Canine Companionship

Blood-Cancer.com, a website that I write for when I'm not writing here, published a nice piece this week called "My Furry Companion." It's a lovely tribute to a dog named George who has been there for a blood cancer patient through her diagnosis and treatment. 

Dogs are wonderful -- or, they can be wonderful, anyway. As the writer points out, they can provide the kind of unconditional love that so many of us need.

And useful, too. The first dog who was taught to sniff cancer was also named George. He was a Standard Schnauzer.

And you might remember that my own beloved dog was also a Standard Schnauzer. We had to say good bye to her in September, and she's left a little bit of a hole in our hearts for six months.

Which is why I am happy to introduce you all to our new Standard Schnauzer puppy.

Meet Katara.

We brought her home yesterday. She's about 9 weeks old, and an absolute cutey. She's very affectionate, and very curious, and is sure to keep us busy for a while.

She's named for the character Katara in the cartoon Avatar: The Last Air Bender, which is a show our kids loved when it was on a few years ago, and which we all watched together when they were home last summer. It's a kid's show, allegedly, but with lots of great characters and some grown-up messages.

In the show, Katara is a Water Bender, able to make water move in any way she likes. More importantly, she's a healer, maybe one of the greatest healers in the world, and that's a big part of the name.

My wife and I are empty nesters again, with our kids all back in school. We didn't necessarily need something to keep us busy, but we're happy for it anyway.

I promise not to clog up the blog with too many puppy photos and videos (though I may invent a reason every now and then to put something up). If you want to see more, Katara has her own Instagram account, so you can find her at @KataraTheDogg.

Looking forward to sharing more FL news soon. Stay well.