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Continue reading →: The Snobby Off-Leash Dog ClubMy husband and I call them The Snobby Off-Leash Dog Club. Which isn’t very nice, I mean, I’m sure they are all perfectly lovely people.
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Continue reading →: The Incredible HulkOn the dog front, things have been relatively peaceful. Not always fun, but nothing dramatic, pretty standard life-with-a-dog stuff. Then Miss Ogs decides to play Incredible Hulk.
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Continue reading →: Your dog is on the roof.When your neighbor calls and tells you your dog is on the roof, you drive home really fast…
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Continue reading →: HouseguestFor normal people, having a guest for few days might be something they think is fun, or, on the other hand, maybe a minor inconvenience…but we have The Dog.
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Continue reading →: What if…We’re quite a team, Ogie and me. A dog that struggles with fear-based reactivity and aggression being led around by a woman who struggles with a brain that expects the worst at all times.
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Continue reading →: Some Cool Things About OgieLife with this dog can be challenging, and it’s very easy to fall into the trap of focusing on all the negatives. But it’s honestly not all bad all the time, and when I get frustrated I’ve been trying to remind myself of the many really cool things about Ogie…
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Continue reading →: A Boy and His DogIt’s been a while. Ogle’s people have had a not-so-great couple of weeks. But Ogle, however, is doing great. Really. I’ve been working hard with her and we’re seeing progress. She’s been slightly more chill on walks – thank you new trainer and “dominant dog collar.” She did three nights…
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Continue reading →: The RockFun fact about Ogle. She likes rocks. Like, REALLY likes rocks. Actually, more than likes. She likes them – likes them. She loves them. She is completely and utterly obsessed with rocks.
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Continue reading →: Just Not Feelin’ ItI love my dog. I really do. She’s beautiful and silly and spunky and sweet and all the good doggy things. But there are days, like today, when I just don’t have it in me.
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Continue reading →: Backstory, Part 1We spend a lot of time wondering where things (that is, we) went wrong.
Our Story
Some days are just ordinary days, and some days are the kinds of days on which, without warning, everything tilts.
Friday, January 6, 2023 was one of those kinds of days.
I was working from home. My husband Aini took our two-year old dog Ogle to the dog park. It’s their thing. She gets a bunch of exercise and he gets to chit chat with his dog peeps.
They were gone for a long time. And when he got home, he came into my office. Pale. Shaky. He sat down. And proceeded to tell me that Ogle had chased down and brutally attacked another dog. There were multiple deep bites; the other dog was taken to the emergency vet. Ogle didn’t have a scratch.
The next few days were a blur of tears and severe anxiety and text message exchanges with the other owner. The other dog recovered. We drained our savings and borrowed money to pay the vet bills.
We looked at our dog with new eyes. We looked at ourselves with new eyes. What the hell had just happened? And what the hell do we do now?
True confession. After much soul-searching and research, we did try to rehome her. We had visions of her living with more competent owners, on a couple of acres of land, with fewer stressors. A place where she could be who she is. But…an adult dog with a bite history. Who would want to take her? Turns out, nobody.
So here she still is. And here we still are. And this blog is a reflection on our continued journey with this intense, wonderful, complicated, smart, anxious, beautiful and incredibly challenging dog.
Ogle (Still) Lives Here 