Looking for Dog Rescue Organizations

We're looking for dog rescue organizations that would like to buy discounted copies of Ginger's Gift to sell and then let the organization keep the profit. Any interested organizations should contact me at: michelle@gingersgift.com. We want to help where we can!

The loss of a 13-year-old girl

Yesterday, I found a friend of mine, who I work with in the suicide world, had a heart attack on Friday. This rocked my reality. Although his daughters are about my age, sometimes we think people will live forever. And it's a reality check for him and his family as well. A short time later in the morning, I found out that the daughter of one of Denise's childhood friends (they go back to elementary school) had died of a brain tumor yesterday morning. She was 13. It was through facebook that we had connected because I had posted some photos of Denise and her Brownie troop and some birthday parties and Jen saw them and friended me. She worked tirelessly to help her daughter since her diagnosis last fall. I haven't been able to stop thinking about their road and reading the blog entries of the journey of Brianna and her family. Jen wrote how Brianna told her she didn't want to die. While it's a different kind of death than suicide, it's still a loss and the one of a young person always is painful. I know the grief journey they are on and I hope they continue to feel Brianna's presence in their lives because she is now with them, although in a different sense, and guiding them as they move forward without her physical presence.

Pooch sitting at the Linn-Gust house

I am in Los Angeles, on my way back to Albuquerque after spending last night here in Santa Monica to attend a memorial service for Ed Shneidman, founder of suicidology, at UCLA. My friend Virginia was kind enough to watch the crew for me as Joe is out of town as well. She came over two days before I left and the dogs were her best friends while we sat at the edge of the pool. Chaco licked her face (which he hardly does for anyone) and Daisy and Hattie tried to play on top of her (or Hattie tried to use Virginia to block Daisy) and Nestle was, well, simply Nestle. The morning I left, Chaco's look said it all. He allowed me to pet him and didn't want me to stop. My first dog report came last night. Chaco had barked and growled and then went away (typical for him when someone new is watching him), Nestle went for the pool, Hattie didn't eat, but Daisy allowed Virginia to brush her (which she doesn't do for me). The second report came a few hours ago. Daisy and Hattie had once again tried to play when Virginia was sitting on the couch by the tv. She wanted to know how I deal with the commotion. Honestly? It doesn't bother me. I'm not exactly sure why but I was a high school teacher at one time and I know how to shut the crew up pretty fast and send them hiding in corners. And they are loud at certain times of day, first thing in the morning until everyone has been run and eaten, about midday, then around 4:00 pm. We have a routine. The rest of the time, they mostly keep to themselves so I can work. But I realize that's our routine and when Mom's away....

Middle-aged Shepherd in New Mexico needs a home

A friend emailed this information last night. She's trying to find a home for the dog in the photo. The dog is in New Mexico. If you're interested, please email me at michelle@gingersgift.com and I'll forward you the contact information. Thanks!

Hattie goes over the wall...again!

Hattie Hattie Hattie. I was in the shower this morning (Joe isn't here) and when I got out, Nestle was barking. Knowing that Nestle barks at everything, I yelled at her to be quiet. Then the doorbell rang. I ran downstairs to see that three dogs were at the door. Hattie was missing. I knew then that she had gone over the 6-foot wall and when I looked out the window there was my neighbor Rich holding her. She immediately went underneath the couch when she entered the house. Hattie is laying under the table here where I'm working now. At some point it will be funny but I was shaking this morning after it happened. She seems to have been mentally shaken by it although she is physically okay. Her brain isn't exactly big and she's acting on impulse. She gets on top of the wall or over it after hearing a dog or something else. She goes after it and then I think she is wondering, what now? The important thing she is home safe and I'll shut the back door tomorrow morning when I shower.

The importance of dogs vs. the cost of vet care

None of us are immune. These are difficult times. Life itself is difficult. Each day we can be thrown any number of hurdles. Over the past few days, I've been subjected to two different circumstances that illustrate both the importance of pets and also the difficulties of paying for their care when times are tough. My first grade locker partner and I have reconnected on facebook and she recently adopted a puppy but he had to be weaned from his mother, etc. A week ago, Julie's mother died after a long illness and they buried her on Wednesday. Yesterday on facebook, Julie had posted photos that Marvin had come home it looks like either Thursday or Friday. I kept thinking of the importance of this event (I don't believe in coincidence anymore- this was meant to happen the way it did) and how Marvin came home just as Julie would need him most. On the other side of coin, there is a man who walks in the same park I walk my crew. He has two dogs who are older. A mutual friend who I walk with told me that one of his dogs (who is 14 years old) has an infection due to a seedling stuck between his pads but he can't afford vet care because he can't even pay his mortgage this month. His dogs are clearly important to him and he walks them consistently everyday. The dog already was declining in health, probably because of his age and now the man is struggling with what to do for the future of his dog who also clearly has been his companion for a long time. I can't even think of a line to finish off this posting because nothing seems to wrap it up. Maybe nothing is supposed to and I should just end it here.

Workshop on helping the bereaved by suicide

When someone has died by suicide, how do you support the people coping with the loss?
When someone has attempted suicide, how do you support the attempter and his/her family?

Learn from two experts in the suicide field how you can help people grieving the loss of suicide or a suicide attempt. What do you say? What can you do? What are the resources available? This workshop is geared toward lay people (churches, community-service organizations, family members, and anyone else who might come in contact with people coping with suicide).

“The Aftermath of Suicide:
Supporting People Coping With Suicide Loss, Suicide Attempters and their Families"


Michelle Linn-Gust, Ph.D.
Michelle is the president-elect of the American Association of Suicidology and an international speaker and writer about suicide postvention and prevention issues. She is the author of Do They Have Bad Days In Heaven? Surviving the Suicide Loss of a Sibling and Ginger’s Gift: Hope and Healing through Dog Companionship. She also is a co-founder of the New Mexico Suicide Prevention Coalition.


JoAnn Sartorius, L.I.S.W.
JoAnn's work with high-risk adolescents and their families spans 30 years.
For the last decade, she has concentrated on suicide prevention as well as addressing the aftermath of suicide. Currently, JoAnn works throughout the state as a program coordinator and trainer for school-based suicide prevention programs, is a member of a suicide crisis response team, and presents educational workshops on suicide prevention for youth, school personnel and communities. JoAnn is a co-founder of the New Mexico Suicide Prevention Coalition.


August 25th, 10:00 am to 1:00 pm
Los Griegos Community Center
1231 Candelaria NW
Albuquerque, NM 87107

Cost for the workshop is $40

Minimum number of participants is 30, maximum is 50.

Registration online at www.chelleheadworks.com
Questions? Email: info@chelleheadworks.com

Change no matter where we are

I flew to Chicago yesterday via Denver and Lincoln, NE, (don't ask me...you'd think United would want to keep me on fewer planes when I'm using a frequent flyer ticket I payed $10 for....). It was a cloudy and cool day in Naperville so this afternoon I took Ginger and Daisy for a walk. Daisy now has been with Mom for about seven months and seems really happy in her new life. She had very wiry fur that now is almost gone and turned more yellow than the former white it was and also is a soft as, well, a furry dog. Mom says it was her thyroid that did it and now that she's on medication, she's looking more like the yellow lab that she is. Ginger is Ginger. Some things never change. Ginger still opens the cabinet door when Mom leaves and we joke that Daisy stands at the window saying, "You better hurry! She's pulling up in the driveway now!" Mom doesn't keep the garbage there anymore. But on our afternoon walk through Brush Hill Park, it was sad to see one of the last parcels of farmland now gone. In fact, where Ginger and I once walked next to corn, they were putting up a fence today for what I assume is a car dealership on the other side. Change is inevitable but it was good for the last three years that when Ginger and I would walk, at least I felt close to some sort of Midwestern farm with the corn there. Each day I pray that I keep moving forward in my life but somehow there are some things I wish could stay the same. I guess I can't have my corn, er cake, and eat it too.