Hound Dog Blues: Duke's Doggone Last Ride Home, a Memoir of Life and Loss

By Peg Stomierowski Gould

Nothing makes author Peg Gould smile like seeing Duke, her iron hulk of a dog, bound into the enclosed fields of the dog park near home with true hound-dog swagger, tail held high and wagging wildly. His velvety black hair and droopy jowls often are noticed and appreciated by onlookers as though they were sighting Elvis himself.

Hound Dog Blues follows much of her reflection about life and death after she learns Duke has a terminal disease. Over the next weeks and monthsin trying to serve Dukes needs for exercise, rest, stimulation, and purpose, but also for effective anxiety and pain managementthe author is reminded of the early death of her mother from heart disease decades before.

Ultimately, she is persuaded that our pets, with their shorter life spans, show us the way and have much to teach us about love, acceptance, and graceful loss. This is especially so if you are willing to uncover the depth of an animals anchoring role in your lifeand mourn the passing of a true companion.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Balboa Press
• Release date: Aug 25, 2017
• ISBN: 9781504382106

Peg Stomierowski Gould

Author Peg Stomierowski Gould, MBA, RScP, LMT, a career writer/editor from upstate New York, moved west to Colorado, then Alaska, where she renewed her love of nature and photography on the stunning Kenai Peninsula. She is licensed both as a massage therapist and a spiritual advisor. Peg and her husband Todd raised a family with a diversity of pets in Manitou Springs, CO; they also enjoy working on their log home near Homer, AK. Peg's staff work appeared daily for decades in newspapers in New York and Colorado, and later for years in Alaska Business Monthly. She also has freelanced for Vocational Biographies, American News Service, Colorado Springs Health, Springs Magazine, Women’s Enterprise, and for other businesses and nonprofits.

Book preview

HOUND

DOG BLUES

Duke's doggone last ride home,

a memoir of life and loss

Peg Stomierowski Gould

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Copyright © 2017 Peg Stomierowski Gould.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Author Credits: Co-author of The Art of Connecting With Nature," 2016 DogEar Publishing

Photo credit for the author for chapter photos.

Balboa Press

A Division of Hay House

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.balboapress.com

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

The author of this book does not dispense medical advice or prescribe the use of any technique as a form of treatment for physical, emotional, or medical problems without the advice of a physician, either directly or indirectly. The intent of the author is only to offer information of a general nature to help you in your quest for emotional and spiritual well-being. In the event you use any of the information in this book for yourself, which is your constitutional right, the author and the publisher assume no responsibility for your actions.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

ISBN: 978-1-5043-7749-2 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5043-7750-8 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-5043-8210-6 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2017908940

Balboa Press rev. date: 09/07/2017

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This book is dedicated to my mother, who urged me to marry a gentle man; to Duke and all of those remarkable dogs who have also been journey companions on this good earth; and to my husband Todd, a gentle soul who has loved and cared for all of our dogs as his own.

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The Beasts

By Walt Whitman (1819–1892)

I THINK I could turn and live with animals, they are so placid and self-contain’d;

I stand and look at them long and long.

They do not sweat and whine about their condition;

They do not lie awake in the dark and weep for their sins;

They do not make me sick discussing their duty to God;

Not one is dissatisfied—not one is demented with the mania of owning things;

Not one kneels to another, nor to his kind that lived thousands of years ago;

Not one is respectable or industrious over the whole earth.

CONTENTS

Diagnosis (1)

Here And Gone (2)

Bargaining (3)

Mortality (4)

The Look (5)

The End (6)

Medicine Wheel (7)

Carrying On (8)

Slowing Down (9)

Forced March (10)

Moving On (11)

Body Talk (12)

Profiling (13)

Stuck In Drive (14)

Unbearable Lightness (15)

Hello From The Other Side (16)

Epilogue

PREFACE/ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The author, in an earlier compilation titled The Art of Connecting With Nature, wrote in Chapter 2 about visiting her regional dog park daily to experience the deepening that comes through sharing nature with her dogs. Her bloodhound mix Duke—so prominent in their adventures—succumbed to disease more than six months before the book’s release by DogEar Publishing in 2016. With this new title, she expands exploration of this recent loss and those of others who were journey companions for her over time. The term is used in spiritual care to mean being calmly present without judgment, agenda, and attachment to outcome. In Peg’s eyes, spirituality is everywhere, heaven and hell are here and now, life and death are rhythms of nature, and grief and loss go with the territory.

In addition to the encouragement of family, friends and others, whose privacy has required but mild disguise, the author acknowledges Mary Oxley of Balboa Press, who at the start of this project did not even realize a dog could get cancer. Her early expression of genuine curiosity, her general accessibility and gentle approach were helpful to the author in a horse-whisperer way. The author also acknowledges Mark Platten, and other co-authors of her first collaboration, for the inspiration to delve deeper, and colleague Deb Acord for her candid and thoughtful foreword.

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Photo by Deb Acord

Hunter S. Thompson and Dizzy Gillespie, wistful at the window on a snow day.

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FOREWORD

Peg Gould and I met many years ago, long-timers in the messy hub of a medium-sized city newsroom. Like most drawn to this career, we couldn’t sit still and shared not only a love for our work, but irrepressible curiosity about what others do. So we had side interests—she was going to massage school and I was in a rock band. Eventually she went on to full-time master’s studies, and I didn’t see her for many years. Then, one morning about a decade ago, she walked through the door of my husband’s hospital room as a resident in chaplaincy training. My husband, Mark, had a rare form of cancer, and in the endless days of his hospitalization, Peg would stop by to check on him, and on us. We were in the throes of worry of what would happen next, of how we were going to get around this ugly obstacle. Peg knew we didn’t want answers. She just listened as we tried to sort out how this terrible thing had happened. After months of treatment, Mark, a musician, was back onstage, and once again I lost touch with Peg. Three