Getting to know the dog mom writer behind the scenes
July 15, 2011 • Travel
Your imagination, off the leash. Those words resonated to throngs of FIDO Friendly fans who channeled their inner writer and released pooch prose. In our first ever Leave no dog behind® writing contest, we asked you to tell us about the most memorable trip with Fido or the one you’d like to take. In our 50th celebratory issue, we proudly announced the winner as Sunny Kaplan, whose Five Degrees North of the Equator unanimously captured judges' hearts.
FIDO Friendly wanted to get to know this dog mom, who so eloquently captured her dog travels in prose and walked away with the first place win. Once you've read Sunny's bright story in FIDO Friendly magazine, you'll see exactly what we mean. Click the photos to the left to see Sunny and her dogs.
So just who is Sunny Kaplan, who are the lucky dogs sharing her life and what inspires her?
Sunny tells us:
"Originally from Los Angeles, California, I grew up in an eccentric household with a menagerie of pets: no less than eight parrots, cats, fish, a revolving collection of hamsters, rabbits, lizards and rescued wild birds, and always one dog, usually a German Shepherd, who was the ring leader for all the other pets. My husband grew up in Finland and Denmark in a home of dog-lovers, and as a baby he was surrounded by a litter of lab puppies. When we got married and started our life together, the first order of business was to get a puppy, and there was no question we wanted a Westie, which was a breed we had fallen in love with. New to Washington, DC—I was a journalism student and my husband an environmentalist—we knew we needed an income source before diving into “doghood,” so the day my husband was offered a job we felt lucky to spot one ad for a Westie in the Saturday Washington Post. Arriving a few minutes late to meet the woman who advertised the puppies, we discovered there was only one puppy left—the runt. She looked nothing like a Westie puppy at the time, but she was ours, so home we drove with the puppy perched right smack in the middle of us where she promptly fell asleep.
Our life changed after adopting Luka. Because we were new to town we had almost no friends, but within a week of hanging out in the Glover Park dog park and exploring the trails in the urban woodlands, we had lots of wonderful, caring, quirky, multi-generational friends—all dog owners, of course. Our routine revolved around Luka’s morning and evening dog walks, weekend hikes and getaways, and because our relatives were all at least a five-hour plane ride from DC, we wasted no time bringing her with us on our travels to California and Europe. Because of her easy-going personality and trust in us, she was easy to fly with and luckily not too big to be in the cabin. We loved discovering new places with her in tow, and in Europe really appreciated how dog-friendly people were. When I was making a reservation for a hotel in Paris and asked if dogs were allowed, the woman was taken aback that I could ask such a question: “Bien sûr!”
When our daughters were born Luka always kept a watchful eye on them, and instinctual as dogs are, Luka was the first to give them a cuddle if they were under the weather or to keep them company while they played or read. At bed time, she was right there at the foot of the bed on a cozy blanket as they slept. At 13 1/2, when Luka left us after struggling with heart failure, my older daughter, Chloe, suffered the most from anguish and grief from the loss. We spent six months recovering, and even gave cats a try during our stay in Ghana where we ended up caring for 10 feral cats and three litters of kittens, but it was clear that we all preferred dogs.
When we relocated to the states we fell upon a rescue dog named Felix while on vacation in Los Angeles, who appeared to be part Chihuahua, part terrier. As some people say, you don’t adopt a dog, they adopt you, and that is exactly what happened with Felix. When we met him he just melded into our family as if that was the place he was always meant to be. Felix keeps us on our toes and has the biggest personality that is possible to fit into a 9-pound dog. My friend from El Salvador calls him the “perrito café loco”--little brown, crazy dog. Not a person walks by us that doesn’t stop to notice Felix asking, “What kind of dog IS he???” Felix’s favorite treat is apple, and quick to learn new tricks, his favorite is doing the yoga pose, downward-facing dog, on command!"
If Felix is to take after Luka, he has many adventures ahead of him. His most recent travels took him to Boulder and Breckenridge, Colo. where he hiked, waded in creeks and enjoyed lots of good, healthy food. Wouldn’t life be dull without dogs, I can’t even imagine!
Read all about our winners and the "tails" from runners-up.
