dog-behavior groups, and a couple of fibromyalgia groups. The people on these groups, including me, go out of their way to help the other members of the group. Now, we group members, except for a select few, have never met by telephone, we've certainly never met in person.

We are virtual strangers.

All of this communicating is being done on the keyboard. Everybody out-doing each other, or trying to, in writing, advice-giving, spelling and humor. I cannot count the number of times I've presented to one of these groups with a problem, and someone from a different state... shit sometimes from foreign countries... will reach out with answers, suggestions, compassion and humor. Most times this advice is bandied about on the group itself, for "public" consumption, as long as you're a member of the group. But other times -- and this is the part that is most incredible -- other times people will email me privately. Virtual strangers, reaching out to little ol' me, spending their time thinking about my problem and writing to me about it.

Just this weekend, I received lengthy emails from at least four group members offering me advice, educating me, and assisting me with my various "issues". One guy helped me with some photos I was having trouble posting to k2k9.com. And two other ladies gave me some invaluable knowledge about more personal matters.

These groups are the support groups that I attended 20 years ago in person, only better. From the comfort and privacy of your own home, you are invited to attend the support group meeting. You can do it 24/7, and communicate with like-minded individuals from all over the world. The concept is mind-blowing, and it's taken off like a rocket. Two of the groups I belong to have over 2,000 members apiece.

And, just as with interpersonal relationships of any kind, whether it be family, friends, co-workers, the same dynamics come into play. People get offended and get into arguments. The moderator has to step in and put an end to it. Sometimes, people get so offended, they quit the group (I left one dog group for 2 months this fall, and have just recently returned. I used to do that frequently with the for-real groups back in the 80s! The more things change...) Sometimes, everybody works it out and things end up being rather humorous. Some of the groups have extremely strict rules, and some are all about fun, fun, fun.

Oh, and did you know that I'm Time Magazine's Person of the Year?

K2

Another Christmas behind us

2006-12-25T21:57:00.000-05:00

Christmas 2006 wasn't bad. Did all my shopping online. Every bit of it. Didn't go to one store.

Got a new iPod to replace/upgrade my one that's only a year old. Between all the hard work Gil did (thank you, Sweetie!) and my own 2,000+ songs, there are a total of 5,300 songs on it, plus videos and I still have to load my 1600 photos and my Cesar Millan podcasts.

Abby gave the dogs a whole bag of toys and treats, including this indestructible ball, which unfortunately caused them to fight probably for the first time ever -- I mean the most aggressive I've ever seen them towards each other. And Hector even fought back. I asserted my pack leader-ness, along with my calm, assertiveness, and won that battle. Took the ball away temporarily. They'll get it back tomorrow. Here is a picture of the two idiots with a toy when they were puppies:

Yesterday found me going to help out with Mom, and that was the best part of Christmas 2006 by far. Mom has these little ceramic tabletop Christmas trees. You plug them in, and they light up. Mom's 86, and she can't get down on the floor to plug the suckers, in, so of course I did it for her. She had been storing the little trees in plastic grocery bags. While I was on the floor crawling around under the dusty veranda in the living room, trying to reach the wall socket, Mom stuffed the plastic grocery bags in a drawer inside the veranda. When she opened the drawer, it was stuffed to the brim with old black & white photographs, classic Polaroids that were peeling off their heavy cardboard backers and assorted other photographic treasures. After I was done crawling and plugging, I opened the drawer back up again. Astonished, I had stumbled upon 100 photographs I'd never seen in my life. The most important ones being of ME when I was 6 months old (the photos are date-stamped October of the year I was born, and there's a baby -- must be me!). They are all taken in the Chicago suburbs where we lived at the time -- recognizable by me today because we spent all of our vacations there when we were growing up. Peppered in are photos of my brothers, my parents, and the house at Lake Como in Wisconsin. I hollered to Mom, who by then was in the kitchen, "CAN I BORROW THESE?!" She said, "Whaaaa?" I carried the photos into the kitchen. "Can I borrow these? I have this machine Mom, it copies photos. It's called a scanner. I want to scan the photos and then I'll bring them all back to you." "You want to copy them." She said, understanding about the scanner. "Yes." "Yes." she said. Of all the "presents" I could've gotten this weekend for Christmas 2006, this was something I never asked for, never expected, never would have thought to ask for. The best kind of gift.

Bummer though, when I got home, I found out our scanner is broken. I ordered a replacement, but it won't arrive in time to scan the photos and put them on CDs for my two brothers whom I'm getting together with on Wednesday night. We always get together between Christmas and New Year's. Me, my brothers, Mom, and my 6 nieces and nephews. This year, we decided not to exchange gifts for the first time ever. I got Mom something, but that's it. Mom insists on giving everybody money, oh well what can ya do? This CD idea was to be a special gift from me to them, as the archivist, historian and genaeologist of the family. Ah well, I will just have to mail them the CDs later on.

Today was great -- worked on k2k9.com for hours and hours. Got a lot of great stuff written and posted. Then I cleaned the house in preparation for the kids and Ben, the only real little kid in our midst. Watched a couple of episodes of All My Children on DVR, and then everyone arrived and we opened presents and ate finger foods, including shrimp cocktail, cheese & crackers and deviled eggs.

When I was at Mom's yesterday, she told me she was making her famous deviled eggs to bring over to my sister-in-law's for Christmas appetizer. So, today when I was preparing our snacks, I realized I had to carry out this tradition. I know Mom's recipe for her famous deviled egg. In fact, we need to now call them Mook's Famous Deviled Eggs. (Mook is my mother's nickname -- it comes from when she was a little girl and couldn't say "milk". She said "mook" and it stuck -- people address her as Mook to this day.) Here is a picture of Mom, the first person to get a ride in my new car:

Christmas Traditions

2006-12-24T18:16:00.000-05:00

I had a nice surprise tonight. My favorite movie of all time,
"It's A Wonderful Life" was on TV, but I didn't know it was
on, since it was on last week, too, and the network no longer shows the movie 1,000 times between Thanksgiving and Christmas!

Ever since I can remember, I have always wrapped Christmas presents while watching this movie. It is my one, and only, Christmas tradition. Last year, Christmas was different because Gil was home, and we did watch "It's A Wonderful Life" but I wrapped presents some other time. Tonight, by sheer coincidence, the movie was on, and I still had a few presents to wrap.

We had dinner, and afterwards I went upstairs to wrap the last remaining gifts. There was 45 minutes remaining to the movie -- the best 45 minutes, starting at the part where George Bailey tries to jump off the bridge and is saved by Clarence, the angel who needs to earn his wings. George Bailey declares to Clarence, "I wish I'd never been born", and Clarence grants his wish (to which "God", we think, gets a teensy bit angry). The remainder of the movie is spent watching George come to grips with the fact that he's never been born. As a result, Mr. Martini doesn't own the local bar, Mary is an old maid librarian, the old Granville house is unfit for habitation, and Harry Bailey has a gravestone in the cemetery having drowned because George wasn't there to save him. Harry was unable to save all the men in the war because George wasn't there to save Harry. The list goes on and on. This is about the point where we all start crying, and by the end of the movie we are blubbering idiots, as we read Clarence's note to George while a little bell rings on the Christmas tree. George's little daughter Zu-Zu declares, "Look Daddy! Teacher says, every time a bell rings, an angel gets his wings!"

The most important part of this tale is Clarence's note to George: "No man is a failure who has friends."

I finished wrapping the last present, just as the movie was ending. Wrapping my presents while watching my favorite movie is a tradition for me, and one I hope to do forever.

Merry Christmas
K2

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