Animal Behavior
Miracle Day for Brillo
Part Four Post-Surgical Success! 2023 Every day since Brillo’s bilateral cataract surgery has brought new discoveries for us. Due to the delay in treatment because the first doctor told me Brillo was “not a candidate for cataract surgery”, he did experience a few days of post-operative glaucoma. Dr. Matt had us return every day for…
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Part Three—My Aging Dog 2020-2022 Brillo’s eyesight was overtaken by cloudy white cataracts. He was fourteen when a veterinary ophthalmologist told me he was “not a surgical candidate” for cataract removal. Brillo became isolated in his deafness and blindness. His outgoing personality receded into unsureness around dogs he didn’t know, new environments, and experiences he…
Read MoreMiracle Day for Brillo
by Sunny Weber 2023 Brillo stood in the far corner of the yard, sniffing. I remained vigilant at the sliding glass patio door, as I always do. Brillo is seventeen pounds of Lhasa Apso focus, Shih Tzu cuteness, and Schnauzer self-confidence. In other words, a muttly mix of energy and ego. His head came up…
Read MoreProtecting the Vulnerable
I awoke again today to my next-door neighbor’s two Shetland Sheepdogs barking. They are like wind-up toys—the minute they shoot out of their back door, they dodge around the yard yapping. They do not quiet until they are back inside. The old man often lets the dogs out early or late, and has been cited…
Read MoreThe Captive Wildlife Crisis: Part Two
Part Two By Pat Craig, Guest Blogger Founder and Executive Director of The Wild Animal Sanctuary, Keensburg, Colorado Note from Sunny: I present this guest blog to assist in the education of the public regarding this lesser-known animal welfare crisis. The wider the educational efforts of all animal welfare enthusiasts spread, the more public…
Read MoreThe Captive Wildlife Crisis: Part One
Part One By Pat Craig, Guest Blogger Founder and Executive Director of The Wild Animal Sanctuary, Keensburg, Colorado Note from Sunny: I present this guest blog to assist in the education of the public regarding this lesser-known animal welfare crisis. The wider the educational efforts of all animal welfare enthusiasts spread, the more public…
Read MoreNot All Working Dogs Have Job Titles
Jessie was scheduled for euthanasia as a “behavior problem”–a separation anxiety nutcase, a house destroyer, a crazy bag of bones abandoned. He came to me for behavioral rehab. His intelligence, sensitivity, and 100% reliability with all other animals and humans of all ages was almost missed–until he graciously showed me what he needed. I understood…
Read MoreSome Dogs
Some dogs don’t move you to poetry. Some dogs quietly, slowly, meld themselves into literature’s prose; not flowery, not romantic, not shiny. Jessie was a dog who grew slowly into a soul mate. He arrived frantic, anxious—a house destroyer, a wreck of rejection, an abandoned teenager who had lost everything he knew in a dog’s…
Read MoreBailey’s Hills
I almost made it to Bailey’s hills today. I had hip revision surgery six weeks ago and each day I challenge myself to walk farther, with longer strides and more challenging inclines. Just a week ago I was dependent on a friend’s walking sticks to keep my balance. The week before that, I walked with…
Read MoreBailey’s Disappearance
My fourteen-year-old Wheaten Terrier, Bailey, disappeared. Vanished. Melted into thin air. Somewhere in my own house. The panic that gurgled in the back of my brain wrestled with the logic that I knew she had fallen asleep on my bedroom floor last night. She was still there at 3:30 am when I roused for a…
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