Most animal shelters and rescues depend heavily upon volunteer foster parents to help rehabilitate an animal recovering from surgery or dealing with behavior issues. When the shelter is at capacity, they might reach out to fosters to take in an animal or two to help make room for incoming animals. In all cases, the foster length of stay is usually a month or less, but there are exceptions like "failed fosters," who fall in love with their foster animal and adopt the animal as a new pet for their family. Shelters love this outcome, but it is not the intention of a foster program.

(This audiobook is available for purchase on Amazon at purchase this book.)

One of the few times we went to a breeder for a dog was 18-years ago. I remember I had to pick up the puppy because the breeder was bugging out due to the oncoming Hurricane Charley. The puppy was only 6-weeks old and was the runt of the litter. She was the size of a 3.5" floppy disk. We named her Fiona, and she was the only female dog we have ever owned. She was so different from the male dogs. I called her Baby Girl, and she was daddy's little girl.

(This audiobook is available for purchase on Amazon at purchase this book.)

I recently lost one of my dogs, Max, to degenerative myelopathy. The disease slowly affects the dog's spinal cord, and they lose the use of their extremities. After 11 years of being a great and faithful companion, Max was losing his battle with the disease. He lost the use of his hind legs and could no longer control his bodily functions. We made the decision to help Max crossover the Rainbow Bridge and stayed with him during the euthanasia process.

Losing a pet is never easy. Grief is the normal and natural reaction to losing someone or something we care about. There is nothing wrong with how sad we feel when we lose a pet. I recently met with a grief counselor, and he said, "We don't deal with death and loss well as a society.

(This audiobook is available for purchase on Amazon at purchase this book.)

It’s a fact of life; your dog or cat will go missing at one time or another. It’s a terrible feeling when your pet digs under the backyard fence or gets off the leash and takes off running. You turn your back for just a second, and your pet is gone. Luckily, most responsible pet owners have their pets microchipped which increases the odds of getting your pet back ten-fold.

Most animal shelters help owners, and their lost pets reunite by scanning for a microchip, publicizing the animal on social media, and being available for owners to visit the shelter to see if their pet is there.

(This audiobook is available for sale on Amazon at purchase this book.)

I recently visited Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach with our Ambassador Dog and my personal pet, Bentley. The university had requested that we visit to help relieve the students' stress levels during exams week. We were happy to be of assistance.

While students gathered to pet Bentley, several would pull up a slab of sidewalk and stay awhile. We talked about Bentley, how he was found as a stray not far from the university, what type of pets they had, etc. One of the students, a young man with Golden Retrievers of his own, made a comment that stuck with me. We discussed how Bentley's house brother Max had recently become quite ill, and we had to put him down to ease his suffering. The young man asked, "Did you give Max a piece of chocolate before he passed?" I replied, "No, why do you ask?" He said, "Since chocolate is poisonous to dogs, it would be nice to let them taste it before they pass. Maybe a chocolate kiss could be the final kiss goodbye." I just smiled in recognition of his genuine kindness.

(This audiobook is available for purchase on Amazon at purchase this book.)

Every time one of my dogs crosses over the rainbow bridge, I say to my wife, “I will never adopt another dog because it just hurts too much when they are gone.” But then, a few weeks later, when the silence without them in our home is deafening, I begin to look for available dogs at the shelter.

As much as losing your best buddy or baby girl hurts, life without a pet to share it with doesn’t seem right. After a long and trying day at work, sometimes you need a friendly face and wagging tail to make you feel better.

(This audiobook is available for purchase on Amazon at purchase this book.)

It’s been two years since I published “Why Do People Have Pets?”, a collection of 75 newspaper columns I wrote for the Daytona Beach News-Journal and Seniors Today. During that time, I had written over one hundred columns about animal welfare and caring for pets. Since then, the Daytona Beach News-Journal became part of the USA Today Network, and the network decided to make my column available to all 2400 newspapers that are part of the network. This was fantastic news, but unfortunately, they forgot to tell me about the expansion of distribution.

I began to receive e-mails from Indianapolis, IN, Naples, FL, Aspen, CO, Newark, NJ, and more. I couldn’t figure out how these people were reading my column until one reader finally stated the name of the newspaper as being the Indianapolis Star. The columns are also available online, but why would someone in Aspen, CO read the Daytona Beach News-Journal? It was a strange set of circumstances, but a welcome surprise.

(This audiobook is available for purchase on Amazon at purchase the book.)

Column One - Why Do Pets Have People?

A couple of years ago, I wrote a column and later a book titled “Why Do People Have Pets?” This column asks why do pets have/need people from the POV of the pet.

Not surprisingly, pets have people for some of the same reasons people have pets. Companionship, love, friendship, and understanding come to mind. However, pets need people for reasons that are not in common, such as shelter, food, protection, water, medical needs and attention, and maintenance for their bodies, etc. A pet cat or pet dog depends on its owners to provide all of these necessities and their entire life. Unlike a child who grows up and learns to drive and work at age 16, a 16-year-old dog or cat still needs the same care and commitment from their owner as they did when they were 3 months old. Pets only age physically, not cognitively.