[He] was the most sociable of the pups we’ve raised, by far. He was a total love sponge, climbing into our laps for a hug, often while wubbing on his favorite stuffed teddy bear.

He absolutely loved to carry things: shoes, keys, lunch bag, mail, water bottle . . . anything. Every morning he pranced into the lobby at work with something in his mouth and paraded around the room so everyone could ooh and aah at his cleverness.

He was a welcome addition to our family, providing smiles and silliness when we most needed it, keeping us firmly grounded in the present.  (excerpts from Let the Dogs Speak, Marianne McKiernan)

What do you think? Does this remind you of a certain goober dog? The passages above are not about Micron, but easily could be.  Proving nature over nurture in this particular fer instance, the words above are about his littermate Mars.

You know what I like so much about this volunteer puppy gig with Canine Companions for Independence?  Oh sure, there’s that thing about satisfying the craving for puppy breath and Frito feet. That’s a given, right?  What I didn’t expect when I signed up was how much bigger my world would become. 

And I remain wondersmacked by it all.

Over the past four years I’ve managed to finagle my meager existence into a great realm filled with dog lovers and volunteers passionate about their work. So much so, that when I come across someone who doesn’t understand/appreciate/like dogs, it comes as a surprise. I have to actually process that thought. And I try not to judge these folk harshly. I really do. But outside of having a bad experience with an aggressive dog, I just don’t get these people. Not liking dogs feels like a character flaw.

It’s remarkable, really, how saturated my world is with dog hair.  Home, family, friends, volunteer work and even my job are all things Dog.  Livin’ the dream, I am.

And the people we’ve met on this journey! Holy cow, I just never saw this coming. 

I began an online correspondence with Marianne McKiernan when we were charged with raising our M litter puppies, Micron and Mars. And things grew from there. Being bloggers, the both of us had yet another thing to bond over. And now, a few dogs later, our friendship is still clicking along.

While I’ve known all along Marianne is a producer for KMGH-TV, I was just a little embarrassed to find out recently she is indeed a two-time Emmy award winning producer. I was completely unaware of that factoid until this month and have now promised to treat her with some decorum by referring to her as awesome instead awesomesauce. And like that isn’t enough, her book Let the Dogs Speak  was released this month.

Let the Dogs Speak (on Amazon)

So while we’re on the topic of awesomeness, I am completely jazzed to have the bragging rights to tell Everyone that I’m friends with a Published Author, y’all. A two-time Emmy award winning producer author, don’t you know. Right here in my humble little world. How cool is that? I’ll tell you exactly how cool.



“I love this book! It tasted like chicken.”-Micron, CCI Change of Career Dog

Right. So we can also turn to the blurbs as written by other more deep thinking canines, such as Hanlee (CCI Hearing Dog) and Harley (Guide Dogs for the Blind).  Their words come from their own juicy organs, most likely brains in this case.

Some cute, cute, cute illustrations by Penny Blankenship will keep you flipping through the pages, too.  And check out the teaser at the Let the Dogs Speak fan page on Facebook  to keep an eye out for a contest to win signed color copies of her artwork. I. Must. Have. One.

The stories as told by Mars, Micron’s M littermate, start on page 170.  See if anything sounds familiar there [coughmicron] in gooberness personality traits. And I have to tell you this. I must. Something else in the Mars section, starting on page 213, just might bring up a nagging feeling déjá vu-ishness if you’ve been with us on Raising a Super Dog for a while. [ridiculously happy grin].

Holy cow, but I love my CCI world. It just gets more awesomesaucy all the time.

Categories: Micron

Tags: CCI, Micron