Today is Purple Day® for Epilepsy and World Epilepsy Day™. As many of you loyal readers are aware, my Gibson was, is, and always will be my inspiration behind our FiveSibes #LiveGibStrong K-9 Epilepsy Awareness campaign and Canine Epilepsy advocacy.
What is Purple Day?
Here is a short video that will help explain it all...but know, it's credited to a 9-year-old girl named Cassidy Megan who wanted to have a special day for others like herself, who live with Epilepsy, to know that people around the world care, and there should be no stigmas or fear attached to Epilepsy. I whole-heartedly agree, and want to add the very same goes for our canine companions. Please take a moment and watch the video if you have not yet had the chance to view. And be sure to check out the end credits for a condensed list of Canine Epilepsy informational resources. (A more extensive list is in my book, EPIc Dog Tales).
Gibson, the Face of Canine Epilepsy & #LiveGibStrong K-9 Epilepsy Awareness Campaign
For my new readers, and to recap, Gibson was diagnosed
shortly after his third birthday in 2009. I have written much about our
journey together over the years, sharing our experiences, Gibson's
amazing determination and his constant rehab from side effects due to
the Epi-medications, as well as stories of other Epi-dogs, adoptable
Epi-dogs, and valuable information on seizures and Canine Epilepsy. My
beautiful wooly warrior boy who loved to talk, give me Gibbie kisses, do
the Gib hip-hop dance, and have an understanding and connection with me
second to none. Our bond was unbreakable. There was no road too rough
for him to travel, if I asked. He was feeling wonderful...just rehabbed
(again) from weak hind issues and a fall on the ice, and was back to
running and feeling good...and then one night, he collapsed. Not from
seizures, but rather from the sneaky beast called cancer.
Hemangiosarcoma to be exact. He fought gallantly for a week, with home
care and IVs, but when he went in for surgery on his bleeding spleen,
the cancer was discovered, and it metastasized, including a hidden orange sized tumor. So... my brave, beautiful, fluffy spirit guide, slipped peacefully on to his next journey. He will always be by my side, and as I always say, he is proof that dogs with Canine Epilepsy can and do live full, happy lives for however long we are blessed to have them. Gibson sure did.
Gibson inspired me every single day. I learned that when the going gets tough...keep going. Just like he did. I became an official Purple Day Ambassador in 2012, and joined The Wally Foundation as a volunteer case manager to help guide and support others who have dogs with seizures. He was the spark behind both of my books on Canine Epilepsy that I wanted to write to help others understand and not be afraid.
Through my books, the illustrated children's FiveSibes Tale, What's Wrong With Gibson? Learning About K-9 Epilepsy and my EPIc Dog Tales: Heartfelt Stories About Amazing Dogs Living & Loving Life With Canine Epilepsy (ArcticHouse Publishing), and our first benefit auction, we have raised over $3,200 for Canine Epilepsy research and assistance. Since I pay for all the work on my books myself, and for the publication, I am so proud that we were able to make these donations to day, and that is also thanks to all of you who helped support this cause by purchasing* the books!
*Books are available through ArcticHouse Publishing, with links to Amazon. Please always be sure on Amazon that the seller is ArcticHouse to be sure you have us! A portion of my books will always be donated to the Epil-K9 Foundation, home of the Epil-K9 List and Canine Epilepsy Resources, for the "Emma's Seizure Fund" at the North Carolina State University's College of Veterinary Medicine.
What Are We Doing For Purple Day?
A Blog Hop!
I am proud to announce that here at FiveSibes, in Gibson's honor I am hosting our 3rd Annual FiveSibes #LiveGibStrong K-9 Epilepsy Awareness Purple Day Blog Hop to promote awareness and help support both humans and canines (and horses, cats, and bunnies) who live with Epilepsy, and to let them know they are not alone in their journeys. I am pleased to pair up with co-hosts and fellow Epi-dog hu-moms, Kimberley Matchem and her handsome "Rolo" from Confessions of a Rescue Mom and Jeanaann Barnaby and beautiful "Olivia" from Knotty Toys for Good Dogs. Grab our badge down below, follow the linky directions below, and let's show the world our purple! The Blog Hop will stay open until 11:59 PM EST on March 31st, so spread the word!
A Radio Show!
Today, I am also taping the newest episode of my show "The Sibe Vibe" on Dog Works Radio and in honor of Purple Day, my guest is Margit Maxwell, trainer and canine behavior specialist for Siberian Huskies and Malamutes, and an Epi-dog parent. Margit is also the author of The Divine Dog Project on Facebook. We will be discussing the important correlation between zinc deficiency and seizures on today's show. You can tune in live HERE at 1 PM EST. If you can't join us live, I will be posting the permalink here after the show so you can check back and listen in at your convenience. It will also be available on iTunes under the Dog Works Radio family of shows.
A K9 Epilepsy Book Giveaway!
Also, in honor of Purple Day, you can have the opportunity to *win* a copy of my beautiful resource book, EPIc Dog Tales. Just pop over to Kings River Life Magazine, read my latest article, and at the end you can find out how you can enter to win a copy of this book every pet owner should have on their library shelf. For more details, please visit HERE. Instructions on how you can enter are at the end of the article. *Drawing is April 1*
Raising Funds to Help Epi-Dog Families!
And...don't forget about Gibson's namesake "Gibbie Snacks" from House Woof Dog Biscuits in Vermont. They were his favorite treat and were created by the chef and nursing masters at House Woof based on Gibson's diet and with the nutritional diet of the Epi-dog in mind.
No preservatives, salt (important for Epi-dogs who may be on Potassium Bromide), or rosemary - ever! Just organic ingredients such as beef puree, cooked green beans, carrots, sweet potatoes, fresh parsley, and oatmeal. Yum! And as if it couldn't get any better...House Woof donates $1/bag purchased to The Wally Foundation~Canine Epilepsy, a non-profit organization that offers possible financial assistance for much-needed medications to families, rescues, and fosters of Epi-dogs. To find out more about Gibbie Snacks, visit HERE.
And Co-Hosting a Facebook Event!
We'd love for you to share your Purple Day pics with us over on our Purple Day for Epilepsy 2017 Facebook event page HERE, also hosted by FiveSibes, Confessions of a Rescue Mom, and Knotty Toys for Good Dogs!
It's almost hard to believe after our big blizzard, that almost all of the two feet of snow has now disappeared, and just four days ago, we welcomed in the first day of spring! Time sure does fly. Above is one of my favorite action photographs of my furangel Gibson, taken one spring long before his weak hind end issues began. He ran freely ahead of the pack, so full of happiness and joy as he felt the new spring in his every step! Ah, this is a dog's true happiness, and mine to behold such a sight!
How I miss those days, but am so grateful I have them embedded in my memory for all days, pulling them out like a book on a shelf, to relive and smile at all over again.
"It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind
blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade."
~Charles Dickens, Great Expectations
Please don't forget our upcoming FiveSibes #LiveGibStrong 3rd Annual Purple Day® for Epilepsy Blog Hop this Sunday! This year I am joined by co-hosts and fellow Epi-dog hu-moms, Kimberley Matchem and "Rolo" of Confessions of a Rescue Mom blog and Jeanaann Barnaby and "Olivia" of Knotty Toys for Good Dogs. We hope you and/your beloved pet will don something purple and show your support for humans and canines (and horses, cats, and bunnies, too) living with Epilepsy. Details HERE.
Flashback Fridays are brought to you by us - the FiveSibes - and now also our co-hosts, Love is being owned by a Husky
each Friday. We
hope you'll find a photo or video from Memory Lane, post it, and
link up to our blog hop each week! If you don't catch it on Friday, you
can link up any time during the week!
Purple Day® is almost here! As part of our #LiveGibStrong K-9 Epilepsy Awareness campaign, on Sunday, March 26, Purple Day
for Epilepsy we will be hosting our 3rd Annual FiveSibes #LiveGibStrong Purple Day for Epilepsy Awareness Media Share & Blog Hop! Purple Day is a is the time to show your support for Epilepsy (Human, Canine, Feline, Equine) awareness by wearing purple, baking something
purple, turning your social media purple, etc. This year, I am pleased to announce that my co-hosts are fellow bloggers and Epi-dog hu-parents, Kimberley Matchem and her handsome Epi-dog “Rolo” Confessions of a Rescue Mom blog and Jeanaann Barnaby and beautiful "Olivia" of Knotty Toys for Good Dogs.
What Is Purple Day All About?
Join Our Co-Hosted Purple Day for Epilepsy 2017 Facebook Event
We are also co-hosting an online Purple Day
"Purple Day for Epilepsy 2017" event on Facebook where we welcome purple photos, and will be sharing important links, videos, and information about Canine Epilepsy awareness. We hope you will all join in to help spread awareness of
Epilepsy. You can join in the online Facebook Event HERE (and please, feel free to share an invite with your friends, too!)
Join our Purple Day for Epilepsy Awareness online Facebook Event HERE with info, videos, photos of Epidogs, and more! Co-hosted by Confessions of a Rescue Mom Blog, Knotty Toys for Good Dogs & us, the FiveSibes
What Can You Do To Help?
It's simple! All you need to do is (and these are just some ideas):
have your pet wear something purple (bandana, collar, shirt, etc.)
you can wear something purple, with your pet or on your own
bake a purple cake or cupcakes
frost some cookies purple
gather up some purple flowers
paint a purple picture
turn a photo purple
get some purple balloons
Then,
all you have to do is post the photo on your social media, blog and
websites, link up
to our special Purple Day Blog Hop (link will be posted on March 26) and
help us make it go viral! The more folks that know about Purple Day and Canine Epilepsy, the more
Epi-dogs and their families that we can help! They are not alone and
there are plenty of informational resources available to help guide them
on their journey with a dog who has Canine Epilepsy.
And when posting to social media, be sure to use the following hashtags so we can see your post and share with others:
#PurpleDay
#FiveSibes
#LiveGibStrong
#Epidogs
#EpilepsyAwareness
#RescueMom
#KnottyToys
Grab Our Badge!
Simply right click on badge and copy! Please join us and post our badge on your March 26 Purple Day blog post, and include the link so others can see your post and you can visit other blogs as well! We'll be sure to share with Cassidy Megan, creator of Purple Day, and The Anita Kaufman Foundation!
Sugar truly needs no introduction as I think we'd be hard-pressed to find a blogger who does not know of the beautiful Sugar, whether it is from the Tasty Tuesday blog hop where Sugar shared so many (p)awesome Tasty Treat recipes with all of us, to her (This Moment) See Beautiful blog hop, and the wise words of Sugar's Golden Wisdoms,
It truly is a sad time here in Blogville when we lose a friend. While we may be a virtual community, our friendships and support for each other are true; both in good times and sad times, we are there for each other as most of us know all-too-well the deep sadness from the loss of a very special furry best friend. It is through such loss, that we can reach out to support another who is going though one of life's most heartbreaking times. I wish us all only happiness and "beautiful moments" with our beloved furkids, but, alas, we know that is not how the cycle of life goes. So let us all always embrace all those moments with our beloved canine companions, however many we are blessed with.
Sugar, you brought us all so many smiles of happiness and pure golden moments over the years. May you be sharing all of your Golden glow with the furangels beyond The Rainbow Bridge. Please give my sweet boy Gibson one of those precious beautiful Sugar smiles for me. He was a big fan of your treats! All of them!
I had the pleasure of interviewing Sugar's mom, Rosalyn, as part of an article on healthy eating I wrote for Hudson Valley Paw Print Magazine, where she shared one of those fantastic Sugar treats, Banana Coconut Dog Pancakes, with the readers. This is the issue featuring the recipe, that is on page 14.
To view my article, "Adding Some Healthy Zip to Your Dog's Meal Time," featuring Rosalyn's expert advice, along with Sugar's recipe, click HERE. The article starts on page 8.
"Best friends live forever in the memories we keep."
We sure hope you are all having a howlin' good St. Paddy's Day! For my Flashback Friday, I'm sharing my all-time favorite collage of my FiveMcSibes! I love looking back at all the special times and remembering my boy, Gibson.
And our trip down St. Patrick's Day Memory Lane continues with these two Sibe-rish sweethearts, my dear friend Jeanette DaBaldo's beautiful Irish princess lass "Faith" of Snowdog Appreciation Group on Facebook, and our very own FiveSibes laddy, "Wolf!" Could they be any cuter?!
Wishing you a rainbow For sunlight after showers .. Miles and miles of Irish smiles For golden happy hours ... Shamrocks at your doorway For luck and laughter too, And a host of friends that never ends Each day your whole life through!
Flashback Fridays are brought to you by us - the FiveSibes - and now also our co-hosts, Love is being owned by a Husky
each Friday. We
hope you'll find a photo or video from Memory Lane, post it, and
link up to our blog hop each week! If you don't catch it on Friday, you
can link up any time during the week!
The Northeast's blizzard of 2017 named Stella is in full swing here at our FiveSibes homestead!
Updated prediction: 20" to 36" of snow!
This is our current FiveSibes Siberian Husky dilemma that I am certain a lot of my northern breed dog parents can appreciate -- when I tell our snow dogs they can not go out in the whiteout Stella Blizzard conditions, this is what I get...
If Stella is visiting you, please stay safe everyone!
Wow! I can hardly believe it was a dozen years ago she first entered our hearts and home as a 7-week old pup! My daughter always wanted a Siberian Husky, and I have to thank her for introducing me to the breed! We drove an hour south of where we live to check out the stunning black and white, blue-eyed puppy and it was instant love between her and my daughter. I remember on the ride home, it was a torrential downpour! But Harley didn't mind. She climbed up by my daughter and fell asleep as the water came down in sheets against the rear car window!
Twelve.
I think someone has not told Harley her real age, for (thankfully) she thinks and acts like she is still a pup! What's age after all, but just a number?
Full of sass and Husky attitude, Harley is an exceptionally smart dog.Sometimes too smart! She loves to sit and listen to our conversations and will join in occasionally! She has the pack's worst voice when howling, but the rest of the pups convinced her that her voice is beautiful, so she proudly howls away in a voice that sounds more like an injured animal rather than a singing one! Honest. Even our neighbors checked to be sure everything was okay after hearing that sound (her voice) for the first time. She is petite at 48 pounds (compared to our others), with little ladylike paws, but she is strong and can body slam you with the best of football players, literally leaving you breathless! She loves pizza "bones," ice cream, and licking my (paper) plate clean of buttered blueberry muffin crumbs! As sweet and charming as she can be, she is also dubbed "Snarley Harley" for you never want to wake this girl from a sleep! She loved snuggling up against her true love, furangel Gibson, and all his wooliness.It never ceases to amaze how nine years ago she took the three Pupsters under her wing and became their surrogate mom, loving them and teaching them the Husky way as if she birthed them herself.
She is proudly the subject of her own book, my second
FiveSibes™ Tale,Getting Healthy With Harley. And, while she is not a cuddler, she enjoys a good back scratch, and loves to play! Her favorites are a good game of Fetch, Tug o'War, and our very own "Slide-the-Sibe" (a game we made up when she was just a pup, where I stand with my legs apart, pat my thighs, and she rushes through them, then turns, chases her tail, play growls, and charges back to do it all again)! While she gave us a recent health scare (I'll be posting about that soon), I hope that we have many, more years with this amazing gal! Harley, we sure do love you!
One of the best parts of any birthday is the cake, of course! And not just for the Birthday gal, but for the whole pack! Nom-nommms!
Her very best gift today came from Mother Nature herself! Several beautiful inches of fresh, white snow. A Siberian Husky's dream!
And since today is our back to Flashback Friday post, we are sharing this video from two years ago when Gibson, who was SO in love with Harley from the first day he met her, was here to share in Harley's birthday celebration. I hope you enjoy this fun trip down Memory Lane with us...
Flashback Fridays are brought to you by us - the FiveSibes - and now also our co-hosts, Love is being owned by a Husky
each Friday. We
hope you'll find a photo or video from Memory Lane, post it, and
link up to our blog hop each week! If you don't catch it on Friday, you
can link up any time during the week!
GIBSON 1/6/06`12/16/15 "I'm coming home I'm coming home Tell the world I'm coming home..." ~Skylar Gray
FiveSibes are Pawticipating!
#LiveGibStrong Forever
1/6/06 ~ 12/16/15 * I Will Love You For Eternity, My Sweet Boy. Thank You, Zoolatry, for this beautiful badge.
FiveSibes Official Purple Day® Ambassador
FOR K9 EPILEPSY POSTS, CLICK GIB'S PHOTO
*****
FiveSibes The Sibe Vibe on Dog Works Radio
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"Live Gib Strong" K-9 Epilepsy Awareness Campaign
A Great Book for Teaching Children About Canine Epilepsy
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My Epi-Dog Gibson, Our K-9 Epilepsy SpokesHusky, and his Journey with Canine Epilepsy
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BLOG BOOK RELEASE TOUR STOPS!
Be sure to stop by these pawsome blogs hosting our Book Tour!
THE CHRONICLE OF WOOS;
BAILEY BE GOOD!
PEGGY'S PET PLACE;
SIBERIAN NATION;
CANINE EPILEPSY RESOURCES CENTER;
GIMPY DOGS;
DON'T MESS WITH MY TUTU;
MUSHING RADIO/DOG WORKS MEDIA;
ARWEN'S PACK;
TAILS OF THE HUSKY HEROES (ALLEY'S RESCUED SIBERIAN HUSKY ANGELS;
TAILS OF THE TUNDRA SIBERIAN HUSKY RESCUE;
BITES AND TALES (A HUSKY LIFE);
RUMPYDOG
Welcome to the FiveSibes blog! At our home, we are the proud parents to five beautiful, lovable, energetic full-blooded Siberian Huskies whom we fondly refer to as "the kids!" Out of the five, four are siblings, three of them littermates! We also have an "Honorary Husky Cat" who adopted us, and most recently, she brought home another furpal, a feral kitten who has now adopted us, too! These furbabies are truly are a part of our family and we love them so! Through this blog, you will get to meet each one of them and share in a laugh or a cry at their fun-loving, crazy, wacky, and sometimes worrisome antics.
I first began the idea of creating a FiveSibes blog quite awhile ago when one of our Sibes, my wooly boy, Gibson, developed seizures shortly after his third birthday. When I began writing my journal of his medical journey, I had started posting entries on other social media as a way of connecting to others who also experienced the same with their dogs. Through this medium, I was able to connect with some pretty terrific dog-loving folks, both owners of Sibes, as well as other breeds,who I am happy to now call my friends.
My intention for this blog is to write about "a day in the life of" the FiveSibes, bringing thoughts, ideas, photos, tips, and discoveries to the forefront of discussion about the wonderful breed, as well as all things canine with others who share the same passion and love for their furbabies as we do.
We also hope to help spread the word that there are so many abandoned and homeless Sibes out there who could use a loving home. Too many times folks bring home a Husky simply for their beauty, but do not do the research to understand the breed and its needs and then turn the dog into a shelter when they can't/won't care for it anymore. Please visit the Sibe rescues listed on this site if you are considering bringing a Siberian Husky into your home. There are so many beautiful furbabies just waiting for a loving, forever home. Maybe yours could be one!
Let's make this forum a nice, comfy, polite place for everyone to visit--bring along your darling dog (or dogs), pull up a chair, have a cup of coffee, and let's talk canine!
Notice: All photos, text, and video are exclusive property of the photographer/writer/blog owner and protected by Copyright. No portion of any photo or text can be copied, duplicated, used, or distributed without written permission from the photographer/writer/blog owner.
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