In The New Year

Just as Argos, Ulysses’s devoted hound in Homer’s The Odyssey, waited 19 years for his human to return, our long-anticipated launch of our blog Argos’ Memories also seems to be caught in suspended animation.

Unfortunately, this year both our human and animal families encountered many health and personal losses, turning our attention — and inspiration — away from writing.

We plan to start a New Year with our new blog. One of the first stories will be about Kayla Waddley Rivers, my beloved 12-year-old Shetland Sheepdog and therapy dog extraordinaire, who went to the Rainbow Bridge yesterday.

Kayla Rivers (l) sponsored "Kayla's Club" for at-risk youth in Houston-area schools

During her 10 years of involvement with animal-assisted therapy, Kayla demonstrated an uncanny empathy for the needs of at-risk youth she worked with as well as other vulnerable persons.  On her own without any human guidance, she seemed to know exactly what to do to calm a traumatized child, almost anthropomorphic for a dog. She communicated to the vulnerable in ways humans could not. To paraphrase Ralph Waldo Emerson many lives breathed easier because she lived.

We also continue to work on our three-part series The Odyssey of Argos, an examination at the true dog-human relationship between Argos and Ulysses, a view literary and human-animal scholars seem to overlook. We plan to post this research analysis after the New Year as well.

Thank you so much for visiting our site — and for your patience for our inaugural delay.  We hope you will join us in the next few weeks for an enjoyable, insightful and thought-provoking glimpse of animal thought, minds and emotions..

Wishing you a healthier and happier New Year in 2010.  Please stop by again soon.

Audrey Schwartz Rivers, MS

Blog Editor

Argos’ Memories

Welcome – Almost

For that which befalls the sons of men befalls beasts;

even one thing befalls them;

as the one dies, so dies the other;

yea, they all have one breath;

so that man has no preeminence above a beast;

for all is vanity.

All go to one place; all are of the dust.

Who knows the spirit of men whether it goes upward;

and the spirit of the beast whether it goes

downward to the earth?

(Ecclesiastes 3:19-21)

Thanks to all who have waited so patiently for us to kick off our new blog Argos’ Memories, which examines the human-animal condition, will be published regularly very soon.

For the past year, we have collected, researched and drafted articles, notes, essays and other reflections concerning our place in the world of animals.

And we procrastinated posting because, well, we wanted the first contribution to be creative, relevant and witty (In other words, we’ve suffered vexing blogger’s block).

Look for our first feature, a three-part look at Argos, the fabled Greek dog for whom our blog is dedicated, coming in the next week or two.

Again, thanks for your interest and your patience.  We hope you’ll enjoy Argos’ Memories as we think about animals, their thoughts and their connections with the human species.