Last night, on the first night of Chanukah, Kemba got an orange-and-blue Chuckit Ultra Ball.  This is by far his favorite kind of toy.  He used to be content with regular tennis balls — he’d fetch them 24/7 — until he decided tennis balls grow on trees and were no longer a big deal.  These days on…

What’s wrong with this picture?  That’s right:  I’m not in it!  Last month Grace, my sweet, cutesy next door Vizsla, weaseled her way into a fashion shoot with supermodel Christy Turlington, for Loro Piana.  (Which, it turns out, is a chic clothing brand.  Yeah, I thought it was a musical instrume…

A couple of Saturdays ago, Westport went absolutely nuts!  It happened right around noon, when that guy Joe was announced as our next President.  Cars honking all up and down the Post Road, and Compo Road South!  Everyone grinning and shouting!  Beagle Man went for a long ride on his bike, blowing…

Heading out to dinner last Friday night.  I began scooping up my things — car keys, phone, reading glasses, mask — but I didn’t see my wallet in the drawer by the front door where I usually leave it. “Have you seen my wallet lying around?” I asked Carol.  She, of course, gave me the look.  The one…

Things I like: •  Carrots.  I like a lot of things besides my kibble, but this is the only people food Mom gives me.  Of course I grab the better stuff when no one’s looking — bagels, salami, pickles, you name it — but then I get in trouble.  Not big trouble, though.  Risk-reward?  Definitely worth…

“We interrupt this blog about dogs to bring you some breaking news:  The House Formerly Known as Camp Herman has been torn down . .” That’s how I started my mid-June post (“Glory Days”) about the demolition of the house my family lived in for over 30 years — from 1987 through 2018.  The bulk of t…

Are you ready for some football?  I’m sure not!  Beagle Man gets so moody during the football season.  I wonder . . . do you think rooting for the Jets could have anything to do with it?  The season began yesterday with the Thursday Night game (Super Bowl champs Kansas City beat Houston), but Beagl…

It was all quiet on the eastern front.  I’d been flinging the Green Ball into the ocean for Kemba to retrieve for a good 45 minutes now, and he was  happy to follow my command to “read and relax.”  I was comfortably leaning back in  my sand chair, book spread open on my lap, and my good boy had du…

Beagle Man’s always telling anyone who’ll listen that there’s nothing he’d like better than for me to sleep in his bed with him.  But it’s not gonna happen.  Mom says, “Absolutely not!” and it looks like what she says goes.  The thing is, I happen to know that a lot of my friends get to sleep in…

On October 25, 2014, I spotted baby Kemba striding happily along with Steve the Breeder in the parking lot of a Homewood Suites motel in Scarborough, Maine, near Portland.  This was the rendezvous spot where I was to take possession of my 10-week-old Duck Toller puppy.  The last time I’d laid eyes…