FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Feb. 2, 2013 

Media Contact: info@chickenandthedog.com, (360) 489-8404

 Urban Chickens Cross the Road for Justice

OLYMPIA, Wash. –  In the longstanding battle between urban farmers and urban predators, local authors Andre and Amanda Maxwell are telling the tales of woe and victory.

“The Chicken and the Dog” series is loosely based on the true story of two urban chickens, who share their backyard with a black Lab in Olympia, WA. The Maxwells created the story after raccoons broke into their coop and stole away with their beloved Rhode Island Red chicken.

Following their debut title with “The Great Chicken Caper,” the raccoons strike again, and this time, The Chicken and the Dog team find themselves fighting for their new friends, three baby chicks .

Beautifully illustrated by local Olympia artist, Jill Carter, the books offer amusing details that follow the adventures of The Chicken and the Dog as they outwit a gang of wily neighborhood raccoons.

The books are available at www.chickenandthedog.com, on Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com. Wholesale purchases can be made through Ingram.  

For more information on the books and the creative team behind it all, visit www.chickenandthedog.com.

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The snow began to fall here at the edge of Puget Sound; a wet, heavy sort of snow. As a consequence my daily activities have an added white trim to them. My goats did not venture from their straw filled bunker. I was wise to fetch a fresh bale yesterday. They are pleased with the very green hay that I feed them. The dogs are a little sleepier where they lay, the windows are opaque with the snow.

It did not prevent the dogs and me from taking our walk however, which had an uncommon brilliance to it. The end of the road where we depart on our daily adventure, sits a couple of hundred feet above sea level and the sound below. We march in a mile or so, across a wooden bridge and through a marshy lowland bisected by a black rock road with culverts buried in it. (This is commonly referred to as a logging road around here.) It eventually ends at the foot of a very steep trail, which leads up to about 1,000 feet in elevation.

The cold in my fingers reminded me of the hours I spent driving a Volkswagen bus through the sub freezing temperatures of America's high altitude range. The 24 hours it took me, (my record was 20 flat) to reach the San Francisco Bay from Laramie, Wyoming, sufficiently froze my inevitably exposed digits to the bone. While others huddled under cover in the unheated metal frame, I sat motionless, chain smoking Pall Mall cigarettes, staring at the unwinding road ahead.

As I climbed slowly, into the densely falling flakes, the elation of the dogs became ever more apparent. This is the first time Yoshi Takara has felt the snow beneath her feet. Max is certain that these are the conditions in which his long hair belongs. Willa dives down into it, rolling around on her dense water proof coat. These are Akita, they seem at place in the snow. Their black and white and cinnamon colors blending into the forest. The happiness they feel is contagious.

I am the proud guardian of two exceptional dogs. They are incredibly dear to me. In fact, my life revolves around them. They are quite easy to love. Sometimes if Willa, the female, is sleeping comfortably on my bed, I will wait until she gets up on her own rather than risk disturbing her prematurely. Fortunately, If she senses that I am wanting to go to bed, she will leap up and go to her blankets by the wood stove without the slightest hint of inconvenience. There are many peculiar things about Willa. Some are secrets she and I keep, some we share with Maximus, her mate. Maximus is not quite as intelligent as Willa; he is driven much more by instinct. Willa is also driven by the primitive forces within, but Maximus has little choice in the matter. Although he laments his failure to master himself, in the critical moment when he is tested, he can only do what his dog spirit tells him to do. Willa, on the other hand, gives every impression to me that she is a rational beast. I have observed in animals a faculty that allows them to comprehend themselves as something worthy of admiration. When one looks upon an animal with a pleased countenance, there is an unmistakable response. Most often, the swelled chest is exhibited and the trimmed eyelids which convey a seriousness and a sort of honor. Their toes may extend a bit, and then recoil as they exhale. Some even smile, turning the mouth up a bit at its end, putting a wrinkle in the cheek. It is lovely to be admired. There must be some advantage to the beast that develops the capacity to notice when it is being regarded in this way. It appears to charge them up, they absorb every pellet, it generates a kind of force field around them. Oh, how the beast loves to be admired.

My pet peeve: people who bring their helper monkeys with them in stores; then pick fights with tiny dogs in other people's handbags.

A recent posting asked questions on off-leash areas for dog's in the local area. Lo and behold, look what's in today's editorial section of the Olympian newspaper. The editorial is here.

From the Our Views section of the Olympian.

Area needs an off-leash park

It’s time to create an off-leash dog park in South Sound.

Dog parks — or bark parks — are popular attractions across the country. They provide an area for canines to run and fetch, jump and play, without the confines of a leash. South Sound residents must travel to Fort Steilacoom Park in Lakewood to let their dogs run free.

That’s not right.

Go read the article.