New Book--Great Read

I just finished reading the recently published book, "Last Dog on the Hill" by Steve Duno. If you love dogs and have a heart beating inside your chest, you can't help but enjoy this book. I usually shy away from books about animals, but as a dog owner who has loved and lost a couple of really great canine friends, I decided to go for it. This book is a memoir of Mr. Duno's life with his beloved Lou the feral dog he found on a hill in California. Lou seems almost like a superhero; way too smart to believe, but even if some of the stories about Steve and this great dog are a little embellished, it is still a really good book. There is a lot of humor and a lot of sadness in the book.   Mr. Duno is a great storyteller, and it felt like we were just sitting around listening to his adventures with this amazing dog that changed his life and helped change the lives of countless dogs who were slated to be euthanized. I finished the book in tears, but I had the satisfaction of knowing that I am not alone in my utter fascination and infatuation with my  furry companions. Even though Lou seems almost too extraordinary to be true, the relationship between him and his master is enviable. We all need a friend as loyal and brave as Lou!

Replacing a Pet

Over the weekend we had tragedy. Someone (who has yet to confess) left the cage door to one of our parakeets open. As curious birds will do, our little blue friend ventured outside his lovely pagoda shaped home and of course our little Jack Russell terrier didn't approve of the escape. You guessed right! The dog caught the bird and poor little Reuben is no more. Luckily, this weekend was also a sale weekend for parakeets at Petco (you know, where the pets go), so we had my daughter pick out another bird. She picked out another one who looks very much like the one we had. Who would have thought parakeets would be so different. We knew they had different personalities, because we have another one that is very docile and like a mother hen to the other one. Anyway, "New Reuben" (my husband wanted to call him Twoben) is super boisterous and spills his water all over. His voice is different and he doesn't play too much yet. I guess I will get accustomed to him, but still, I miss "Old Reuben" and hope he is not too mad at us for not protecting him like we should have.