Losing Tonka

Tonka

LUCY BURDETTE: Thirteen years ago, we lost our elderly Australian Shepherd, Poco, along with two cats, all within six weeks. John likes animals but can live without pets, so we tried living pet-free for four months. I was miserable. The house felt so empty and lonely. I included a note in our Christmas letter about our missing animals and that same week got a note back from the Australian rescue friend who had arranged for us to adopt Poco. 

“I think I have just the dog for you."

I explained this to John, who could only roll his eyes. 

"She said I could just go meet him, and we could even take him for a trial couple of days."

More eye rolling. He knew better.

On the way home from picking up Tonka, I stopped at John’s office. "Come see what I have out in the car, honey." 

Tonka sat in the passenger seat appearing confused but determined. We never looked back. 

He had been the pick of his litter, destined to be a show dog.

 Here’s what he looked like as a puppy before we knew him, and in his first dog show. Killer cute right? 

But his teeth came in wrong and he turned out to be a little tall for the breed standards, so the breeder needed to find him a home. And we got lucky.

He bonded intensely to me from that first day. Some days John didn’t remember that we had a dog because Tonka was always at my side, under my desk, running errands with me, even doing yoga. 

We considered him something of an ambassador to non-dog lovers. He would find the least dog-loving person at the table and lie at their feet--or on them. He didn’t convert everyone, but lots of people who didn’t love dogs before they met him were enchanted. Hallie, one of those people, described him as "A person in a dog suit."

He always wanted to make the travel team, and he usually did. Of course he made it into my author photo.

He was a a rockstar in Key West, as you can see from this photograph, taken by Hallie's husband Jerry. 



When we walked through the streets of Key West, our guests would be astonished at how often we were stopped so that people could admire him, ask questions about him, and get a dog fix because they missed their own. He put up with the Key West costume scene, including masquerading as a wiener dog in the dachshund parade and wearing a tutu for Fantasyfest.

Oh he wasn't perfect--he had more energy than we knew what to do with. We washed out of agility training because he was afraid of heights. He shook so hard on the balance beam that he fell off--in spite of the hot dog treats ahead. So John ran with him, and I walked. If you stopped to chat with a neighbor on a walk he would spring four feet in the air and nip at you. Time to get a move on, we're walking.

And he was not a fan of children, especially toddlers.

He tolerated the cat only because he had to.

We're comforted by knowing he had gotten uncomfortable and it was kinder to let him go. But I swear I will miss him for the rest of my life. If there really is a rainbow bridge, I'm pretty sure he'll be there waiting...

Have you had an animal friend who left his or her mark on your heart?

Indiana as Setting by Sheila Webster Boneham

LUCY BURDETTE: First thing today, we would like to pause for a moment to celebrate and give thanks to all our veterans...

And then I am delighted to introduce you to someone new to Jungle Red, Sheila Webster Boneham, who writes the "Animals in Focus" mystery series. How could I resist an author with an Aussie on her book cover and in her author photo? Welcome Sheila!

SHEILA WEBSTER BONEHAM: Setting is an essential element of many works of fiction. Some settings are important enough to be regarded as "characters" of a sort – Tony Hillerman’s Four Corners area of the Southwest, for instance, or Carl Hiassen’s Florida – and the players and plots depend in large part on place. The stories just wouldn’t work as well anywhere else.

 In my own Animals in Focus mystery series, 50-something animal photographer Janet MacPhail, her Australian Shepherd Jay, and her orange tabby Leo, spend most of their time in and around Fort Wayne and other parts of northern Indiana. I chose the area partly because I grew up there and know it well, and partly because it is a beautiful part of the country that often gets short shrift from outsiders who think the whole state (or perhaps the entire Midwest?) is just flat farmland merging into the industrial landscape just east of Chicago. Indiana certainly has its share of corn and beans, hogs and factories, but the state is also rich in lakes, rivers, forests, hills, and ravines as well as bustling cities, small towns, and occasional quirky attractions. Janet’s career and her hobby—training and competing in dog and cat (yes, cat!) sports—both take her to a variety of locations, from fairgrounds to lakes and rivers to rolling pastures and wild wooded ravines.

Take Janet’s stomping grounds in and around Fort Wayne. The city is set at the confluence of the St. Joseph and St. Marys rivers, which join forces to flow east and then north to Lake Erie as the Maumee. Historically, this was the site of a sprawling Miami Indian village known as Kekionga (“blackberry bush”)—my junior high school was named for the village. Modern Fort Wayne straddles the rivers, with Main Street practically running into the point where the rivers meet. This is, in fact, an area prone to flooding, and some time ago the city began buying up property along the rivers, eventually creating well-used parks that accommodate a lot of overflow from the occasional deluge. In dryer times, the parks are well used for walking, jogging, bicycling,  and fishing.

One of my favorite places in Fort Wayne is the Rivergreenway, a 25-mile multi-use trail along the rivers. When I lived there, I spent many a happy hour riding my bike or walking, with or without my dogs, along various sections of the trail. It’s no mystery, then, why my fictional friend Janet does the same. She and her Australian Shepherd, Jay, even wrestle with a corpse on the trail in Drop Dead on Recall (although I won’t say what kind of corpse!).

A short drive north and west of Fort Wayne we find ourselves in lake country, and I can’t resist including some of the lakes and rivers in the books just for a chance to use their musical names—Maxinkuckee, Winona, Manitou, Wawasee. And of course the big lake—Michigan—with some forty miles of Indiana shoreline. Fifteen of those miles border the 15,000 acres of Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, whose forty-five miles of trails pass through dunes, wetlands, prairies, and forests. If that’s not enough, Indiana Dunes State Park offers more opportunities to enjoy the wildlife and natural landscape of this beautiful area. I’m sure Janet will get there one of these books!

If you’re in the mood for something a more rugged, a three-hour drive to the southwest will land you in Turkey Run and Shades state parks in the west-central part of Indiana. Ancient glaciers carved deep ravines into this landscape, which is rich with gorgeous rock formations and varied flora and fauna. Shades also protects one of the last remaining virgin hardwood forests in the region. If you hike these trails, be sure to wear your slip-proof shoes or boots, and be ready for a workout, and for some gorgeous scenery and wildlife sightings.

Drive farther south and you’ll find yourself in hilly country famous for its construction-quality limestone (think Empire State Building, Washington National Cathedral, Pentagon…. the list is long), the 202,000-acre Hoosier National Forest, the Indiana University campus in Bloomington, beautiful hill-country state parks like Brown County and McCormick’s Creek (which is my favorite). And as long as we’re headed south, don’t miss Clifty Falls and Falls of the Ohio, where Lewis and Clark met to begin their expedition.

In the first four books of my series, Janet and friends have stayed within day-trip distance of home, but who knows? There are so many stunning places in Indiana to hike with dogs and to photograph wildlife, they could find themselves almost anywhere in the future. 

What mysteries (or other novels) have introduced you to a new setting or given you new insights into one you thought you knew?

Shepherd's Crook, Animals in Focus Mystery #4

 Animal photographer Janet MacPhail has just arrived at a sheep-herding competition with her Australian Shepherd, Jay, when she learns that a flock of sheep has disappeared. Police think the animals have wandered off in search of greener grass, but Janet sees and hears things that convince her the sheep's owners are right—the animals have been stolen. Janet knows she should leave the snooping to the police while she attends to her own problems—new living arrangements, her mom's wedding plans, puppy and kitten antics, and extremists bent on keeping people from having pets. But when a livestock handler turns up dead and the sheep's owner disappears, the police and a pair of thugs pay Janet way more attention than she likes. She sets out to find answers, putting herself and those she loves in the killer's crosshairs.

Sheila Webster Boneham writes the Animals in Focus mystery series. Best-seller Drop Dead on Recall, the first in the series, was an NBC Petside Top Ten Dog book of 2012 and won the 2013 Maxwell Award for Fiction from the Dog Writers Association of America. The Moneybird was a Maxwell finalist in 2014. Sheila has been involved with many sides of the animal world and has written seventeen nonfiction books about dogs and cats, six of which have won major awards. You can find Sheila at sheilaboneham.com, or at her Writers & Other Animals blog at writersandotheranimals.blogspot.com, or on Facebook. Sheila’s books are available at all the usual places, and autographed copies can be ordered here. 

Tonka slipped this in...did someone say "Australian shepherds?"

What Writers Can Teach Entrepreneurs by Jill Crossland

Jill Crossland: So good to be back with you, I see some familiar faces and some new ones. This is my third time on Jungle Red Writers. An emailed invitation from Roberta always gives me a Sally Field  “They like me, they really like me.” moment followed by ‘everyone else was probably too busy’. 

 
And Roberta I know I am supposed to call you Lucy (Burdette) but to me you are Roberta and mother of Australian Shepherd, Tonka. And you know I have a red Aussie named Mia and an SPCA three-legged  mix breed  but I  am not here to discuss my favorite subjects, dogs, wine and food.

One suggested topic for my post was ‘What writers can learn from entrepreneurs?’ and I’m thinking is Roberta kidding? I look at all of the Jungle Reds: Most of you have others jobs, do philanthropic work, or share your craft through workshops, as well as being authors. You all do book promotions, interviews, maintain your social media, raise families and the list goes go. There is not much of my expertise that I can add to that. 

Allow me instead to back track a few years when I announced “I am going to write a business book”. That was all it was supposed to take; put my intention out there and everything would manifest to produce the next great business book.  It never happened. Lots of other things happened, but no book. When I visualize the jigsaw puzzle of my professional life the writing piece is always the one left on the coffee table. 

If you Google ‘What is an entrepreneur?’ the Merriam-Webster definition is ‘a person who starts a business and is willing to risk loss in order to make money.’ The word origin is Enterprise - the ability or desire to do dangerous or difficult things or to solve problems in new ways. 

Famous entrepreneurs have included the Body Shop’s Anita Roddick, Richard Branson, Bill Gates and even Coco Chanel. Over the years many have written books; some have chosen to share their personal story, while others turned their business highs and lows into some timeless business publications.  

My unwritten book bothers me so I reversed this posts title to ask ‘What can entrepreneurs learn from writers?’  Taking the risk of writing doesn't look like a big leap and yet it stumps me.

You have all had your share of fears, time issues and life/work imbalances; what advice and thoughts do you have for the next Seth Godin or Michael E Gerber?  

And if anyone has questions about business,  I would be happy to answer them. Thank you to Lucy Burdette and all the Jungle Red writers for having me here today. 

Jill Crossland Consulting provides marketing, social media, business and writing services. Check out their new website …………………… or join Jill on her favorite social media outlet Twitter -

Lucy: Jill would love to hear your suggestions about writing and is happy to take questions about business, entrepreneurs, wine, and Australian shepherds!

Pet Parties! You're invited

SPECIAL BOOK GIVEAWAY! One lucky commenter will win an ARC of Hank's upcoming book, The Wrong Girl.


ROSEMARY HARRIS: Not petting parties (if anyone's old enough to remember that expression!) Pet Parties.

Happy Anniversary, Max. Nine years ago this week my husband and I fell in love. Not with each other - with a sloppy, two year old red golden retriever named Max.
We had lost our beloved Patrick four months earlier and didn't think we'd have room in our hearts for another dog so soon. But I got the itch and contacted Yankee Golden Retriever Rescue in Hudson Massachusetts.


After an interview process that I imagine could only be rivaled by the adoption of a child from the Ukraine (including providing personal references and submitting to a home visit) we were deemed suitable.

It was determined there were two candidates. The first was a skinny golden mix. Very energetic. Very nice. Next.
The second dog bounded away from his handler and delivered sloppy kisses all over my face. It was love at first slobber. Particularly since Patrick, another rescue dog, had been a little standoffish.

Max was two and his previous owner was, we were told, a young woman who could no longer take care of him. I'm not surprised. I wouldn't recommend a two year old golden to anyone with a full-time job. Not because they're so demanding - you will want to spend hours a day playing, canoodling, retrieving your own socks and dish towels from your pet's hiding places and simply snuggling in the big brown chair with your furry friend.

So nine years later, we will make Max an anniversary hamburger (maybe a rawhide candle) to celebrate the day he joined our family.

Fess up - have you ever celebrated a pet's birthday? Anniversary? Summer haircut?

Share your pet's homecoming or party story.

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Pets. Pets. My dear cats Lola and Leon, RIP, were both fabulous, hilarious, and lived together for 14 years without acknowledging each other's existence.  Now, we don't have pets, there's no way in the universe we'd be able to take care of anyone, we can barely handle ourselves.
But! We do have an animal anniversary--every year, on March 14,--amazingly, almost exactly on March 14th--the ducks come back to our pool. I know the date because I was looking for a picture of them, and discovered two year's worth--each first one taken on March 14. How do they KNOW?
We love them so much--and we feed them. But they are fine without us. And that works out well.

LUCY BURDETTE: Oh happy birthday Max! Love the story Ro:). I don't really have a pet party story, but how about an adoption story? We adopted a dog too, and after that, another, who is my devoted Tonka.

But the first Australian Shepherd in our life was named Poco--his family gave him up when he was eight because their son was leaving for college and they wanted to travel. Can you imagine? I really can't. And neither could the Aussie rescue lady--she was horrified, and so happy to find him a good home. And he opened our hearts so we were ready for Tonka six years later, who was much younger and livelier. He's still a handful but I wouldn't trade either of those dogs for all the trips in the world.

RHYS: Alas we have no pets. We are never in one place long enough. But Jane's dog Sunny does come to visit quite often and is thoroughly spoiled when she's with us--we'll have her for 2 weeks when Jane goes to England next week. And she does get her own stocking at Christmas from me, so I guess I'm a pet softie.

HALLIE EPHRON: Pet parties? No. Never. But I don't think it's at all weird, and if you want to invite me to yours, I'll even wear a party hat.


ROSEMARY: I might have a party just to see Hallie in the hat....

Well, here's the perfect present for your doggie if there is a party in his future - the 2014 Yankee Golden Retriever Calendar.  It's a terrific organization and we thank them every day for Max! http://www.ygrr.org

 

Oh...and those bitchin' tank tops - well by popular demand EVERYONE wants to see Jack in one - so he gets one, and since the Reds are nothing if not generous Shizuka and Denise Ann also win. Please send your street addresses to me at rosemary@rosemaryharris.com Shirts will ship on Aug. 27.