Prairie Dog – An Author's Best Friend, A Memoir
For those who spend their days writing, sometimes find that it can be a bit lonely, especially for those of who are social by nature. This is true for me. Yet, throughout the writing of both my books: The Eighth Sea and Auschwitz 34207, my loneliness was tempered by one very loving Golden Retriever named, “Prairie” or more affectionately known as, “Prairie Dog.” Prairie stayed by my side (often sitting on my feet) through every word written of both books. She died at age fourteen, the day after I completed writing the Auschwitz 34207 manuscript. I think some part of her knew she had to wait until we finished this together. I'm not sure I could have completed the book without her, for at times, the journey of writing of this remarkable Holocaust survivor took to me to some very dark places.
When Prairie was twelve-years-old, she came with us on a trip to Florida. I took so many photos of Prairie on the beach that the trip forever became known as, “The Prairie Dog photo-shoot vacation.” This photo is my favorite of her from that trip. For although she was quite elderly at the time, she still had that “puppy look.” I will forever treasure such precious memories.