“Basil’s Bow-Wows”

This is compliments of Henry Zecher, a friend many years ago from journalism school. Today, Henry is the world's greatest authority on William Gillette, who played Sherlock Holmes.

The following tribute was written by Basil Rathbone in 1933, upon the death of his beloved Moritz, a black German shepherd. Rathbone was a major dog lover and among the finest actors of his generation. He is remembered chiefly for playing Sherlock Holmes:

MORITZ

WITH RESPECT,

ADMIRATION AND

EVERLASTING LOVE

OUIDA AND BASIL

Come winter time and summer time,

Come sweet and cleansing rain,

Come spring time and the autumn,

Both sun and moon shall wane,

Come seed time and flowering,

And harvesting the grain,

The Earth will cease and time grow old,

But we shall meet again.

'Twas not for naught we walked the fields,

The sidewalks and the lanes,

Sharing our hopes, our fears, our doubts,

Beliefs, our joys and pains.

And though I, with human weakness,

Have not always understood,

You with your dog devotion

Blindly believe me good.

Now you will sleep a little while

And dream in peace, please God,

Then one day I shall follow you

And sleep too beneath the sod,

To rise with you and walk again

With a vague sense of remembering

That we had loved in other lives,

Before this new ascending.

For more information, visit “Basil’s Bow-Wows” at www.basilrathbone.net/potpourri/dogs/

St. Bernards/Rule #1. Don't postpone daily walk.

Tuesday night instead of taking Lara, Ollie and Barney for their 5 p.m. visit to the dog park, I decided first to make oatmeal cookies for a dinner at Sharon and Richard's at 7 p.m. My thought was to take the pups to the park while the cookies cooled. So I pulled out oats, cinnamon, eggs and flour -- then ran to the store to pick up butter and brown sugar. I arrived home to what looked to be a blizzard in the kitchen. Lara and Ollie were hiding while Barney, the only one tall enough to reach the flour on the kitchen counter, was unapologetic.

Ooops. Lara Gains 4 Lbs.

Sorry it's been so long since the last post, but I've been sidelined with a bug that doesn't seem to want to go away.

Anyone who's tried to lose weight in a household where someone's trying to gain knows how difficult it can be.

Barney arrived a couple of months ago weighing 104 lbs., about the same as Lara when she came at the beginning of June. Trouble is, Lara's ideal weight is
75 lbs. while Barney's is a minimum
of 120 lbs.

I've tried to bulk him up with snacks, but it's hard to do so without including Lara. Instead, I give her smaller pieces. Even tried baby carrots. Barney loves them, but Lara spits them out. Anyway, no snacks for Lara. She's very active, more so than Barney and Ollie, so that should help to move her weight in the right direction.

During our visit with Dr. Harrison he noted, "Lara's doing well. Her neck has cleared up -- no reflex or misalignment in the cervical spine. She's alert, friendly, no stress."