Lulu’s Rescue Featured in Short-Form Documentary

24Jan12

I do a lot of volunteer work for Lulu’s Rescue, the group that helped to save my dog, Blue, from a gas-chamber shelter in North Carolina. The group is featured in my forthcoming book “Little Boy Blue,” due out in hardcover this summer from Barron’s Books.

Lulu’s was recently featured in the following 13-minute documentary, which won high marks at a film festival in the United Kingdom. The film covers a lot of the same themes that “Little Boy Blue” addresses—all important to understand if we are going to save more dogs like Blue from certain death in America’s shelters in the future.

Lulu’s Rescue from bshiflett on Vimeo.

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My New Secret Weapon

19Jan12

I am more than happy to remind anyone who cares to listen that when triathlon season ended a few months ago, I finally—after three years of trying—beat my younger sister in the last race of the year. She immediately proclaimed that she would never lose to me again. Her basement is now adorned with a brand-new treadmill as well as a stationary trainer for her racing bicycle.

I’m taking a different route this winter. Despite temperatures now dipping into the high teens and low 20s here in New Jersey each day, I’m still out jogging three or four times a week with my pooch, Blue. We run at least three miles every time we go out. I figure if I can keep in that condition until the snow thaws this spring, I’ll be poised to compete the same as (or better than) I did in the last race.

On days when I’m not out running, I’m walking around my house in my new five-toe shoes. Yes, they are freaky looking. Yes, they feel bizarre on my feet. But they are specifically designed to be worn during the triathlon’s swim as well as during the jog from there to the transition area—meaning I won’t have to stop, dry off my feet, and put on real sneakers after the swim. That right there should save me a good 45 to 60 seconds in the next race. It’s an enormous amount of time, given that last autumn’s victory was by about three minutes. And I will gain all of that time for about $100 at the local sport-shoe store.

So, as my sister rampages with visions of victory in her basement, I’m waddling around my den looking a bit like an amphibian. I think I’m okay with it. I’d rather look silly winning than stylish losing.

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Yes, I’m a Little Weepy as I Type This

30Dec11

Yesterday, I said goodbye to my sixth foster dog. His name is Mac, and he’s about 10 or 11 months old. He arrived at my house after being saved from a North Carolina shelter that was going to kill him in a gas chamber. He had just three days to live. He was emaciated, with not just his ribs but also his backbone and shoulder blades sticking out. And he had terrible diarrhea. His stomach must have hurt every minute he was alive.

After six weeks with me and my dog, Blue—also a rescue from a gas-chamber shelter in North Carolina—Mac grew into the happy, loving, healthy dog that you see here. He adored going with us for walks in the park and jogs on the local trail. He scarfed down no fewer than six cups of puppy food every day, along with one rogue batch of defrosting ground beef that he sniffed out in my kitchen sink. By the time he left us yesterday, I’d even managed to house-train him, crate-train him, and teach him both “sit” and “lie down.” Such a smart boy. So eager to please.

All dogs are special, but this guy really had a quality that bore straight into the core of my heart. Blue loved him, too. They romped around all day like brothers. I swore I’d only give him up to the perfect home—and then along came a lovely family with these two boys, an older brother, a big back yard, and a 4-year-old black Labrador who needs a playmate. It appears to be a perfect match. And so Mac is off to start his new and even more wonderful life with them.

I’ve already told Lulu’s Rescue to line me up for another foster puppy, as so many more dogs like Mac are facing death in the shelters and just need a place to stay for a little while until permanent homes can be found. Fostering is how my dog Blue was saved, too, and I talk about the process in my forthcoming book “Little Boy Blue: One Puppy’s Great Escape.” As I wrote in the manuscript, the number of dogs the rescues can save from the kill shelters is directly proportional to the number of foster homes where those dogs can be placed.

So yes, it’s tear-filled when I have to say goodbye to a great dog like Mac, but I’m looking forward to meeting my seventh foster dog a week from now. I hope I’ll play a role in him finding a perfect, permanent home, too. It feels great to be part of the solution.

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Sprechen Sie Deutsch?

19Dec11

The November-December edition of Boote Exclusiv has hit newsstands in Germany, and my article about the 60-meter motoryacht Yogi begins on page 49.

It’s the first time that I can recall any of my work being translated for a German-speaking audience. Personally, I don’t speak German, so I have no idea what the translated version of the article states.

What a weird feeling, not being able to figure out if there are any typos. Happy to be included, though!

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Editors: Need Anything from Antigua?

02Dec11

The 50th annual Antigua Charter Yacht Show takes place December 4-9. More than 100 luxury yachts are scheduled to be on display, with access allowed only to reputable charter brokers and registered marine media. This is the largest annual boat show of its kind in the Caribbean and will include several new superyacht launches that have never before been displayed in public.

I’m scheduled to attend every day of the show. I’ll be sending regular updates to the CharterWave Twitter feed and will be blogging each night on CharterWave. I’ll also be reporting for upcoming features that will appear in Yachting, Elite Traveler Superyachts, Charter Index, and Boats.com.

If you are an editor in need of content from the event, please get in touch and let me know how I can help. E-mail is easiest during the show: kim@kimkavin.com.

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“Little Boy Blue: One Puppy’s Great Escape” Gets Encouraging Early Reviews

18Nov11

Few feelings are scarier than handing over a first-draft, unedited book manuscript for criticism. I’ve done so eight times before writing “Little Boy Blue: One Puppy’s Great Escape.” Apparently, the ninth time’s the charm in terms of giving myself heart palpatations. I care so deeply about this book’s message—rescuing great shelter dogs like my boy Blue—that I want it to be absolutely perfect.

And so, two weeks ago, with permission from my editor at Barron’s Books, I gave copies of the “Little Boy Blue” working draft to five rescue advocates and one veterinarian. I also gave copies to my close friend’s book club, to gauge the reaction of general readers. We didn’t even have a properly typeset copy; only the Word document at right, with a watermark for copyright protection. I asked for comments and suggestions by December 1. And then I set about fidgeting and pacing for the better part of November while more than a dozen people cast their critical eyes on every single one of my 85,000 words.

Much to my surprise, one of the advocates called me less than a week later. She’s a decades-long shelter director in Massachusetts. The first thing she told me was that she had sat down the night before and expected to skim the manuscript, but that she ended up reading until 1:30 in the morning. It was that compelling, even for someone who’s been involved in the cause as long as she’s been.

Just a few days after that, I heard from a longtime rescue advocate in North Carolina. She told me she’s setting time aside to read early in the mornings and again before bed, and that she, too, is having a hard time putting the book down.

And then this week, I heard from a longtime rescue advocate in Pennsylvania. She was kind enough to e-mail: “I am really enjoying it so much as it weaves the ugly reality with cute Blue stories, so it presents very difficult facts in a way that average dog owners who know nothing of what goes on will be absorbed, without having to put it down.  Just when you think it is beyond horrible (heartsticks and gas chambers) then it lightens up so you take a breath and continue along the journey with you. The people you interviewed are a great mix. Congrats on an awesome soon-to-be bestseller that I am sure will grab the population that is like you were, and open their eyes into action.”

Yes, after that last comment, I did in fact dance around the house in my socks where nobody could see me!

While all of these early reviewers will, I’m sure, have critical notes for me to consider during the editing process, the overall reaction is pretty darn great. Anytime readers say they can’t put something down, I know I’ve done one of the hardest parts of the job right. And on top of that, “Little Boy Blue” is gaining real traction in social media, too. He has more than 400 fans on Facebook, and the number grows almost every single day. This book seems to have some great mojo, and I’m going to work hard to keep it going.

Stay tuned to the “Little Boy Blue” website for updates as more early feedback comes in. The hardcover publication date is still scheduled for August 2012. I wonder if I’ll need a cardiologist by then…

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