Kemba in Lake Champlain . . . Yup, you remember correctly:  Vermont — the place where Kemba cut his paw wide open in mid-November, forcing him to the D.L. for an entire month.  But Vermont is also, for a . . . and Grafton Pond cold-weather dog who hails from Nova Scotia, a little slice of doggy heaven.  And as they say, you gotta get right back on the horse.  So on Christmas day, to Vermont we went.  And stayed for 10 days.  And Kemba loved every minute of it. Cold, cold water:...

I’ve been hearing all the buzz about this so-called “nephew” of mine since early November, but I was starting to wonder if he was really real.  First I’m not allowed to see him because he has pneumonia.  Then, he’s all better, but he’s still “contagious.”  And when he’s finally not contagious, I’m stuck with a bandage on my paw and a cone on my head, and damned if I’m gonna meet my nephew looking like some pathetic...

Miracle of Chanukah: No more bandage, no more cone-head You haven’t heard from me much lately.  I’ve been too depressed.  It’s been a tough three-and-a-half weeks since my little boy cut his paw wide open at Gale Meadows Pond in VT.  He’s had to keep it tightly bandaged, wear that ridiculous cone, do next to nothing, and report to the doc every couple of days for a dressing change and a progress check. He’s been pretty glum.  How do I know this?...

Yup — still grounded, because of this dumb paw injury.  Beagle Man tells me to be patient, but it’s getting harder and harder.  Here are just a few of the things I’m not allowed to do while I have to wear the stupid bandage on my paw and the stupid cone around my neck: run, jump, fetch, swim at Burying Hill Beach, play with my friends Sadie and Lincoln and Lucca at the dog park, chase squirrels and deer in the yard . . .   And to think, just two months ago I was spending...

He may be sitting on my lap . . . but this ain’t no lap dog I was in desperate need of relief from the melancholy of being around my poor little Duck Toller, whose paw injury has him more or less under house arrest and condemned to wearing a cone for at least another week.  (Imagine trying to tell a tornado to stay in the playroom.)  So Tuesday night, after seeing “Hamilton” on Broadway (b-day gift from Carol, and it was SPECTACULAR!), we went over to Greg and...

It takes a village: I wrestle Kemba to the floor while Lang does the bandaging Oh, no!  My boy’s back in the cone again!  And the doc says he’ll have to wear it for 10 days!  Along with no activity!  Can anyone imagine my 15-month-old turbo-charged little red duck dog not running and swimming and fetching Misery loves company: resting with my little boy after his ordeal and jumping for 10 days??  Wish me luck.  This is not going to be pretty. Here’s what...

What I really wanted to do this past weekend was meet my new Having fun at Burying Hill Beach . . . grand-dog, Ruckus.  But I couldn’t.  The poor little guy was diagnosed with a pretty serious case of pneumonia his first week out of the shelter, and even though he was home with Greg and Kelly by Friday, he still wasn’t allowed to . . . and Winslow Park entertain other dogs.  Especially ones with the Duck Dog’s energy level.  And I wasn’t about to go meet...

Welcome to the fam! I am so excited! Yesterday my son Greg and my daughter-in-law Kelly, a young, dog-less couple, walked into an Animal Care Center in Harlem, and walked out with their new puppy, Ruckus Herman, an 8-month-old, 30-pound pit bull-and-whatever mix!  The proud parents say he’s a real sweety, and that on his first day home, he snuggled up with Greg on the couch to watch the Jets game.  (And let me tell you, that was not an easy game to watch!) Kelly and Ruckus on...

Strangest thing:  We were down at Burying Hill Beach earlier this week, and Beagle Man reached back with the Chuckit and flung a tennis ball far out into the water, as usual.  Of course, I dove in to swim and get it.  Duh.  Now the water’s starting to get a little What the heck IS this thing in the water with me?? It’s BIG! cool, which doesn’t bother me one iota, but pretty much no one else is swimming anymore.  This time, though, something else,...

This sense of deja vu I’m feeling?  I kind of had it when I met little Vera on the beach in Montauk, but it really hit me big-time this morning when I was horsing around at Burying Hill Beach with this young pup named Griffin.  And then it all came back to me:  Remember last winter, when I was a tiny puppy, and Beagle Man would take me to Burying Hill Beach every morning the moment I woke up, even if it was before sunrise?  (Which, by the way, I appreciate a lot...