One of the great joys of this blog—and the book—is being able to share my photos. Almost all of the images you see here come from my archives. People often ask how I got started in photography. I wish the answer were inspirational. It’s not. I got a credit card. The summer before my senior […]
About the same time we stopped going to the dog park, our neighbors decided to add a canine companion to their family. As Diana tells it, they wanted a docile dog who was easy to manage. They went to the shelter and picked one who they thought was the perfect fit—Brady. Brady weighed about 70 […]
On a September afternoon in 2011, Roxy, Blitz, Kal-El and I went to the dog park. It was their favorite place to go. When we arrived, I opened the car door and they sprinted to the gate. Once inside, Roxy usually went off and explored. Blitz found his friends to play and Kal-El followed him […]
When Dakota was a puppy, I got a message from Kathy Salvucci. “Dakota looks like she is going down in pastern. If she is on puppy food, get her off and put her on adult food.” I didn’t understand her concern. “The pastern is between the knee and foot on the front leg. It should […]
Almost 40 percent of Americans will be diagnosed with cancer. It’s happened to me twice. The first time came in September 2000. I was sitting in my office when my doctor called with the results of a biopsy taken earlier in the week. He told me I had melanoma. “What does that mean?” I asked. […]
On a warm spring day in 2010, Alex shouted excitedly. “Dad, come see this!” She was looking over her mother’s shoulder at a Facebook post. A woman out for a morning walk found an abandoned puppy in a box by the side of the road. She couldn’t keep him and was trying to find him […]
Roxy wasn’t supposed to be my dog. She was for my wife and kids. In fact, I was told to keep my distance. Roxy joined the family while I was on a business trip to Orlando in 2006. She was a bundle of Golden Retriever energy from day one. She loved her new family and […]
Almost 40 years ago, during an exhausting day, I was taking a break when a man I’d never met came over, put a bottle down in front of me and said, “You look like you could use a beer.” Before the bottle was empty, Robert DiRinaldo and I were no longer strangers. That conversation marked […]
Having dogs in your family is a joy—the companionship, the love, the adventures, the comic relief. There are a lot of responsibilities and chores as well. And some annoyances. That’s just part of the deal. Then there are the hard choices. Buster was the first leader of The Great Dog Pack. Today is the anniversary […]
Buster came into our lives in the late ’90s—thanks to a routine trip to the food court at White Marsh Mall. After eating, I’d walk to the pet store on the upper level to play with the puppies. That afternoon, I met a German Shepherd puppy—my favorite breed—and he was impossible to ignore. I played […]