POCONO SECRETS By LA Guzda<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Living in the Pocono Mountains is an ideal location for owning a dog. It seems a rite of passage – buy house, trade convertible for truck, get dog. It sounds like a country song.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My dog, Sedona, found me on a hot day in July many years ago. She was barely old enough to leave her mother. There was something different about this dog from the beginning. We connected in a way that I had not experienced with previous dogs. I loved all of my dogs, but this one touched my soul.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We were perfect for each other. She was strong, independent, never barked without a reason, loved children, got along with other dogs and had a face \u2013 especially those eyes \u2013 that was hard to resist. I could take her anywhere. Kids would try to ride her. I could pose her, trim her, she let me do anything. Although, I never opted to dress my dog in costume feeling it would humiliate her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I believe she found me to help me through some challenging days ahead \u2013 a divorce, death of my dad, a new job in Texas and back again, evolving\u2026 as we all do, accepting the changes and challenges together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She was diagnosed with cancer two years ago. I was devastated. I would not opt for surgery or chemo on a 13-year old dog. Instead we decided on weekly shots of B-12 which I credit for her energy and health since then. There are two kinds of liver cancer, one is quick and the other is not. Thankfully, hers was not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
2020 was one of the most challenging years imaginable but I am eternally grateful that I have had this past year to share almost exclusively with my dog. And right up to the last minute, she was still active, eating and doing her normal routine. I dreaded having to make the decision when the time came. So, I suppose I was not surprised that she released me from that responsibility by peacefully going to sleep in my arms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, as I untangle from our routine and try on new habits, I can still hear her walking across the wood floor. I miss her snoring and gentle breathing. It will take time to adjust. Already I find that I have to vacuum more often \u2013 especially the kitchen floor, re-adjust my food portions, but now I can leave the gate open when I go to get the mail and I don\u2019t panic at the site of a porcupine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I still walk daily with my neighbors. We lost three of our pack this past year, leaving two. I was saddened by the loss of each of them as I am sure they are too. My neighbors are my family. And a big part of our connection is because of our dogs. We stopped exchanging holiday gifts years ago, but our dogs kept giving gifts to each other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s great to be a dog here. The UPS man has biscuits in his pocket as does the mail carrier. There are so many trails to hike and run free. You get to be<\/em><\/strong> a dog here. I will miss Sedona with all of my heart. But comforted to know she had a great life and she has left me altered for the better. She taught me unconditional love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To all of the dogs that have touched our lives \u2013 Thank you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Follow us on Instagram @PoconoSecrets and on Facebook @PocoPike<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Visit www.LAGuzda.com<\/a> or www.PoconoSecrets.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" POCONO SECRETS By LA Guzda Living in the Pocono Mountains is an ideal location for owning a dog. It seems a rite of passage –… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1473,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,37,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1500","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pets","category-pocono-secrets","category-popular"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/goodstuffconnections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1500","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/goodstuffconnections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/goodstuffconnections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goodstuffconnections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goodstuffconnections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1500"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/goodstuffconnections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1500\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1501,"href":"https:\/\/goodstuffconnections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1500\/revisions\/1501"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goodstuffconnections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1473"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/goodstuffconnections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1500"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goodstuffconnections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1500"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goodstuffconnections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}