A life-changing experience after Hurricane Katrina led pro photographer Marsha Steckling to volunteer skills that reveal lovable — and adoptable — canine personalities.
dogs
Posted inOpinion Columns
Nicolais: The short, magic life of our puppy, Punkin Bleu
Despite her too brief time with us, Punkin helped to fix things within me that would have otherwise remained broken
Posted inCartoons
Drew Litton: Is this any way to celebrate the Fourth?
Cartoonist Drew Litton notes that maybe it’s time to give pups — and all the other folks adversely affected by fireworks — a break from cruelty on the nation’s birthday.
Posted inBook Excerpts, SunLit
SunLit Excerpt: “Hanging Falls” begins with the requisite body, but also veers into family matters
Friday morning, mid-July A stitch in her side plagued Deputy Mattie Cobb as she jogged uphill, telling her that her level of anxiety and this form of exercise didn’t mix. Running in the Colorado high country around Timber Creek had soothed her for years, but not today. Her mind kept jumping back to the one […]
Posted inColoradans, News, Outdoors
Officer rappels to rescue dog from a ledge high above a creek
COLORADO SPRINGS — A dog missing for two weeks in Colorado Springs was rescued from a ledge about 50 yards above Fountain Creek and is now back home. An animal control officer with the Humane Society of the Pikes Peak Region anchored herself to a wooden fence and rappelled down to the dog using a […]
Posted inBook Excerpts, SunLit
In “Other People’s Pets,” an animal empath battles her bizarre upbringing
Winter 1999 Prologue One minute, La La joins a flock of geese, skating across the lake as they fly overhead, and the next, squeak, crack, she plunges into darkness. Her snowsuit inhales icy water and clings to her, weighing her down and threatening to pull her under. Though she tries to tread water, her skates […]
Posted inSunLit, SunLit Interviews
SunLit interview: Cary Unkelbach’s beloved dog Max spurred her curiosity about his breeder’s bizarre life
Cary Unkelbach grew up in a family that bred, raised, trained, and showed their Walden Labrador retrievers for more than 40 years. She has trained and shown Labradors at AKC competitions since age 8. Cary was a reporter for the Hartford Times and the Hartford Courant newspapers and has also written for Dog World, Labrador […]
Posted inBook Excerpts, SunLit
“Heartbreak Kennel” tells a grim tale of abuse, but also the complex story of a breeder who fooled everyone
I Chapter 1: Heartbreak She heard human voices for the first time in more than two days. Her rail-thin body crowded nine infant chocolate puppies, all soaking wet from a sea of excrement inside an airline crate positioned within a horse trailer. Other dogs barked nearby. The unfamiliar voices drew closer to the Labrador mother. […]
Posted inNews, Outdoors
A “once in a lifetime” bond: Aspen mourns the death of Zoot the avalanche rescue dog
By Kaya Williams, The Aspen Times Aspen lost a beloved mountain figure this week in longtime avalanche rescue dog Zoot, an 11-year-old Airedale terrier. He died Monday after a month-long battle with cancer, according to owner and Aspen Mountain ski patroller Brad Benson. In the days after, countless members of the local mountain community have […]
Posted inCOVID, News
From pets to parks, coronavirus reshaped many Coloradans’ relationship with their surroundings
In a windowed room at the adoption center at the Denver Dumb Friends League, Elias Archibeque squats down and watches as the image he’d viewed earlier online now appears before him in the form of a 9-month-old white bull terrier named Gucci, who arrived at the shelter 10 days earlier, the sad collateral damage of […]