Life with McDuff Take a Bite Out of the Big Apple

Dog Writers Association of America (DWAA) nominated Life with McDuff: Lessons Learned from a Therapy Dog for a Special Award and invited me to attend the Awards Banquet at the Affinia Manhattan Hotel in New York City where the winner would be announced. The letter I received from Sue Jeffries, Contest Chair, informing me of the nomination stated, “We had over 200 entries for these Special Awards, so to be in the running is, indeed, a ‘special’ honor!” After attending the banquet and seeing the nominees, I agree wholeheartedly and feel privileged to have been included among them.

Even though Life with McDuff was not the winner, I had a marvelous and unforgettable experience, mainly because of the wonderful DWAA people I met at the committee meeting and folks at the banquet. Sue Jeffries, Chris Walkowicz, Pat Santi, Marion Lane, and Ida Estep were super and some of the nicest people that I have ever met.

Maybe I’m prejudiced, but I believe “dog people” are special, full of love and kindness that spills over from their pets to fellow humans. I met so many of them at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show on the two days that I attended. The sight of so many different breeds of champion dogs will always be with me. Hopefully, I will be fortunate enough to attend it again in the future.

Being in New York City was the icing on the cake. I LOVE NEW YORK!!! Everything about it is exciting and enjoyable to me. Riding the subway, eating pizza, pastrami and cheese cake, attending plays on Broadway, and going to museums. The hustle and bustle of the fast-walking residents. Even jumping out of the way of taxicabs to keep from getting mowed down. There’s no place like The Big Apple, and I’ve traveled a lot.

Life with McDuff Blogs

My friend Annie of Desert Muse Publishing has motivated me to start blogging. There's no excuse for someone with the discipline it takes to write a book for two years who cannot compel herself to write a paragraph a few times a week. Another friend Linda Lou has taken blogging to an art form. She blogged her way across the country from Nevada to New York recently. If I blog about my Scottish terrier therapy dog, McDuff, I'll never run out of material. He was mystical, stubborn and hilarious enough for me to fill a book. Even though I put him down on Halloween morning, October 31, 2003, through my book, Life with McDuff: Lessons Learned from a Therapy Dog, he is still with me.