Category Archives: Fang & Claw
Open Letter to A Puppy: Lulu
buy Pregabalin online eu Open Letter to a Puppy: Lulu
http://echem-eg.com/2022/05/ My punctuation,
As you may have noticed, there’s an 8-pound visitor in our home. Say hello to Lulu.
She puts the toy in Toy Yorkshire Terrier. Jadie, I think she’s as heavy as your left paw. And twice as fragile.
Actually, make that at least seven times as fragile as that paw. And that was the revelation.
See, before taking her on, I thought: What’s another mouth to feed? Mochi’s spent the night plenty of times.
But when my dear friend told me what Lulu’s needs included — eye drops, special kibble, special treats — I realized I wasn’t just taking on a third mouth to feed. I was entrusted with guarding a life.
I guess I always knew that, but this time, I did the math: She wasn’t a 12-year-old Yorky. In our years, she was an 84-year-old lady. A little blind, a little deaf. I should be that spry when I’m 60.
Which I am.
Which got me thinking about math. Lulu is exactly one-fifth my age, yet nearly a quarter-century older. When I viewed her through that lens, everything changed.
She wasn’t sleeping over. She was checking in for a couple weeks — 2 ½ months for her — and deserved the over-protective care I’d give my mother, who is around her age and would demonstrate her spryness should I utter another number.
Every day, it seems, I discover I am drawn to dogs (to all living organisms, actually) as I was once draw to writing. It never was work: I’d clearly do this for free.
So it seems with pups. Long ago I lost any pretense about my house looking or smelling like dog. If it doesn’t, call the cops, delivery heroes.
It’s a funny obsession. You know how small a matter it is on the list of Earth’s concerns.
But you build that world regardless, and they with you, and you see how seismic the concern. If a life is measured by how one affects life, what the hell was I doing for forty years?
Which brings me to Lulu. I promise you: It’s not a permanent change, and is no reflection of your goodness, which has only grown in her sudden presence. I should be so accommodating with the prospect of newness.
I’d tell you scooch over a half-inch for a few days, but I don’t think she’d take up that much space. So let’s make this home as fit for royalty as dogness permits.
The math of love.
Dogs Are Family, Says New York Judge — And Law Is Finally Starting to Agree
In a decision as unprecedented as it is overdue, a Brooklyn judge has legally recognized what millions of dog owners already know: our dogs are family.
Justice Aaron Maslow of the New York Supreme Court ruled that a dog named Duke—killed by a reckless driver in Brooklyn—was more than property. He was, for legal purposes, an “immediate family member.”
The ruling allows Nan DeBlase, the woman walking Duke on a leash when he was struck, to sue for emotional distress. This kind of lawsuit is normally restricted to those grieving the death or injury of a close relative. The dog’s owner, Trevor DeBlase, was not present at the time of the accident and therefore is limited to compensation for Duke’s market value.
That may sound like a technicality. It’s not. It’s a legal pivot point.
Maslow’s decision subtly but meaningfully breaks from the long-held precedent that pets, no matter how cherished, are property—on the same legal tier as a couch, toaster, or cell phone.
Historically, if someone killed your dog, courts might award you the cost of replacement—typically a few hundred or thousand dollars. That valuation never made sense to those who’ve loved a dog, and Maslow’s ruling seems to acknowledge that truth.
What makes this ruling even more striking is its restraint. Maslow didn’t declare that all pets are legally family. He didn’t open the floodgates to pet-related lawsuits or emotional damage claims from afar.
Instead, he made a narrow, careful decision: when a person is within the “zone of danger” and witnesses the violent death of a leashed dog in their care, they may seek damages as if they lost a loved one. Because in that moment, they did.
The decision reflects a broader legal trend. In recent years, courts have started treating animals more like sentient beings and less like things. Divorce courts have granted shared custody of pets.
Legislatures in several states, including California and Illinois, have passed laws allowing judges to consider a pet’s well-being in custody disputes. Even estate laws have begun adapting, with more Americans leaving trust funds for their pets.
But this ruling cuts deeper. It recognizes that emotional trauma is real—and that the bond between a person and their dog can rise to the level of kinship. It’s an acknowledgment that grief isn’t limited by species, and that the legal system can and should evolve with culture.
Not everyone is on board. Critics, including some conservative legal groups and representatives from the American Kennel Club, warn this could open the door to frivolous lawsuits or inflated emotional claims. But Maslow’s decision threads that needle. It sets a precedent without unleashing chaos.
For dog lovers, especially those who’ve ever walked their companion down a city sidewalk, the implications are profound.
The ruling says something we’ve whispered through tears and shouted through joy for generations: dogs are not objects. They are partners. Friends. Family.
New York’s legal system has taken the first step toward honoring that trust. Let’s hope others follow.
This isn’t just about Duke. It’s about every Jadie. Every Charlie. Every leash held in quiet trust.
