I wrote this poem many years ago. It was inspired by the name of a place called Hound Hollow, a basset rescue located in Pilot Hill

where I adopted my forever dog, Dolly, in 1990

. As much as you love them all, there's always one dog that holds a very special place in your heart. For me, Dolly is that dog. She was the most beautiful little dog. She was the color of the leaves on the ground that autumn she left us. Our time together in this life was far too brief and perhaps her memory is all the more precious because of that. I feel certain that we will be reunited one day in the Hound Hollow that lies in the great beyond.

HOUND HOLLOW (c. 1995)

by

Sue Owens Wright

I'm headed for Hound Hollow

Deep in the misty glen.

It's a winding path I follow

I shall not pass again.

The air is crackling with autumn.

Crimson leaves tremble and fall.

Down in the pasture bottom

I hear a welcoming call.

Farther and farther I follow;

My feet sink deep in the loam.

I see the edge of the hollow;

I know I am nearly home.

I hear my hounds a' bawling;

Velvet ears sweep the trail

As they answer their master's calling

With a leap and wag of the tail.

All at once they have found me,

The beautiful brown and the red;

Again my companions surround me;

For Heaven waits up ahead.

ZOONOSES, SCHMOONOSES!

What are those crazy UCD vets talking about? Beau says he is highly offended that anyone would suggest he spreads anything but unconditional love and comfort by sharing his mom's bed or planting an occasional adoring lick on her nose. "I concur!" Peaches says. She adds that those two guys who conducted that flea-bitten study obviously never experienced a cozy three-dog night, or even a two-dog one before reaching their conclusions.

Better nose around a bit further on that one, dudes. "We can help you. Our noses are second to none."

Peaches and Beau engaged in their daily basset games. They have to do this on the way home from walkies, but it's always on a neighbor's front lawn, never their own.  They sometimes get more energetic than this, but I finally got some footage of their game.  It usually begins when Beau does his "slider" nose-first into a soft lawn with his rump up in the air.  He snakes along and finally flops over purposely on Peaches to get a rise out of  her.  Then the game is on...

 

It's been in print for a while, but the nonfiction book I wrote in 2006, 150 Activities for Bored Dogs, is still getting reviewed.  Here's the latest good one from Krislair Dog Training Books.

HEIL TO THE HOUND

I had to laugh at the story about Jackie, the dog that lifted his paw in a salute like the Nazis saluted Hitler in World War II. This makes me think of the scene in the movie, "My Dog, Skip," when Skip growls whenever he hears the name, "Hitler." What a tremendous fuss the Nazis made about it, persecuting the dog's owner because they believed that his wife had trained the dog to mock der Fuehrer.  

Well, perhaps so.  I hope so.  Either way, good for Jackie!  Could it be that this overblown distraction for the Nazi Party might have, in part, contributed to their ultimate downfall on the Russian front? I'd like to think that it was the actions of one good Finnish dog that helped finish the most hateful, evil regime of the 20th Century.  

But hate lives on in the 21st Century, as we've seen from the recent tragic events in pistol-packin' Arizona. Hatred and violence never solve anything, and guns of all kinds are for the taking of life. Period. How many more innocent people have to die for America to get this?   

THANK YOU, ANNEKE

With heavy heart and tears in my eyes, I read this morning about the passing of Anneke Vos, a woman of boundless kindness for her fellow creatures who dedicated her life to the welfare of pets of the homeless and worked so hard to raise money for the new animal shelter at Loaves & Fishes. How sad she didn't live long enough to see the opening of the new day-use kennel. I hope that someone will carry on her good works at L&F and that everyone reading this will donate generously in her memory to Loaves & Fishes Animal Emergency Fund, P.O. Box 2161, Sacramento, CA 95812.

If there is truly a Rainbow Bridge where all the pets we've loved here on earth greet us when we pass on, I am certain Anneke is there now, happy in their company.

TO KILL A PIT BULL

A belated comment about the shooting of the pit bull that attacked the horse in Old Sacramento around the holidays.  Don't Sacramento police officers carry stun guns?  I'm sure it was dreadful to witness the horse being attacked, but couldn't the dog could have been subdued using less drastic measures than gunning it down in front of horrified tourists and children in the streets of Old Sacramento like the rabid dog scene in "To Kill a Mockingbird?"  Did anyone ever determine whether or not the dog was actually rabid?  I never read anything else about the incident or the outcome of tests done on the dead dog.  If it wasn't rabid, I think they didn't need another Atticus Finch gunning it down.  I guess it's hard to keep a cool head in a situation like that, but isn't that what police are trained to do?  I'm just saying...  

BLACKBIRDS AREN'T SINGING

IN THE DEAD OF NIGHT

As someone who loves watching birds in their natural habitats and visiting my garden feeders, I was distressed to read of the strange occurrence on New Year's Eve, when 3,000 red-winged blackbirds dropped to earth from the sky for no apparent reason. No one seems to have any definite explanation for this event or for 100,000 dead drum fish in Arkansas. It could be caused by a lot of things, experts claim (my best guess is toxins or diseases caused by same) but even those who are not religious or inclined to read or believe what is written in the Bible can't ignore prophesies like these:

Ezekiel 38:20 "The fish of the seas, the birds of the air, the beasts of the field, every creature that moves along the ground, and all the people on the face of the earth will tremble at my presence. The mountains will be overturned, the cliffs will crumble and every wall will fall to the ground." 

Hosea 4 "Hear the word of the LORD you Israelites, because the LORD has a charge to bring against you who live in the land: 'There is no faithfulness, no love, no acknowledgment of God in the land. There is only cursing, lying, and murder, stealing and adultery; they break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed. Because of this the land dries up, and all who live in it waste away; the beasts of the field, the birds in the sky and the fish in the sea are swept away...'"

Zephaniah 1:3 "I will sweep away both men and animals; I will sweep away the birds of the air and the fish of the sea.  The wicked will have only heaps of rubble when I cut off man from the face of the earth," declares the LORD.

Revelation 19:17 "And I saw an angel standing in the sun, who cried in a loud voice to all the birds flying in midair, 'Come, gather together for the great supper of God...'"

The sun is shining today, but one can't help wondering if Man's day of reckoning is finally at hand for his wanton abuse of the Eden that our earth once was not so long ago. When you hear that a freeway is being built that will cut straight through the Serengeti, habitat to the most magnificent animals that inhabit the planet, you begin to have apocalyptic intimations. I hope this isn't the beginning of the end...

TO EVERYONE AND THEIR FUR FRIENDS,

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

May Peace and Prosperity 

reign among all the people of the world