Pet Memorial Peternity Blog

Peternity reviews "Katie Up and Down the Hall" by Glenn Plaskin

Have you ever read a book that just stays with you? For days, weeks, months? I'm still savoring the warm, cozy and touching story of Katie, the privileged Cocker Spaniel of celebrity interviewer, Glenn Plaskin. "Katie Up and Down the Hall" is a delightful and moving story of a sweet puppy whose love and spunk magically pull together a family of strangers.

Set in Battery Park City near the financial district in Manhattan, this engaging story tells the tale of how Katie and her charm open up hearts, create lifelong friendships and create family ties in the last places you might expect them.

I really enjoyed the idyllic world that Glenn creates through imagery of this little city of its own, Battery Park that exists within the much larger cityscape of Manhattan. From the descriptions of the views of the New York Harbor and the Statue of Liberty, to the vast myriad of vessels floating by his living room window on the 3rd floor with the Hudson river view, to the daily parade of every breed of dog being walked down the boardwalk and frolicking in the grass, to the busy lives of the 9,000 Battery Park City residents attending block parties, picnics and indulging in all sorts of outdoor sports and activities. It almost gave me the feeling of an opening scene of an idealistic, happy film from the 50’s. But the gratifying thing about this story is the challenging life realities that are set against this idealistic backdrop.

National Adopt A Dog Month - Share Your Story and Win!

Have you been thinking about, and thinking about adopting a dog and putting it off, and putting it off? Well now's the time!

October is National Adopt A Dog Month and we want as many people as possible to actually . . . adopt a dog! So, we are hosting an “Adopt-a-Dog” Book Giveaway. Adopt a dog during the month of October and share your story with us here on our blog.

We're running the contest through November 5th - just to give you an extra week to find the perfect dog for you. Then we'll do a random drawing for one of you to win a fabulous medley of books from the Hachette Book Group. These books are all centered around our love for our faithful pets and the book titles include:

Katie Up and Down the Hall, by Glenn Plaskin
Oogy, by Larry Levin
GoD and DoG, by Wendy Francisco
Dog Tags, by David Rosenfelt
How to Be Your Dog's Best Friend, by The Monks of New Skete 

These will all be yours, just for sharing your adoption story. Well, and for giving a deserving dog a loving home.

There are just a few contest requirements - you must live in either the US or Canada, you need to have a mailing address other than a PO box, and you must adopt a dog! We want to see pictures, so if you share your story here on our blog, email us your pictures by clicking here, and we will share your pictures on our blog if you are the winner.

Spoil yourself with the love and affection of a new dog and save a life in the process. They need you! And you need them too.

In love & respect for all creatures,

Colleen

Falling in Love is Like Owning a Dog

Falling in Love is Like Owning a Dog
an epithalamion by Taylor Mali
www.taylormali.com

First of all, it's a big responsibility,
especially in a city like New York.
So think long and hard before deciding on love.
On the other hand, love gives you a sense of security:
when you're walking down the street late at night
and you have a leash on love
ain't no one going to mess with you.
Because crooks and muggers think love is unpredictable.
Who knows what love could do in its own defense?

On cold winter nights, love is warm.
It lies between you and lives and breathes
and makes funny noises.
Love wakes you up all hours of the night with its needs.
It needs to be fed so it will grow and stay healthy.

Love doesn't like being left alone for long.
But come home and love is always happy to see you.
It may break a few things accidentally in its passion for life,
but you can never be mad at love for long.

Is love good all the time? No! No!
Love can be bad. Bad, love, bad! Very bad love.

Love makes messes.
Love leaves you little surprises here and there.
Love needs lots of cleaning up after.
Sometimes you just want to get love fixed.
Sometimes you want to roll up a piece of newspaper
and swat love on the nose,
not so much to cause pain,
just to let love know Don't you ever do that again!

Sometimes love just wants to go for a nice long walk.
Because love loves exercise.
It runs you around the block and leaves you panting.
It pulls you in several different directions at once,
or winds around and around you
until you're all wound up and can't move.

But love makes you meet people wherever you go.
People who have nothing in common but love
stop and talk to each other on the street.

Throw things away and love will bring them back,
again, and again, and again.
But most of all, love needs love, lots of it.
And in return, love loves you and never stops.

In love & respect for all creatures,

Colleen

Hey! Did You Know? It's Take Your Dog to Work Day!

Okay, if you aren't self-employed like me, which means I have my dog with me every day at work, my apologies. But if you are still working for "the man", or some fabulous woman, take your dog to work tomorrow!

Friday, June 25, is "Take Your Dog to Work Day," an annual day that encourages businesses to allow their employees to bring their dogs to work. The day was first launched in 1999 by Pet Sitters International in partnership with Dog Fancy magazine and the Association of Pet Dog Trainers to celebrate the love we share with our dogs as well as to promote local pet adoption.

And why wouldn't we want our dogs at work with us? Studies show that employees who bring their dogs to work tend to be more efficient workers and happier and healthier in the workplace. A win-win for everyone, right?

In love & respect for all creatures,

Colleen

Win a $20 Petco Giftcard Just for Sharing a Pet Story

Share a sweet or funny story with us about a pet and a child and win a $20 Petco Giftcard - either a memory of yourself with your pet from when you were young, or a story about a child you have in your life now and their pet.

This giveaway is sponsored by Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover’s Soul, which wants to encourage everyone to celebrate pets and their importance to their owners, especially kids.

I can't wait to hear your stories! Here's a funny story about my daughter and our dog Romeo that I've been sharing lately.

"One day my daughter was playing in her room with our little 9 lb Malte-Poo. When things get quiet with little children, it's time to check and see what's going on. So I walked into her room and she had a peculiar look on her face and said "Hi Mommy." The dog was nowhere to be seen, but I could hear him scratching. I asked "where's Romeo?" She responded coyly "I don't know." The sound was coming from the corner of her room where her play kitchen is. I walked over, bent down and opened the oven door. There was Romeo! He is a VERY patient dog.

What's the Giveaway?

One Peternity Blog reader will win a $20.00 Petco gift card to help them stock up on goodies for their own pet(s). To enter, please comment on this post through 11:59 PM PST on Tues. May 4th. Let me know what your favorite pet means, or meant, to you, share a funny anecdote, or tell us a story of an animal doing something amazing. If you don’t have pets, comment on the pets belonging to whomever you’d give this gift card to!

What's the Fine Print?

This giveaway is sponsored by Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover’s Soul which will be providing the gift card to the winner. The winner of this giveaway will be chosen by random number generation at random.org.

One entry per person, and U.S. residents only, please. If you are reading this via email, you need to click through to our blog and comment on the post via the Peternity blog. Emailed entries will not be honored.

In love & respect for all creatures,

Colleen

Pointer: A Beautiful Memorial to a Very Special Dog

We're creating a pet grave marker for this very special dog right now and we just loved her story so we thought we would share it with you.

Pointer was a thirteen year old border collie who lived across the street from our dam construction project. I first met Pointer in December 2008 when I arrived on site and was walking in the project area which would eventually be the lake after the dam was completed.

Anoka County, MN K9 Rocky - Pet Memorial Video

It is truly an honor to create pet memorials for people. Every memorial piece that we create both tugs at my heartstrings and brings me a sense of peace, that we're able to make a difference for someone in some small way.

Every once in a while we will get a request to create a pet memorial for a K9 Police Service Dog. These requests always feel special to me in a slightly different way. I'm not sure what it is - the nature of the relationship that these dogs have with their human partners? Or their impressive skills and dedication?

Last week we received a request to create one of our Pet Portrait Memorial Keepsake Boxes for this courageous Minnesota K9, Rocky, who recently lost his life while on duty. These are the things that make our work so worthwhile. This video is a beautiful tribute to a brave and honorable soul.

In love & respect for all creatures,

Colleen

We're In Love! We've Been Rescued by a Malte-Poo

I'm continually frustrated by the stray animals that I find who don't have collars, tags, chips, etc. The loose dogs and cats in our neighborhood always seem to find me and I try as hard as I can to be congenial and polite when I return them to their owners and kindly remind them that their pets should be wearing something that will help them to be returned home.

But now I'm completely contradicting myself! A friend of the family found the cutest stray dog last week a couple of towns over. He had no collar, no tags and no chip. And now I feel like the luckiest family on the block!

It's official, we're all in love. Mutley, I mean Fluffy, no sorry Gunner, I mean Romeo! We've gone through a few names here, is the absolute sweetest, smart and funny little dog. He's a Maltese Poodle mix, about 1.5 years old according to the vet an absolute joy to be around. Such a happy little guy.

In love & respect for all creatures,

Colleen

"Boats" - An Ode to a Water Loving Lab

I think this is one of the most unique settings that we've ever seen for a pet headstone. Boats was 16 when he passed recently, but he lived with in the Virgin Islands and spent most of his life aboard his owner's boat.

He was VERY well loved and is terribly missed.
 
   

In love & respect for all creatures,

Colleen

Dogs Do Well by Helping Kids Learn to Read

For a dose of inspiration, I love to do posts about the amazing things that animals do. The list of amazing things that dogs can do keeps growing. Recent studies have found that therapy dogs can be instrumental in helping children to learn how to read. D

Dogs are great listeners who don’t react negatively if kids stumble over words or struggle to read a page. The presence of a calm therapy dog can help a child who is afraid of reading out loud. Children may be encouraged or inspired to read to a dog because the dog listens  with no judgment, and the kids feel like they're bonding with the dog instead of simply learning to do something they've been struggling with.