Why you should microchip your pet

Losing your pet can be one of the most heart-
breaking exper-
iences. One Brooklyn man recently went through the ordeal firsthand, but luckily with a positive outcome:

A dog that went missing from Sunset Park on Monday afternoon was found 60 miles away on Long Island the next day.

The Long Island woman who found the chihuahua took him to a vet, who found a microchip between Boy's shoulders identifying him and his owner.

[Owner] Liu said his dog went missing when he visited a friend's fenced-in backyard and suspects someone picked up the dog "and went the wrong way." As for Boy's health, Pierce said he seems good, "except his feet on the underside seem to be cut up.

In January, a Colorado trucker was reunited with his dog that had run away at a Hudson Valley rest stop. And microchip your pet!

Thanks, Gothamist.

Happy Birthday, Olive!

On this date one year ago, our little Olive was born some-
where in Missouri. Less than two months later, we would pick her out from a group of three puppies. Olive was not too big, and not too "sooty," as Nat describes the grey-black markings on the top of another pug puppy's head. She had just the right personality, too--friendly and curious, but submissive to humans. Just a few short days later, we brought her home to our apartment in Brooklyn. We spent that first three-day weekend playing and snuggling. She was small enough to sleep on top of me--about 5 lbs.


Olive has grown into a rambunctious, social pug who has bad manners but a great, people-loving personality. She has mastered the 8-hour car trip, house training, and off-leash hours at the park. Not to mention navigating down the Cacapon River.


We've had a great time so far with you, wrinkle face. Happy Birthday! Besitas!

(In case you're curious, this is among the most recent photos of the beast, taken at Thanksgiving this year--she's now 22 lbs.!)


"Happy Birthday" image by Will Pate.
All images of Olive by Nat or me.

Cross-posted to She's Leaving Home.

Olive's tail is so confusing

The Times has a piece today about a study that reports that when a dog's tail wags disproportionately to one side or the other, it suggests specific emotions. If it wags to the left, he or she is having negative feelings, and if the tail wags more to the right, the dog is happy and having positive feelings.


What if your dog's tail is all curly and you can't tell which way it's going?

"curly Q" image not of olive by *kaishin*.