Donate “Love Has No Age Limit” for Giving Tuesday

Skip, Skipperdee, Skipperdeedodah, came to the farm in February of 2020. He’d never been in a house as far as I can tell, or perhaps, even a building. I had to put him in fancy pants because he saw no reason not to lift his leg in the house. He would stop instantly when I sang out “Uh Uh.” He is so biddable that I could say it cheerfully–he’d look at me like “Whaaa? You okay?” and put his leg down. But, I discovered early on, that some urine dribbled out the microsecond his leg began to lift, and the last thing I wanted was the scent of urine in the house, all the better to tell him to go there again. So, on went the fancy pants.

It had been awhile since we’d had a new dog, so I didn’t hesitate to pull down Love Has No Age Limits from my bookshelf and read it again. What, you say, didn’t you write that booklet with Karen London? Yup, I did, and it didn’t matter, because most of us, no matter our level of expertise, can use help remembering how to best introduce a new dog into our homes. Bringing in a puppy is one thing–a bundle of sweet-skunky smelling adorableness who has little baggage to bring into your home. But older dogs are different, whether adolescent or elderly–they have learned a lot already about what to expect, what is safe, what is not, and how to behave within the weird community of another species.

That’s why Karen London and I wrote Love Has No Age Limit, and it has helped tens of thousands of dogs and the people who love them beyond our wildest dreams. Shelters have told us that handing out the booklet to adopters was found to significantly decrease returns and calls about behavior problems.

And that’s why I’m putting bulk purchases on sale on December 2nd, Giving Tuesday, to encourage people to buy multiple copies–10, 50, 100?, to donate to their local shelter or rescues. I probably don’t need to tell you that shelters and rescues are under increasing pressure right now, and the last thing they need is adopted dogs coming back to them because the new owners didn’t know what to expect.

Here’s a video that Skip and I made for social media to get the word out:

This week, a week I hope is full of love and thanks and compassion for you, I hope you can find it in your heart to do this one thing–to help dogs and their people settle into a new forever home.

MEANWHILE, back on the farm: The local dude, aka buck, had his way with my favorite crabapple tree a few nights ago. The injury is diagnostic for a stag rubbing his antlers up and down on a tree trunk. The trunk looks wet now because I smeared with the deer repellent (very minty), before Jim could wrap the recommended accordion-ish black piping around it to protect it.

We’ve had tree-trunk trouble with rabbits before, and were late putting up caging to protect the tree bark, but never this. (Speaking of rabbits–we had an entire Watership Down community here all spring and summer. And now, nothing. Nada. Not a bunny in sight. Best guess is that the same bobcat who lived in the woods on the northern edge of our property is back. (Never saw her–and we know it was a her because our neighbor put out a trail cam and she had babies a few hundred yards from our house a few summers ago.)

In other Oh Dear (versus Oh Deer) news, the photo below is to remind me to add baking soda and baking powder to the best banana bread recipe ever from Joy of Cooking. I tossed what you see in the photo into the bin soon as I got a photo.

I got it together the next time and am happy to say I now have four batches in the freezer for Christmas food gifts for friends.

Speaking of Christmas, last year I said: Send fewer packages of gifts to friends and family next year! And make all of them small and easy to mail! How am I doing? (And there are three more substantial packages to come.)

Here’s something that I am grateful for this Thanksgiving week. This is Gemma, and her new humans, L and K. I discovered Gemma in a filthy, muddy pen in April, and spent six obsessed weeks trying to find her a home. Based on what I could find out about her background, she’d been in an outdoor pen for her entire life, all two and a half years of it. She was alone for the last one and a half years, earlier she was with her mother and brother at an Amish farm, who advertised they’d shoot her soon, because they had gotten rid of their sheep.

Friend and angel Joy helped me gradually socialize Gemma, and introduce her to access to other dogs, while vet friend Eric volunteered his time to get her vaccinated. Meanwhile, I looked and looked and called and called, and then best people ever–L and K showed up out of the blue. The rest is history. I didn’t want to write too much until enough time had gone by to be sure that the adoption has worked out, and it has gone better than my wildest dreams. Gemma is in heaven, adores visitors, other dogs, and especially, living the good life in a loving home. My heart is full of gratitude that this wonderful, dear dog is in a loving home.

No matter what kind of Cluster Cluck you are living within, (I’m on Cluster Cluck # 3 so far this week), we all have something to be grateful for this week. If you are able, I hope you can make some adopted dogs lucky too, by jumping into the Giving Tuesday sale on December 2nd, and buying multiple copies of Love Has No Age Limit to donate to your local shelter or rescue. Put it in your calendar if you can, cuz it’s only one day! (And, hey, throw in some Way to Go’s! As little as $1, and greatly appreciated by shelters!)