JOHN-J ANDERSON

Working with rescue animals, surrendered, stray or otherwise - you are presented with truths in the nature of those animals that others often don't get to see. Many of the dogs I have worked with have come from truly traumatic or devastating hardships, you might be excused for expecting these animals to become defensive, reactive or otherwise unruly once removed from those environments with memories of abuse locked into their character. But that has often not been my experience, grab a cup of tea or throw on some Macha and let me tell you some stories of remarkable resilience in dogs. Kenji All the way from the countryside in Bulgaria, Kenji was the first animal that leapt to mind when I pondered on the word - resilient - his life was hard, but this boy never allowed it to make him harder. In fact, Kenji might have been softened by the whole ordeal of his pre-kennel life.  Kenji, the chow-chow cross, is 3 years old - still a baby at heart. His past was filled with unfriendly handli...

When I first got into reading Stoicism, before I felt I had some understanding of how to think/behave like a stoic, I was fixated on one passage from Meditations - the obstacle is the way. Its meaning was obvious, on the surface it just implies that wherever you are heading in life, if you meet resistance, it typically means you are heading in the right direction. Simply because learning and growing by overcoming obstacles is the way to better oneself and grow, I am thinking about that a lot today.  Angel has been diagnosed with stage four kidney disease, its a condition that has seen her put on "end-of-life care" until she finally passes away. We are doing everything possible to keep her happy, comfortable and purring - which is all we can do at this stage in terms of long-term plans. Kidney disease has no cure, but we are treating her dehydration with lactulose for her colon, Pronefral for her renal function, Cisapride to encourage natural bowel movements and su...