Cathleen and Penny

     Penny is a classic beagle.  She is sweet as honey and has a keen sense of self- sometimes a mind of her own. We have been taking walks and rides together for the past ten years since she walked down the wooded path into our lives. Penny has shown me what it is like to be really laid back  and  patient  while at home; and to be a  persistent crusader outside. Her sense of smell, adventure and endurance leads us to often learn more about the other "wild lives" that  inhabit this land.

     Penny can sleep real late when it is raining outside, but  out on fine days, going in her own chosen direction there is little  reason for return.  I call her my beagle kite heading out on line, and sometimes when turning around she is more like a bowling ball.

      Circular walks always work best, but a little marching song on the return journey always helps us make it back home. I make up song and sing them to her.  I think she likes them.  Here is an early phrase:

      "Look at Paul, running tall, chasing after Beagle small.  Nose to ground, eye with glee, try to catch me and I'll flee!" We have other songs too, like "It was a Chihuahua  day" or  "She's walking fine." You might hear another song on the audio/video.

Most important, We thank Miranda for caring so much, and creating this special project - Penny is quite pleased!

Brian and Donkey

Mary and Eli

E.E. and Ricky

Kathleen and Fern

Before I found Fern at the rescue agency in the late summer of 2011, she, 6-7 other pups and their mother had lived with an extreme hoarder in the mid-west whose neighbors finally convinced to release many neglected animals. Fern and her litter mates along with the mother dog were then fostered on a farm until the pups were old enough (8 weeks) to cross state lines. Next the dogs were all transported to the northeast where there are better chances for adoption. Fern settled easily into our home from the first day. She curled up on the soft round dog bed of my previous dog and slept through the night with no sound or movement but for her quiet breathing. I was astonished.

When Fern was 8 months old, she suddenly experienced extreme digestive issues. This  change happened overnight, out-of-the-blue, with no lead-up symptoms. Our veterinarian suspected right away that she had an auto immune condition known as Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency (EPI.) For reasons not well understood, when an animal has EPI, the body attacks the pancreas (all important for the powerful digestive enzymes it produces) and no signs show up until it is too late to reverse the damage.

Thankfully there is a treatment, which involves using porcine pancreases and enzymes to pre-digest all food (the powdered enzymes are mixed with kibble or other foods ahead of feeding to incubate/marinate before the dog ingests the food.) Without the added enzymes, EPI dogs will starve as they cannot digest food. Most dogs with EPI live long, active lives; though for some, replacement enzymes don’t work well or stop working eventually. The enzymes are shockingly expensive. However recently a few dog owners with EPI family dogs have founded co-ops to serve others with EPI animals by providing access to more affordable porcine pancreatic enzymes.

Connecting with the rescue community and the EPI community has been life-giving for me and of course especially for Fern. Although we live in a world where animals are mistreated or even thrown away, networks organized against those circumstances are strong and developing well. Navigating the EPI health hurdle was tender and frightening. Now Fern visits the vet only once a year for her annual check-up. And every day she runs exuberantly across fields near our home, even faster than a rocket, creating huge joy for both of us along the way. 

Robin and Stella

Jennifer and George Eliot

George Eliot

George Eliot found our family eight years ago.  She had had four foster families before us which we thought did not bode well for her character (surely there was a reason these others had not wanted to keep such a beautiful dog?)  George corrected this myth soon after coming under our roof.  She was a perfectly dear, smart, and well-behaved animal and one thing was clear, she had chosen us.

Great Pyrenees are not a dog for every family.  They are bred as working dogs, livestock guarders who live out on the range along with their wards.  They are haughty, independent and unrelenting barkers (not our George though, she’s the Marcel Marceau of Pyrenees) with a tendency to guard the perimeter of their territory.  Without a fence, they are soon, gone long gone.

And that is exactly what George did, the first day she came to us.  After the death of my previous Pyrenees, Scout, (a most remarkable therapy dog and companion who worked with terminally ill and Alzeheimer’s patients) I felt the loss of her presence so profoundly I started to speed-date with Pyrenees rescue organizations.  It felt wildly illicit, beautiful dogs brought to your home, or to meet you in a park or by the side of the road, yet all of them were not Scout.  It was just too soon.  As the foster parent went over George Eliot’s history as we sat on my back porch, I explained to her that I was not feeling up to the adoption.  When we looked around, George Eliot was gone.  After a panicked search, (we live in a high traffic urban area and she was headed up a highway exit ramp) we brought her home again.  We were supposed only watch her for the afternoon while the foster mom went to a family reunion but George never left again.  

She seems to love her life which encompasses a high level of travel (takes care of that roaming instinct), from rural to urban environs.  She loves New York City.  The crowds, the bustle, all those friendly dogs and of course the excessively high count of squirrels per square inch in the city’s parks.  With all that interaction potential you never know who you might meet.  In our neighborhood there is another rescue Pyrenees named June.  The very first time they met they both just lay down on the street and kissed each other.  George has never done this with another dog.  This was family.

When George first came to us, she was so insecure and dis-spirited she couldn’t, wouldn’t look us in the eye.  She ran away whenever a camera was brought out (we thought this signaled that she was in a witness protection program and didn’t want to be identified and sent back to where she came from).  Today, as you can see in her picture, she is the master of her universe.  Eager to greet everyone she meets and play with every dog she encounters.  We don’t know how old she is but it seems she has Benjamin Button syndrome.  With each passing year, her heart is becoming younger, more playful and more joyful.  When the evening grows dark, she stands at the door of the same porch she jumped off of the first day she came into our lives, wagging her tail to ask to come into her home, the one she had looked for across four states and claimed as the life she instinctually knew was out there waiting for her.

- Jennifer Gross 2015

Jim and Theo

Penny and Jim

Emmy and Jim - Healing Through Divorce

This story has a happy ending! Since making this short movie, Jim has reunited with his wife, and the two of them, along with Emmy and Scruffy now live happily in New Hampshire where they are forging a new life. You can also read more about Camp Unleashed here http://campunleashed.com/About.html

Vincent and Gigi