Fierce Romance: dogs

Showing posts with label dogs. Show all posts

10 Things We Can Learn From Our Dog

It’s hard to concentrate on work (writing or otherwise) on lazy, hot summer days. I just want to be rocking in a hammock with a glass of iced tea! So today I’m taking a break and blogging about something totally different.

Recently I was reading the morning newspaper (yes, GULP, I still actually read a newspaper) and saw this sweet list I wanted to share with you:

10 Things My Dog Taught Me

-There is great beauty in the quiet stillness. Let it envelop you.

-Sniff it. Touch it. Feel it. Taste it. Hear it. Engage all your senses in the world around you.

-Plunge In! You can always get out and shake it off.

-Don’t be afraid. Just stand your ground (and bark when necessary).

-Trust that most people have an innate goodness.

-Forgive fully, then let it go.

-Love is unconditional. If it has conditions, it isn’t really love.

-Accept the inevitable with peace and grace (even if it’s a trip to the vet).

-It’s okay to feel sadness, but remember that joy is just a moment (or squirrel chase) away.

-Live in the moment. Embrace it. Feel it. Become it. Share it. Then repeat for all the moments that follow. Life is not about the quantity of moments; it’s about the quality of moments.

(Thanks to Dana Riley for this list.)

Powerful words to live by! So remember to savor every moment of your summer…

Leigh

www.leighcourt.com

Train Your Dog To Do Yard Work, and then Enjoy!

Tanner the puppy stick mulcher. Max the birdseed clean up crew.

Yard work all done.

Fun for them, painless for me.

Terry

“Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy is reality.”

Connect with Terry Spear:

Website: http://www.terryspear.com

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/421434.Terry_Spear

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TerrySpearParanormalRomantics

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TerrySpear

Wilde & Woolly Bears http://www.celticbears.com

Terry Spear

USA Today Bestseller and Award-winning author of urban fantasy and medieval historical romantic suspense, Terry Spear also writes true stories for adult and young adult audiences. She’s a retired lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Reserves and has an MBA from Monmouth University. She also creates award-winning teddy bears, Wilde & Woolly Bears, to include personalized bears designed to commemorate authors’ books. When she’s not writing or making bears, she’s teaching online writing courses. Originally from California, she’s lived in eight states and now resides in the heart of Texas. She is the author of Heart of the Wolf (Publishers Weekly's BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR), Destiny of the Wolf, To Tempt the Wolf, Legend of the White Wolf, Seduced by the Wolf, Wolf Fever, Heart of the Highland Wolf, Dreaming of the Wolf, The Highland Wolf in Paradise, Deadly Liaisons (vampire romantic suspense), Winning the Highlander’s Heart, The Accidental Highland Hero, A Ghost of a Chance at Love (Time Travel Western Romance), The Vampire…In My Dreams (young adult), Deidre’s Secret (young adult) and numerous articles and short stories for magazines.

A Hard Transition

This last couple of weeks brings with it a bit of a transition, one that many of you will identify with. Our last puppy--and by puppy I mean 17-year-old dog--passed away. He was a dear friend, a member of the family...and the last of our familial brood.

After twenty years of living with cats and dogs, I am petless. And it feels somewhat lousy. I was prepared for the empty nest syndrome when my sons left home. I expected it somehow, because, well, I knew it was an end that led to a beginning. I guess I figured that when they left, they'd go off and somehow bring someone back with them, which they did. My sons ran off and found brides and they had children and so now I'm a grandma. So they left and came back exponentially enhanced. Brenuf, however, did not go out and reproduce (we had him neutered, as we did all our animals), so there's no hope of his offspring, gifted with the same soft fur and big grey eyes, showing up at our door demanding hugs and kibble. That kind of sucks.

Brenuf was ready to go, as his good days were far outnumbered by his bad days, and beyond that, he had cancer. I'm happy that he's in a better place, pain-free and romping, no doubt, with his brothers and sisters. However, I miss him. I keep seeing him coming around the corner for his dinner, but there's no one there. I wait for him to settle himself at my feet when I write, only to find empty space beneath my desk. I come home from work and prepare to feed him only to realize we donated all his food to the local animal shelter after he passed.

I'm not ready for another pet, and I don't know if I ever will be. Brenuf was an amazing dog. He was patient and loving and kind, and I can only ever hope to be as humane as he was. How is it that having a loving pet makes us better people? Makes us want to live up to the standards that our beloved fur babies have for us? Is it the unconditional love? The trust? The friendship?

I hate to be a bummer this week, but this is really what's on my mind. I hope that all of your pets are safe and healthy, and I'm sending a prayer for all of them to the heavens. Happy Reading.

Fun with Daughter and SIL

My daughter and I went to Woodland Mall to sign at the Barnes and Noble there. So these are all signed at Woodland Mall in Texas. :)

It was 95, but the temp had dropped a bit, so we risked taking the dogs for a walk. Hers are corgis, mine, Havanese puppies. We found they did better if they all walked together, rather than me walking mine behind. I took pictures. You can see the storms in the background.

Here, the leashes were so tangled, I told Jenn she could probably just drop them and walk with the dogs. And so she did. They walked with her and when she jogged, they jogged with her. But here is a picture of her dogs looking at her, and mine looking at me. Mine kept looking backward to make sure I was still there. We're going to the new Jurassic Park movie this weekend.