THE OTHER END OF THE LEASH

As many of you know, we asked for photographs of dogs to grace the cover of our new booklet on welcoming an adopted dog into your home. Karen London and I are working hard on the text right now (too short?! no, too long!? rinse and repeat . . . ) but I can tell you that the official title is Love Has No Age Limit and after looking at over 700 photographs (wow!) we have settled on the photograph you see below.

So here he is: A dog named Theo, who like many of the dogs whose photos were submitted, came with an amazing story. He was found running loose along a highway in New Jersey, and sat in a shelter for 3 months before Kimberly Wang of Eardog Productions in New York found his picture on Petfinder. Kimberly spent three hours with him at the shelter, and was entranced by his eagerness to learn and his “natural tendency to make sustained, relaxed eye contact,” in spite of being an untrained, goofy adolescent. She brought him home and now he is an accomplished photo model, a Licensed Service and Therapy dog, and a friend to all he meets.  I love that he is named after Theo Van Gogh, the painter’s brother who devoted his life to supporting others, just as Theo the dog is doing today.

But, wait, there’s more . . . So many great photographs came in that we are going to use lots more of them by putting another photo on the back cover and starting every section with a picture. We’re also going to put a selection of photos, and the stories that came with them, on a page on the website, once we get then selected and approved by their owners. That’ll take us a few weeks perhaps, but stayed tuned, we’ll let you know as soon as it’s up.

Here’s Theo:

MEANWHILE, back on the farm: Triplets! Rosebud had the first lambs of the spring, 3 little ewe lambs who are terminally cute. (Check out their photo on Facebook!) More than that, bless them for having full bellies when I discovered them in the morning. I had said that I hoped Rosebud would continue her history of having healthy lambs all by herself, producing just the right quantities of creamy, colostrum-rich milk and being an attentive mom to two healthy lambs.  She did all that but went one better, by having triplets. I shouldn’t be surprised, she had triplets last year too. What a girl.  Next up is Spot (due today, but this line seems to be later than the woolly breeds by 2-4 days, Rosebud was actually due last Friday) and then the noble Dorothy and the piggy ewe, Brittany, who are both due on Saturday.)

Willie is thrilled to be off leash right now, although still no playing outside and no herding. The herding restriction is hard for both of us; it’s great weather, the ground is dry and it would be good for the sheep to move around. We’ll just have to be patient, surgery is scheduled for May 14th. I’d do it sooner but Jim’s family comes first. Willie’s is doing his exercises 3 times a day (with a few exceptions during family crisis days) and he is getting visibly stronger on both shoulders. We’ll post a video of his exercises as soon as we can get them.

Lastly, thank you to everyone who sent best wishes to my family. Jim’s sister is finally back in her own home, under hospice care. We are also incredibly lucky to have a family member who is a nurse, and she is there pretty much 24/7. Jim and I will go up to visit as often as we can. One day at a time . . . a good reminder to all of  us to live one day, one minute, one moment at a time.