In memory of Max

Sympathies to my friend Steve on the recent loss of his dog, Max. Max is shown here with my dog Scooter (who passed away last month) when Max stayed with us over Easter weekend in 2007.

Showing respect for Scooter

A friend of mine shared the following thinking with me, and I asked her permission to further share it. I thought it was really touching and insightful:

Just remember that you loved Scooter and when you lose a loved one, you grieve. I think people do not give themselves permission to grieve for animals. You get told "It's just a dog" and you end up feeling strange because it impacts you emotionally. But your grief shows respect for Scooter and her place in your life. It would be far sadder to die and have no one grieve.

Quote

My sister shared the following quote with me:

If you dare to love, you must have the courage to grieve.

Scooter

I lost her this morning. It hurts too much right now, so I'm just going to point you over to The Snikk Blog for a nice little tribute.

Dog walks

Trying to do more dog walks. The dogs love them and the exercise (for them and me) is great! Here are some photos from a couple of dog walks over the weekend:

I really need to clean my patio door...

From left, Scooter, Oliver, Bose and Dawson.

Hello

One of my favorite dog photos... Scooter and Brandy saying hello to one another, from Feb. 6, 2003.

Santa and the dogs

From PetSmart, earlier today. Upper photo (left-to-right): Dawson, who I adopted from St. Louis Senior Dog Project in April 2006; Bose, a deaf Corgi I'm fostering for Pet's Second Chance Welsh Corgi Rescue; Oliver, who I rescued in January from the streets of North City during the Mattie search; and Scooter, who I've had since 1998. Lower photo (left-to-right): Rusty, who my friend Carolyn & I rescued from St. Louis Animal Control during the summer (again as part of the Mattie search) and who my friend Mark is fostering; and Andy and Chilly, Mark's permanent dogs who he's had for one year and five years, respectively. Related gallery of photos here.

Santa Claws

'Tis the season to take your pets to get their photos taken with Santa! Only two weekends remain at your local PetSmart. 11 AM-4 PM Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 8-9 or 15-16. Below is one of my favorite canine Christmas photos, from 2003:

Thanksgiving morning dog walk

It was a cloudy and cold Thanksgiving morning -- especially compared to last year's sunny and mild Thanksgiving morning.

Happy Black Friday Eve

Oh, and Happy Thanksgiving, too! Here's a photo of Scooter taken one year ago on a sunny Thanksgiving morning dog walk. That's Dawson's tail at the extreme left side of the photo, and at the upper left is a flyer for Mattie the missing dog -- this was before I joined the other volunteers on the search.

Getting to know you...

My foster dog Rusty has moved to another home to make room for Bose, a deaf two-year-old Corgi rescued from a dog pound in Arkansas. He's a nice little dog. I happened to have my camera handy to catch him and Oliver getting to know each other. (Notice how those tails are wagging!) And keep an eye out for a cameo appearance by Scooter, namesake of scoodog's blog, around the 10-second mark.

The return of scoodog's blog

Readers: I am happy to report the return of scoodog's blog. I had a talk with Scooter tonight and we agreed that the blog would no longer be called "The Leona Helmsley Memorial Blog" -- a screenshot of which is shown below for posterity. Long live scoodog's blog!

Trouble

THIS IS SCOOTER AND I AM THE DOG WHO THIS BLOG IS NAMED AFTER AND EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY "SCOODOG'S BLOG" IS BEING RENAMED "THE LEONA HELMSLEY MEMORIAL BLOG" BECAUSE LEONA LEFT $2 MILLION TO HER DOG TROUBLE (AND NOTHING TO TWO OF HER GRANDCHILDREN FOR "REASONS THAT ARE KNOWN TO THEM") AND I ALSO THINK THAT MONEY SHOULD BE GIVEN TO DOGS WHENEVER HUMANLY POSSIBLE AND THIS IS SCOOTER.

Deflecting the lightsaber

My friend Wendy's 4-year-old son, Adam, is so cute -- and articulate! The other evening, he said this to me: "When I try to hit you with my lightsaber, you'll have to try to deflect it."

He said deflect! I think that word just entered my own vocabulary not too long ago!

More photos of Luke Skywalker Adam -- and his dog, Molly -- are here (courtesy of my iPhone).

And speaking of Molly, she is eight years old already! I remember the day when Wendy and Neil, my then-apartment-neighbors across the hall -- brought her home as a tiny puppy. Wendy often mentions how Molly thought my Scooter (namesake of scoodog's blog) was her momma. A Molly-Scooter reunion is called for!

576 megapixels

That's how many megapixels -- 576 -- of image data that the human eye is estimated to see, according to a report from deviantART.

The namesake of this blog, my dog Scooter, just informed me that dogs can see FOUR HUNDRED TRILLION megapixels.

And we humans think we are so superior...

Happy Spring!

Spring kicks in, officially, in less than an hour. With that in mind, my dog Scooter (the namesake of scoodog's blog) wishes you a Happy Spring.Click here for the entire set of Signs of Spring photos taken last Sunday.

Introducing Oliver

My newest dog, with his siblings Dawson and Scooter.

Snikk, from the photo archives...

Most of these are not yet posted on scoodog's photos. Click on a photo to see it larger.

In search of some fall color...

Spots of fall color are appearing in St. Louis, with plenty of held-over summer color mixed in, as I took the dogs for a walk through the neighborhood on Saturday afternoon.