human animal bond

Kylie Speaks to John in His Dream

Posted by Barbara Techel
Kylie Speaks to John in His Dream
Sleeping Kylie

I love to watch Kylie sleep, oftentimes wondering what she dreams about.

She turned ten last Saturday and while I see signs of her aging she still has lots of spunk left in her.

I treasure her each precious moment as it is likely we won’t get another big dog when she moves on.

The other night she talked to John in his dream. It was quite profound.

John shared the dream with me and said that Kylie was lying in bed between us, on her back. She does this now and then and loves to wiggle between us in a playful way.

In the dream, she looked over at John and said, “I’d take a bullet for you.”

John said, “Aw, Kylie. You know I’d take a bullet for you.”

If that didn’t speak volumes of the love between these two!

I have no doubt Kylie would do this for John or me. But I also know that we would do everything in our power to protect her from harm.

While I wonder what more there is to this dream, I’ll leave it up to John to ponder and decide what it is for him.

But it sure does warm my heart to know that these two share such a deep bond.

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Talking Dogs, No Kids by Choice, & Life as a Writer with Author Jackie Bouchard

Posted by Barbara Techel

Talking Dogs, No Kids by Choice, & Life as a Writer with Author Jackie Bouchard

I’m excited to share with you today my audio interview with, Jackie Bouchard, USA Today best-selling and award winning author of three fido-friendly fiction novels.

Today we talk about her newest novel, House Trained which will be released tomorrow, but if you can’t wait, you can pre-order it here.

One of the themes in her book is about the main character, Alex and her husband who chose not to have children. A subject I’m very familiar with, as is Jackie, as we both made the same choice.

jackie

We had an interesting discussion about it, along with Jackie’s writing life, how she comes up with the ideas for her books, and her wonderful sense of humor.

Hope you enjoy!

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When One Door Closes…Being Open to the Gifts Behind the Next Door.

Posted by Barbara Techel
When One Door Closes Being Open to the Gifts Behind the Next Door.
Gidget

I’ve been working just about everyday on the fourth draft of my new book, Wisdom Found in the Pause. It’s in part, about my second dog in a wheelchair, Joie, who I adopted from Oregon Dachshund Rescue in 2012.

Joie, while a beautiful gift in itself when I brought her home that fateful day in October three years ago, would be short-lived. But the lessons that continue to unveil themselves have been openings of deeper understanding and healing for me. So while the book is about Joie, it’s also about what I learned about myself after she passed.

I was mad when Joie died. Mad at God that I couldn’t have her in my life longer. I just couldn’t understand why she was called home so soon after I opened my heart wide open to love another.

A heart that was still tender from the loss of Frankie. It felt so unfair.

But as often happens from painful experiences, we don’t see the gifts or blessings until years later.

I see them continually as I work through finishing this book revisiting my life with Joie on the written page. But I also see the gifts in where I am heading in terms of new opportunities and new projects/ideas I’m investing my time in.

I also see it most clearly in the gift of Gidget. It flashed vividly through my mind again last night as she lay tucked under her blanket on her bed in the living room.

If Joie hadn’t passed away, I wouldn’t know Gidget. Each dog that has entered my life has changed me in different ways. Gidget is now doing this for me with lessons she is teaching me. Just like Joie did and Frankie and Cassie Jo before her.

Each sweet dog, a magnificent gift that I got to open my heart to and in return those gifts live on forever within me.

To hold onto grief or guilt because of their passing’s would serve no purpose. It would only shut down my heart and joy could never enter again.

It is in this awareness that I see their true beauty and that loving again is what they teach us so brilliantly. And that love is the answer.

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