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Tag Archives: rescue dogs

A Dog’s Tale Ends Well

Posted on January 23, 2014 | 12 comments

This morning, an “06880” reader sent a photo of a dog outside Starbucks. It was cold, the dog looked — well, like a dog — and the reader worried she was out in 9-degree weather while the owner had coffee.

I assumed the worst too, and posted the photo.

Readers were quick to respond. (They always are when dogs are involved. And cats. Deer, too.)

Many suggested that dogs are hardy animals. They like to be outside. Some readers said they’d seen the dog often downtown, with her owner, and appeared to be well cared for.

Then the owner bounded in. She wrote:

We spent 1 minute at Starbucks. Since I am a regular, the minute they see us, they start my coffee order. We walk every day to Starbucks.

I debated walking in this temperature, but Liberty was game. I tried to put her in a new jacket, but it was too large and dragged on the ground. We stay an average of 1-2 minutes in winter for the coffee. She doesn’t mind. She is extremely spoiled and only goes out for these walks and sits in the warm house with me all day.

Now, I’m at liberty to divulge even more poop about Liberty.

Her family rescued her in 2006. At that time, her ribs poked through her skin.

Today she is perfectly happy and healthy.

So the next time you see Liberty, say hi. Pet her. Give her a treat.

I hear she loves a vanilla mocha pumpkin toffee nut latte. With extra steamed milk.

12 Comments

Posted in Downtown, Local business, Totally random

Tagged rescue dogs, Starbucks

Dogging It

Posted on November 8, 2010 | 7 comments

Westport has been going to the dogs for years.

From Winslow Park to Compo Beach (October through March only!), we love our pooches.

But even the most avid dog-lover is a mere toy poodle, compared to the Great Dane that is Steven Kotler.

Steven Kotler

Co-founder of a New Mexico dog sanctuary, Kotler is also a dog writer. Tomorrow (Tues., Nov. 9, 12 noon), he’s at the Westport Library. The subject: his new book, A Small Furry Prayer: Dog Rescue and the Meaning of Life.

In it, Kotler mixes personal experience and scientific inquiry in an exploration of many intriguing aspects of canine-human relations.

He’s clearly on the dogs’ side.

“For 50,000 to 135,000 years, we co-evolved with dogs,” Kotler says. “We thoroughly merged with them. We learned cooperation and teamwork from dogs. Dogs in packs — their natural habitat — show incredible altruistic behavior.”

Being around dogs leads to lower stress levels in humans, along with lessened incidents of cardiac disease and depression, Kotler says.

Will the dogs Kotler sees on his trip to Westport be different than those out West?

“There’s a lot of breed devotion on the East Coast,” Kotler notes.

“But 10 years ago, the differences would have been massive. But the rescue movement has grown so much that now more people are getting dogs there than from breeders. The differences aren’t as great.”

So can Westporters’ dogs listen to Kotler too?

“That’s a question for the venue,” he says.

“I’ve found most libraries don’t like having dogs there.”