Have I mentioned that William, my dear sweet husband, actually listened to my whining last fall about wanting a puppy to replace our beloved Spud? We were in Stratford with our friends, the Armelands, and stopped at this little pet store. In one of the cages sat the most adorable blond Cairn terrier! Oh how I wanted that little guy. I cried all the way home when I had to leave him there.
The next day my husband said, "I thought you never wanted a dog again?"
"No," I replied. "I never wanted just one dog again. If I ever got another dog, I would get two, so they had a playmate and didn't rely so much on me."
"Ah," said Will. "Now, I remember. What kind of dog would that be?"
"With a Cairn? A Shepherd/Collie mix or something like that. Something dominant enough that he could hold his own with a Cairn."
A few days went by and nothing more about dogs was said. Then someone came to the door, one night. "This is for you," he said and handed me an animal crate.
I opened the door and out crawled the little Cairn. Adorable! Then to my even greater amazement another puppy crawled out, a Shepherd/Collie mix.
It was love at first sight for all of my family members. The Cairn is Brinkley, and the Shepherd is Maximus.
Within the week we had a major problem. Both dogs had the Parvo virus, a deadly disease that most puppies, if they get it, die from. It took me a few days to realize what Maximus had and that was a costly mistake. He very nearly did die. I spent every day at the Vet so Maximus could get IV's and antibiotics. Brinkley was better after one course of antibiotics, but Max's intestines had some major damage done to them. The virus eats the intestines from the inside out. Four months went by before the virus and the diarrhea that goes with it ended for Maximus. I think I own stock in Pepto Bismol, now.
So at six months, I had this very beautiful and loving dog who was skinny and lethargic. What to do?
Salmon! That's what this brain of mine decided. My friend, Sandy Armeland, also mentioned that she gave her little Bishon, Sophie, salmon. Sophie is adorably healthy.
Salmon is so healthy and full of Omega-3. For four weeks I have been feeding my dogs fish, especially salmon, four to five times a week. And chicken. And chopped liver. Ummm, and some steak. Okay, okay, and carrots, bananas, grapes, pineapple, basically anything I eat, they eat. Being a Diabetic, I have to say that it's a fairly healthy diet.
Anyway, the bottom line is I have very, very healthy, thriving dogs now, whose energy level has tripled and their coats shimmer with shine. They are more obedient and have learned how to fetch and they go running with Will every day. A far cry from those first weeks.
But this does cause concern for me. Why didn't the regular dog food, that is supposed to be the best there is, do the trick and make them thrive? I use an expensive, supposedly almost perfect food with hardly any fillers and garbage in it, and Maximus did not thrive.
The change in their health is too remarkable to ignore, so I did some research amongst friends and relatives, and people in pet stores with their dogs in hand. The healthiest and most vibrant dogs all were fed mostly from table scraps! The dogs that lived the longest were fed table scraps only! And they lived far longer than expected. Two Wheatons were 18 and still going strong.
I have a friend in New York whose sole purpose in life seems to be caring for stray cats. She has 22 of them. She swears that only carefully prepared human food should be all that enters an animal's mouth. The dog/cat food for sale has too many toxins in them for an animal to cope with physically.
I used to think she was nuts. Now, I'm not so sure.

Can you believe it? It's already March, AND it's spring! You wouldn't know it by looking out my window. We had over eight inches of snow dumped on us, last night. I had fourteen people for Shabbos dinner, and at one point I thought we would have to have a major PJ party.
I find it very interesting how our lives evolve. Last night we had people over that we hadn't seen in years. We used to get together almost every Friday when we were close. Then, our interests became different and we just drifted apart and moved on with our lives. It was by chance that our daughters happened to meet up on Facebook about a year ago and became close friends again. As my husband said, "It was as if no time had passed at all."
I know there are books written about how people drift in and out of our lives and why, and I have to admit that I really haven't read any of them. I've always looked at friendships as gifts from Hashem that come and go as we need them. Some of my friends I think were sent as guardian angels. And I know that sounds hokey, but I honestly believe it.
Take my friend Carol, for instance, from Colorado. We met at a writers' conference two years ago. She has been so supportive of my writing endeavours and it was through her encouragement that I got two short stories published. Whenever we talk she immediately cheers me up and gives me the push to continue writing and trying to get published. I truly treasure her friendship. Definitely a gift from Hashem!