22 November 2007

Giving Thanks



This old Spitz-type dog suffers badly from arthritis so his Italian owners have made this trolley for him. Here he is being pushed along the seafront in Menton, looking bright as a button. Some people go to extraordinary lengths for their animals - the love of a dog and vice versa is what it's all about.

I featured Benny on Riviera Dogs about 10 days ago but with today being Thanksgiving, which isn't celebrated here - except for the ex-pats, of course - it seemed appropriate. And believe me, a shop called Geoffrey's in the port of Antibes, sells everything an ex-pat American could wish for to make their Thanksgiving dinner traditional and perfect. But I digress. So many of us have dogs and so today, Benny represents my Giving Thanks for my dog and all the dogs I've loved in the past.

Happy Thanksgiving to you - wherever you are. And save a piece of pumpkin pie for me, please.

23 comments:

  1. Oh, sweet Benny. He's so very cute, why does he have to suffer from that hideous disease?

    I'm sending you a virtual piece of pumpkin pie and a big hug.

    Happy Thanksgiving to you and your loved ones!

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  2. Poor doggie. Atleast he has family that love him.

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  3. He looks happy. Think I will come back as a french dog.

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  4. Very nice thing to do for an old pal. I would do it myself if I still had a dog. I love dogs and the smell of dog's feet is better than the finest perfumes.

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  5. Nice looking dog. Happy Thanksgiving.

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  6. Love your thanks giving, Jilly and can't help singing that old Willie Nelson song, with a minor alteration:

    "To all the dogs I've loved before
    Who travelled in and out my door
    I'm glad they came along
    I dedicate this song
    To all the dogs I've loved before


    To all the dogs I once caressed
    And may I say I've held the best
    For helping me to grow
    I owe a lot I know
    To all the dogs I've loved before"

    No pumpkin pie here, but will pecan pie do?

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  7. Benny is loved, and hopefully thankful too! Happy Thanksgiving to you - will you make a special meal for the day?

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  8. Thanks, Jilly, for this wonderful moment of thanksgiving.

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  9. Oh,this nice dog has so deep and clever look!

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  10. I like the photo and the way the owner takes care of his dog.

    My son has an old dog and a rabbit. The rabbit got operated two weeks ago. When I visited my son to ask about the rabbit, I saw he had a book entitled "j'adore mon lapin" :-)))

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  11. I would certainly do the same for my boy, Andy, if he needed it. So far, so good, he's a spry almost-7.

    And Happy Thanksgiving to you. Thanks for this thanks-giving message, Jilly.

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  12. Aw, what a beautiful dog.

    My mother's dog is 11-years-old and has bad arthritis and limited mobility, he was recently put on new medication for it and it is amazing how much he has returned to his old self, which even includes getting into mischief again!

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  13. Dogs are WONDERFUL. And I miss my dog terribly. These pictures make me feel good, and make me feel a little sad. There is a woman in my neighborhood who walks with a very old looking Dachsund (sp?). She pulls a little red wagon, where there is a comfy little bed setup for the dog. It tugs at my heart to see this lady being so sweet and devoted to her dog. Wonderful picture!
    Thanks, and Happy Thanksgiving!
    Wayne

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  14. I just love dogs, and I would do the same for mine. As Morley Safer once said, "I can't imagine life without a dog. . ." And, I give thanks for them, too!

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  15. Jilly,
    This has been a wonderful series of posts. I am sorry that I have not commented every day, but nonetheless I have been enjoying this adventure.
    It's now pertinent to respond, because I have found a dog with the same name as moi !!
    I do love this little fellow and look forward to meeting him next year. I know that we we will be best friends. Do you think that he speaks French ? If I have to learn Italian, that would be "poco un difficile"
    Grazie molto, M. Benaut

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  16. We go to great lengths for our pets, don't we? As we should since they are wonderful companions. The link you provided for Geoffrey's has a very clever introduction. Ah, technology!

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  17. He's so cute Jilly and I love his little trolly! I'll be pushing my "Benny" around in one of these one day!

    I know that dogs are adorable but our neighbour's dog has taken to using my lawn as her loo. How do I stop her doing this? We don't have fences to keep her out and she comes over for treats that I leave out for the birds comprising some of the cats' leftover bits and pieces. Is it the food that is making her do this or is she punishing me for not feeding her enough? I'm not quite up on dog psychology.

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  18. Oldmanlincoln, I'm so happy to find someone else who enjoys the occasional sniff of doggie foot pad. It's an indescribably wonderful and, somehow, comforting smell. We buried our last dog 2 yrs. ago and the cats now rule. Don't think I'll venture past those claws for a sniff, tho.

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  19. Felicia, I didn't have a special Thanksgiving meal but friends in Sospel served pumpkin soup as a first course for lunch, so I pretended!

    Mme Benaut, not sure you'll meet this dog when you come to stay cos he lives in Italy. Who knows?

    as for the dog peeing on your lawn. Well dogs are territorial. She likes the food you are putting down and so, once she's searched for it, she is marking her territory with a pee to tell other dogs, 'Go Away, this is MY area where this nice lady puts down cat food.' This is normal instinctive behaviour. Suggest you put food high on a bird table? And perhaps deter the dog, if you can, with a water spray - but neighbours might not approve of that! No, she's not punishing you.... it's just marking territory. I've had dogs here who pee in their bowl after eating to tell the others,'it's mine.' Yuck!

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  20. Madame says she will be pushing me around in a trolley, but not for 50 years yet, I hope !

    'Il cane piccolo bello' may have the same name as me, so I will look out for him when I creep over the border. I will definitely need a translator.

    For anyone interested, the Australian Government has fallen in the 2007 elections. Labor won.

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  21. Dogs give us so much but ask so little! No wonder people take such good care of them.

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  22. Thank you Jilly. I shall treat Miss Piggy's offerings with a little more reverence in future. She really is a very sweet Staffordshire and I'm fond of her but the cats are a bit frightened of her and so I'm not all that keen for her to visit. But I don't think my neighbour feeds her enough so I "top" her up with some meat - minced beef or kangaroo which she loves and cat biscuits which she adores too. She visits several times a day and always looks crestfallen when I ask her to go home.
    Thanks again for the wonderful advice.

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