Hitting the road

It's time for a change.

After a couple of years freelancing and over five years full time as a reporter for the Poughkeepsie Journal, I am leaving the paper as of today.

I've accepted a position as local editor of the newcity.patch.com website, and I'll be moving to Rockland County.

It has been fun scouring the web for pet-related stories and video. I hope you learned a thing or two and, at times, had a good laugh or smiled when you hadn't been before.

Out of the 1,065 blog entries — including this one — there have been some real highlights.

Remember Sally, the dog tossed into a clothing donation bin? We broke that story. We followed it through Sally's adoption and the perp's sentencing. All the festivals like Beacon Barks and Paws in the Park? Great times all. Silly videos like Dogs Baking Bread or the Stealthy Kitty? Why not enjoy the special qualities that pets bring to our existence?

Kate, my loyal companion for over 15 years, has been my foil through this whole experience, and I hope she will continue in the role for a while longer. It is hard to believe she was diagnosed with kidney failure almost a year ago.

I tried not to anthropomorphize her, but it is difficult to not do so when she has such character. Those eyes; they seem to drill into your soul.

Kate has her good days and her bad days, just like me. I want more of the good days, but will be there during the bad, for sure.

Thank you all for the feedback, and thanks for visiting this blog.

I intend to continue blogging about pets at my new personal site "Making Us More Human," which you can access by clicking here. Give me a day or so to decompress, even though I've already posted an entry.

I send many good thoughts to all of you and the special creatures that keep us grounded and loved unconditionally.

Dog bites ... shark?

Here's one for the books.

A posting on Hambone Nation Blog chronicles the tale of Lucy, the 1-year-old shepherd/husky mix who loves jumping into the water and catching lemon sharks.

Our story comes from Chuck Limroth of Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Chuck was captaining a boat in the Bahamas when he and his wife Wendy came across Lucy, a 1-year old German shepherd and Siberian husky mix that was up for adoption. The couple was looking for a pet and decided to take Lucy back home to Florida.

What they weren’t told was the reason Lucy was up for adoption—it was for her own protection! While living on her former owner’s private island, Lucy had developed a knack for catching small lemon sharks in the mangroves. On two separate occasions she had to be flown off the island and treated for shark-bite related injuries. Her owner realized it was just a matter of time before Lucy was more seriously injured as a result of her “fishing” activities. The owner had Lucy taken to a nearby harbor and hoped for her own safety that she would be adopted by a tourist.

The Limroths were on vacation in the shallow mangroves of an island when Lucy jumped out of the boat they were in to chase after a lemon shark. A stingray was nearby and Lucy pounced on it.

The stingray plunged its barbed tail, full of venom, into Lucy's neck. I won't spoil the story; you should read the entire tale here.

There is something said for leashes and being very careful wherever you are if you choose to have your pooch off leash.

There are also some good tips on what to do in a medical emergency.