Thursday, November 29, 2012

If I Should Die Before My Dog. A New Book.

Good morning Zen followers, I usually write about myself (BORING) or my furry kids (hilarious most of the time) but today I am writing about a new friend and her new book. Cathy and I met on Twitter and found out we have a tremendous amount in common. We are both animal lovers, we both wrote books about our dogs and published this summer! How crazy is that? Cathy Connolly (and her husband Joe - CAN'T forget Joe) has written a book that every dog owner should have. It addresses the needs of your precious pet if you should die unexpectedly, giving you a very easy to understand and complete checklist. Izzy and Morgan both have their books filled out and "Paw Parents" assigned.

Please take a look. She is on a Blog Tour this month. It is a book that would also make an awesome holiday gift or stocking stuffer for the dog lover in your life. It contains some beautiful illustrations, too. Here are the links to the Blog Tour and to her book on Amazon. If you follow the Blog Tour you can enter to win an autographed book!

http://beckvalleybooks.blogspot.com/2012/11/book-review-if-i-should-die-before-my.html

http://www.amazon.com/If-Should-Die-Before-Dog/dp/1475124511/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1354210428&sr=8-1&keywords=if+i+should+die+before+my+dog

Monday, November 26, 2012

What fun yesterday! A Book signing event for 30 local authors at our local outdoor mall, Fisherman's Village, more well known for it's breathtaking views of Charlotte Harbor and great selection of beer than for cerebral events. It proved to be a busy and fun day signing books, meeting lots of other dogs and their people. I love hearing that I do not have the only crazy dogs in the universe. Izzy did a little pawtographing and posed for photos while I signed copies of DOG-MA, THE ZEN OF SLOBBER.

Izzy got a little bored with her new-found celebrity, though.

She's going to need an entourage soon, I fear.

We both even made it to the front page of our hometown newspaper!

Ooops, I hear Izzy calling for her hair and makeup people...gotta run!

Thursday, November 15, 2012

Dog-Ma makes an excellent holiday gift and a signed copy makes it more special! There are two additional book signing opportunities this month for Dog-Ma fans.

Saturday November 17 from 10 - 4

Turtle Creek Book Bazaar

16500 Burnt Store Road

Punta Gorda, FL

941-505-1624

AND

Sunday November 25 from 12 - 6

Peace River Center For Writers

Fisherman's Village Authors Market

1200 S. Retta Esplanade

Punta Gorda, FL

941-639-8721

Izzy will be photo-oping at the November 25 event for one hour only 2 - 3pm! Stop by and shake her paw or get your photo snapped with her! She may even be open to a paw-tograph or two.

Hope to see you there

-Izzy xx

FYI - Autographed and gift-wrapped copies are also available on line at www.DogmaTheBook.com

Thursday, November 8, 2012

Acupuncture Rocks!

Acupuncture for a dog. Who Knew? It was not something I thought I would ever try. I understand Eastern Medicine and know it has its benefits over the long term. Izzy's issues have always been of the emergency variety, needing an immediate Western Medicine solution. Anaphylaxis from many, many food allergies are always our biggest concern. Then there is her blindness, skin infections, ear infections, her general terrier insanity that has her in constant trouble... its a long list of things we always seem to need a medicine for NOW!

A few weeks ago the sister of a neighbor suggested trying acupuncture. She works in a Veterinary office where there is a new doctor who recently received a degree in Eastern Veterinary Medicine and was looking for new patients. I am always game for a new treatment attempt. I figure that we will eventually find something that will work for Izzy. I scheduled an appointment not knowing what to expect but with great hope.

Since I don't like to use real people's names without permission, I will call her The Doc. The Doc was a very soft spoken Eastern European woman who ushered us into a quiet room. She wanted to let Izzy free to roam the room so she could observe her while we spoke. We discussed Izzy's medical history and her personality traits. Izzy has always had a very bad temper, especially if she does not get her way. She will hurl herself with full force at the door and howl like she is being murdered if we confine her to a room. If you have a small terrier, you know this noise well. Imagine the sound of someone being stabbed with a knife in the belly while eating a mouthful of jello; who's head is inside of a megaphone. Try to take a sock away from her? Good luck with that one. Don't plan on keeping all of your fingers. We talked about Izzy's aloofness when she first came to live with us. Balls were far superior to people. She would tolerate a hug for a millisecond and then race off to play.

The Doc continued to observe Izzy as she first investigated the room with her nose to the floor and then fixated on one point on the wall and froze. She sat down, with her nose brushing the wall and stared at that spot for the remainder of the visit, like a child who has been put in the corner for a time out. The Doc thought it was incredibly unusual. HA! That's our Izzy.

The Doc made a chart of the systems of the body and how they are all interconnected. The details of the chart are unimportant to this story, only that it was clear after the appointment that Eastern Medicine could possibly be the solution we have been looking for. Acupuncture and herbal tinctures.

We are three weeks into Izzy's acupuncture treatments. So far so good. Although, as I type this she has leaped from a chair onto Morgan's head trying to kill her again. Uh Oh. Gotta go.

Namaste (please?)