Dogs Welcome

A man wrote a letter to a small hotel in a Midwest town he planned to visit on his vacation.

He wrote: "I would very much like to bring my dog with me. He is well-groomed and very well behaved. Would you be willing to permit me to keep him in my room with me at night?"

An immediate reply came from the hotel owner, who wrote: SIR: "I've been operating this hotel for many years. In all that time, I've never had a dog steal towels, bedclothes, silverware, or pictures off the walls.

I've never had to evict a dog in the middle of the night for being drunk and disorderly. And I've never had a dog run out on a hotel bill. Yes, indeed, your dog is welcome at my hotel. And, if your dog will vouch for you, you're welcome to stay here, too."

Beautiful Joe

Linda Thorn

Writer, Linda Thorn, re-wrote the well loved story of Beautiful Joe. Her book, Beautiful Joe, a poem inspired by the world's most famous dog is a poetic version of the timeless and universally loved story which returns Joe to his Grey Bruce roots where his true story took place. This rhyming format enhances the original 1894 book and a portion of each book sale is donated to The Beautiful Joe Heritage Society who endorses this enterprise. This newer version is a smaller size of book which describes the true story of the mistreated pup called Joe and his grateful rescue to a loving home. There are 14 artistic sketches with a surprise on each page for younger children, but the book appeals to young and old who will want this new book in their collection along side the original book. For more information, visit: www.beautifuljoepoembook.com or e-mail info@BeautifulJoePoemBook.com, or call 1-519-534-9486.

Badge on My Collar - A Chronicle of Courageous Canines

Marilyn Jeffers Walton
This Book by Author Marilyn Jeffers Walton is a must read for anyone who appreciates the dedication of Police K9 Officers and their Human Counterparts, and for anyone who has ever loved a dog.

How does one fully explain the symbiotic relationship between dog handlers and their dogs? Officers and their dogs mesh into a solid unit that thinks and anticipates as one as they communicate many times in unspoken words. By necessity, theirs is an extremely tight bond. This book is a window into those relationships and the lives of K-9s. It showcases fifteen memorable police and search and rescue dogs and presents their unforgettable stories. A twenty-year search for the most heart-warming stories provides a chronicle that gives insight into an often personal world the public seldom sees. Meet K-9 Argus who against all odds searched for an abandoned newborn in the rugged Canadian wilderness. K-9 Alley of Maryland whose own pain never stopped her from searching for Pentagon victims of 9/11 and K-9 Sirius of the New York Port Authority, the only dog lost at the World Trade Center, will both be remembered for their heroism. K-9 Major from Minnesota and K-9 Luke II from Ohio, two of the most unlikely dogs to reach the pinnacle of success, exemplify the dedication and superb training necessary to assure a place on the often-mean streets to protect the public.

Badge on My Collar II To Serve With Honor

Marilyn Jeffers Walton

The sequel to Badge on My Collar--A Chronicle of Courageous Canines. The first book made amazon.com's Top 100 Best-Selling Animal Books in 2007. It was used by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police as a prize in its Name the Puppy Contest and is used by the U.S. Police Canine Association to raise funds. The sequel is more international in scope but has other stories of U.S. K9s. The final chapter profiles K9 Shadow of Animal Planet's K9 Cops fame, who is handled by head trainer in St. Paul, Minnesota, Mark Ficcadenti.

Nubs - The True Story of a Mutt, a Marine and a Miracle

Major Brian Dennis
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

When Major Brian Dennis of the United States Marine Corps met a wild stray dog with shorn ears while serving in Iraq, he had no idea of the bond they would form, leading to seismic changes in both their lives. "The general theme of the story of Nubs is that if you're kind to someone, they'll never forget you -- whether it be person or animal," Dennis tells Paw Nation.

In October 2007, Dennis and his team of 11 men were in Iraq patrolling the Syrian border. One day, as his team arrived at a border fort, they encountered a pack of stray dogs -- not uncommon in the barren, rocky desert that was home to wolves and wild dogs.

"We all got out of the Humvee and I started working when this dog came running up," recalls Dennis. "I said, 'Hey buddy' and bent down to pet him." Dennis noticed the dog's ears had been cut. "I said, 'You got little nubs for ears.'" The name stuck. The dog whose ears had been shorn off as a puppy by an Iraqi soldier (to make the dog "look tougher," Dennis says) became known as Nubs.

The Dog by the Cradle, The Serpent Beneath

Erika Ritter

Below is a wonderful excerpt from Canadian author, Erika Ritter's latest book, which refers to her experience with the Beautiful Joe story.

My new book, The Dog by the Cradle, the Serpent Beneath, takes an ancient story about a faithful dog wrongly punished for killing a snake and uses it as a way of examining humanity's long and sometimes contradictory relationship with animals. The actual burial place of the dog in the old, old tale became, at one point in history, the focal point of rituals seeking the dog's intervention to cure ailing children.

 
Pet Portraits

Isobell Parkins Pet Portraits and Animal Paintings

Isobell Parkin is a local painter, who has an amazing talent for capturing the "soul" of your pet in her beautiful paintings. If you want a treasured reminder of your beloved pet...this is the painter for you!

Isobell grew up in a South Western Ontario village as an only child, and spent her time with the farm animals; the old horses, the little jersey cow and the chickens...they were her friends. She discovered her love of drawing and painting and it was natural that she turned to painting animals. Many years passed while she finished school, worked and raised a family. She always managed to have some form of art on the go...stained glass, making sewing and knitting patterns and taking mini art classes at the local high school.

Eventually, after moving to Meaford, she began painting seriously under the tutelage of Liz Kool. For many years she had a successful business in rock painting. Isobell paints under her single name I. Reid. If you are interested in engaging her to paint your pets portrait...you can contact her at www.petportraitsonrocks.com or email her at iparkin@bmts.com

A Community's Heart Comes from its Pets

Article written by Johnnie Bachusky a columnist for the Red Deer Express, Red Deer, Alberta

Last August my family and I visited my oldest brother Wayne at his new home in Meaford, Ontario, a quaint resort type of town of about 11,000 citizens located on the south shore of Georgian Bay. Like the scores and scores of other Ontario communities that cherish the fact it has nothing in common with Toronto or Ottawa, Meaford prides itself in celebrating its unique heritage. Following a morning boat cruise out in the bay, my brother asked if we knew about Beautiful Joe, the Aire-dale-type canine that made my sib-ling's new home town on the bay famous for more than a century. Beautiful Joe is a true tale of a dog that was horribly abused by its first owner in 1890.