You decide.  I love them all. Check out the pictures, thanks to the people at Bored Panda.

Tillie says: “Don’t forget the humans. I think they’re cute, too.”

Not as cute as you, Til.

Nostradogus took me shopping the other day.

“You need a new set of Tarot cards,” he said.

I never argue with him. What’s the point? He always gets important information before I do.

We went to The Ark, our favorite bookstore in Santa Fe, where we live. They know Nostradogus there.

We browsed and browsed and browsed.  Soon I felt a friendly dog paw nudging me on the leg.

“Buy these,” Nostradogus insisted. It was a gorgeous deck — The Golden Tarot by Kat Black.

“Check out The Magician,” Nostradogus said. “Look at all the cool animals.”

“Maybe we should have put humans swirling around me,” Nostradogus said. “I would have liked that. It would have given people some clues about who’s got the upper hand in human/dog relationships.”

I guess when you’re all-knowing, it’s hard to be humble. But he could try, don’t you think?

Hi everyone,

There’s evidently something wrong with my site. The blog is sending old posts, and test posts, so please ignore until you hear from me again. I’m so sorry.

Heidi and Tillie Marie

Turns out dogs actually DO see in color, though the popular myth tells us they don’t. They just don’t see color the same way humans do. Check out this fantastic tool that helps us see through Rover’s eyes. Amazing.

I’m on a campaign to help the Heeling Hearts New Mexico Prison Pet Program, and here’s why.

They rescue dogs who would have practically no chance without them, and at the same time they rescue people. The dogs are trained by inmates serving time in the women’s prison in the dusty town of Grants, New Mexico.  Trained and loved, the dogs have a good shot at getting adopted.

The women who train them get to care and feel cared for, and feel the release and hope that comes when you bond with another being. At best, it’s a situation of mutual deliverance. Save a dog/save a woman. Do the right thing.

There are thousands of rescue groups and so much need for homes it’s overwhelming. But I’m stuck on Heeling Hearts for a hundred reasons, and two of them are tied for number 1.

Reason 1A:  My dog Tillie comes from Heeling Hearts.

Reason 1B: My heart got stretched beyond its cardiac boundaries by the woman who trained her. We’ll call her Dianna, though that’s not her real name. She’s  serving time for armed robbery with a deadly weapon. Until Tillie, the closest my life came to that world was watching episodes of Breaking Bad. But that’s changed.

Now, I have an invisible relationship to Dianna. People say “we’re all connected” and there’s no denying that’s true. The same hand that held a cold, steel gun in a robbery petted my dog. The same person who turned to violence looked into Tillie’s eyes and said “You can be something, baby dog.” This woman and I are bonded through a gentle heeler mix who is, as I write, sleeping safely 20 feet away.

In conventional doggy-in-the-window terms, Tillie isn’t the prettiest girl in the world. I think she’s beautiful, but most people don’t.

She isn’t fluffy; doesn’t have the exuberant, charismatic, tail-wagging personality of a canine movie star. But underneath her working-dog coat, behind her “please tell me I’m acceptable” stance, is a soul longing for expression. So with Tillie, what you see in looks is not what you get in heart.  The disparity makes me think, pretty much every day, of Dianna.

Who is she – beneath the circumstances of her life? Who was she before she crossed the line to the other side of the law. She gave my dog a second chance. Will she get hers? And what will she be able to do with it?

Fantastic report just out: Turkey Tail mushrooms extended the life of dogs with cancer.

Exciting news!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-karen-becker/pets-cancer_b_3429597.html

On the advice of my amazing vet, I gave a mushroom formula to my beloved Bosco, who inspired the dog tarot, after he had cancer surgery. He lived for 10 more beautiful months.