Kelly Gorman Dunbar

Not long ago I encountered an unusual, yet very good, reason to teach your dog to come when called happily and as fast as lightening, no matter the distraction. As dog lovers, we already know that a rock-solid, really reliable recall is not only extremely convenient, but could also save your dog’s life. However, when I got a frantic call from my next door neighbor one day the importance of training for safety really sunk in for me on a whole new level.

It was 10:30 in the morning and my neighbor called to let me know that there was a mountain lion in her back yard and that her gardener had come across it and accidentally scared it into heading in my direction – possibly into my back yard – where my dogs were hanging out and lounging in the sun.

Back in June when the financial crisis was just budding I wrote about how to make the best of a stressful situation by hanging out with your dog. All of us dog lovers already know how dogs reduce our stress and enhance our lives, it is no secret. As the late Charles M Schulz said, “Happiness is a warm puppy.” Now, as the financial crisis goes global, it seems the idea of doggy-delight-as-respite is really catching on.

I'm in lush and lovely Dublin at the moment and this morning while having my porridge and tea I came across The Sunday Poem in the Sunday Independent newspaper. Much to my delight this week's poem is about dogs; divine coincidence!

It is a fun poem, I’ve included it below, and it jolted my memory about a poem I wrote at the passing of Ivan, my first dog as an adult. I am not generally known for my poetry skills, but the love and loss of one of my very dearest companions inspired me to take up my pen. As I grieved the loss of him in body, I also feared the loss of the intangibles. The sweet happiness he brought to me, his playful demeanor, all of the nicknames I had for him, and his silly and unique wooo-wooo-wooo that I’d never hear again. So I felt compelled to write it all down.

On the 4th of July we celebrated a friend’s birthday by going over to her house to make her dinner and hang out and watch fireworks over the San Francisco Bay from her veranda. Our friend only lives two doors down from us and after the meal I went to our house to pick up Hugo, our youngest dog, so he could hang out with us at our friend’s house during the fireworks. I didn’t anticipate a problem, he is a little over a year old and was born before last 4th of July, but he was so young last year and this would be his first year hearing fireworks while in his adolescent-mildly-reactive phase. I wanted to keep an eye on him just in case he got spooked.

Hugo did just fine with the noise and commotion; in fact it didn’t faze him at all. After the display we went home to settle down with a movie for the remainder of the evening.