Karma Dog

Aspen was a sweet, lovable friend of mine. He joined our family when
one of my neighbors moved. We found out that he had left a dog tied up
behind his house. At first, we made sure the dog had water, food and
put down some straw to keep him out of the mud. Eventually, we made a
call and told the owner — Aspen had a new home.

Covered in ticks, dirty and in need of a manicure, Aspen was brought
to his new home and joined our pack. By his hesitancy and shyness, we
figured that he had never been inside a home. That was confirmed when
I heard a dog peeing. Turning around, I saw Aspen — leg lifted —
peeing out an open window. Right idea, wrong execution.

At his first vet appointment, we found out he had heart worm. I just
couldn’t put down the dog without trying to save him. Thankfully, he
survived the treatment and began his new life at our home. Eventually
he came to realize that a hand reaching out to him was for giving a
pet, that a hug wasn’t something to be scared of and that being part
of a pack (we have three other dogs and me) was a good thing.

Aspen lived with us for over three years. During that time, he
received the life and love that was denied him at his old home. His
howl all made us smile and when we finally had to put him down, he
left with our love and my daughter’s tears on his fur.

I miss him dearly.

David Gough

I know that we are totally prejudiced, she is our niece after all, but we think this is THE cutest dog we have ever seen.

What do you think?

We love this drawing done by fourteen-year-old Dakota of her two year old rescue dog, Echo.

This girl has real talent. BRAVO!

What a sweet face!

Carmel in California is a wonderland for dogs - like doggy DisneyLand.  The ocean beach is off leash and many of the restaurants take dogs and treat them like kings, while their humans eat wonderful food.  There's lots of butt sniffing and ohhing and ahhing at all the different dogs.
The Cypress Hotel (founded by Doris Day) has a great bar where everyone brings their dogs.  Family dogs that will eat anything given them.  Old widows and divorcees from San Diego with dogs that must look like their ex-husbands, and gay couples with very well behaved dogs.  Our dog Cody loves it all....as do we.
Here's Cody at the beach with Ben (our son).  The stick and the ocean waves are the center of attention.  The throwing and chasing are very serious, both entailing a dance of dodging and head fakes.

 Richard