Cedar Dog, Author
Cedar is a Chesapeake Bay retriever who lives in Wheat Ridge, Colorado. When Cedar isn't writing or working on environmental issues, she spends her time as a pet therapy dog, running her eco-crusade and campaign for mayor of everywhere. She tells pets and their people, Live Greener, Live Healthier and Bark About It.™

Kathy Deitsch, Transcriber
Kathy Deitsch is a former teacher and long-time advocate for change that improves lives. Her writing has appeared in countless news and magazine publications, including The Progressive, The Advocate, Washington Blade, and Out Front on issues of lesbian and gay political life. Kathy serves as an appointed member of her city’s animal commission. She and her partner, Lisa Faust own and operate A New Way to Life Pet Services. Recently the company added two popular courses,  Pet First Aid PetSaver™ and Canine Colors. The classes are a must for pet parents and pet professionals.

Cedar's story in her own words.

When my Mom and I connected I was wayward, haunted by cruelty, abuse and with no “forever” home. Today, I am an author (Mom is my transcriber), eco-bark-a-lot, pet therapy dog to the elderly and running for Mayor. I am a 75-pound gentle-mannered Chesapeake Bay retriever, curly coated with deep chocolate coloring. My life began with a great breeder who treated me well. Things became dark when a person bought me to hunt.

Originally, I thought this hunting gig might be fun; I fast learned it was not. Truth is the sound of gunshots terrified me. We would be out training and if I did not fetch the way he wanted me to he would take hold of my ear and scold me, “When I tell you to fetch, you fetch,” he would say. Hurting me and penning me up outdoors was supposed to change my behavior; all it did was frighten me even more.

I wish I would have had a say in who took me because right away I knew something was wrong. This guy was a serious bird hunter and he decided it was my job to retrieve his downed birds. In other words, he tried to force me to become his “bird-finding machine.” One day I told him to “fetch his own damn birds;” that was the beginning of the end.

Things got dreadful; I was beaten, my throat injured and I needed medical attention. Fortunately, the breeder found out what was happening, I was taken to a shelter and in time returned to my birthplace where I was renamed, retrained, and returned to the right paw path. I was put up for adoption with a local Chessie rescue group; my mom happened to be waiting for a dog just like me and horary I was adopted. Today I say, “Hunting was not my life’s work.”

In my new home, I joined two other Chessies who became my guides. I was unruly and acted out. You see I did not trust 2-leggeds. My family tried to love me but I would not have it; they toughed it out for over a year; gently and consistently reminding me of my natural loyalty and desire to please. In the end love won out.

My feline brother and 2-sisters were down-and-out too. My brother Miller was living near a dumpster; he and his sister (who was adopted by another family) lost their mother at a busy intersection. A caring 2-legged took them to a shelter; he spent two weeks in a hospital isolation ward because he had a deadly disease, feline distemper. His chance of living was slim to none; my family took him in and fostered him for six weeks; today he is a healthy, fine-looking orange-tabby dude. Sister Hillary, was a young cat, in poor health and pregnant who had been pitched out of a moving pickup truck and left for dead. She recovered to become one-of-a-kind, an irresistible shaggy love who is full of “spunk and attitude.” Ms KC Rose is a black cat whose human mom passed away. She needed a home and chose ours (it is a long story).

As you see, our furry family has a past of homelessness, abuse, and cruelty. This is a key item of my eco and mayoral platforms; ending pet homelessness.

Woofs Cedar Dog