Happy MLK Jr. Day!

 Wow, we had a pretty dog-tastic weekend!!  First, on Friday night we attended a reading by Sharon Sakson of her new book, Paws & Effect: The Healing Power of Dogs at Barnes & Noble.   On Saturday, we attended our friend Stella’s birthday party at Animal Haven.  And then yesterday Oscar had a super-fun play date with his BFF, Buddy (pictured below).

So, when we heard that Sharon Saksonwas coming to our neighborhood Barnes & Noble, we had to check it out.  Ms. Sakson is a writer, dog show judge and breeder (of Brussels Griffons, Dachshunds & Whippets).  We had purchased one of her earlier books, Brussels Griffons:  A Complete Pet Owner’s manual, shortly after bringing Oscar home.  This book is a must for Brussels Griffon owners - it’s packed with a ton of information (both general and breed specific) without being tedious - a very fun, easy read.  It’s also got a ton of great pictures of super cute Griffs!  Here’s Oscar, listening raptly to the reading…

We haven’t read her newer books yet - Paws & Reflect: A Special Bond between Man and Dog and Paws & Effect: The Healing Power of Dogs, but they’re on our must read list, especially since we found out that she writes a lot about therapy and service dogs.  Sharon is also a fellow blogger and she has some really cute puppies available - our favorite is Fuzzy Bear because he looks a lot like Oscar did when he was a puppy.

At the reading, Oscar had the privilege of meeting one of his heroes - okay, maybe Oscar didn’t really know it, but he got to meet our inspirations for pursuing therapy dog training - Mr. Gruffyd Babayan and his owner Gay Cropper.  We saw Mr. GB being honored for his therapy dog work while watching the Westminster Dog Showlast year and thought - hey, what a cool thing to do.  I had always pictured therapy dogs as big dogs - like most service dogs.  But seeing a Brussels Griffon therapy dog, really gave us the push we needed to become a therapy dog team.

Ms. Cropper also told us about a very inspiring therapy dog story…Mr. GB does a lot of pediatric visits at the Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital.   One day, he was asked to visit a very young boy who had fallen from the 5th story of a building.  Up to this point, the child had been unwilling/unable to talk about the accident, but when he saw Mr. GB (who is missing one eye), he immediately asked the dog, “What floor did YOU fall from?!?”.  How amazing is that?

We’ve been getting some similar reactions with Oscar lately - he broke a toe a few weeks ago and his little splint is evoking some empathy with the hospital patients we visit.  Thanks so much Mr. GB & Ms. C for inspiring us to undertake such a worthwhile and rewarding cause!

To find fun dog events happening in your neighborhood, don’t forget to check out our calendar of dog events.   We recommend that you bookmark it and check back often, it’s always being updated with fun new events!

Tune in tomorrow to hear all about Stella’s birthday party - it was quite an event!