So the other day when I was not feeling all that well, and frankly feeling a bit sorry for myself, I thought about my Auntie Tracie Hotchner and that she would be sad if I lost my spirit so early in the race.   She reminded me about our friends, The Big Dog, Hudson & Murphy who are currently walking 2000 miles from Austin to Boston (yes really) to make people more aware and to raise money for the benefit of cancer research in dogs.

"Princess Daisy", my Auntie Tracie would say, "get up off your cute little tush, go find your Mouse Person and do some investigation work so you have some incentive to get back to your Blogging Business"

I, being the wonderful BullDog that I am, can easily identify a 2-leg who is telling the Two Leg Truth, so that is just what I did and now I am so excited I could just pee, because I have learned all about Big Dog, Hudson and Murphy, and so I will tell it to you.   Then you will be excited to, but instead of peeing, please, take out your fine Visa card and put it to work for a good cause!  More on that, later.

So.   This is what they look like.  Obviously, Big Dog is in the middle!

                                                      

                                    And then, I kept looking around and I found this more formal "studio shot" but I like it:

          
              So. That would be Murphy on the left, The Big Dog, who is really named Mr. Luke Robinson in the middle and little Hudson under the Big Dog's chin.   Hudson and Murphy are known as Great Pyrenees, or as I suspect many of us say:  "large fluffy white dogs"

In the year of 2006, Mr. Luke had a wonderful dog by the name of Malcolm and Malcolm had a long, awful fight with osteosarcoma.  Unfortunately, as often happens, Malcolm did not win his brave fight, and right then, Mr. Luke decided that he would have a Mission.   His Mission would be to discover the cause of cancer and raise money to finance the FIRST EVER nationwide epidemiological canine study managed by the Animal Cancer Foundation.   That is pretty much a mouthful, isn't it?   My Mouse Person also helps me with translations sometimes, and basically, what all those fancy words mean is that Mr. Luke is happy about the money raised for trying to find a cure for cancer, but he wants to fund a study on WHAT ACTUALLY CAUSES IT IN THE FIRST PLACE.   Obviously, and even Bob can understand this...... it would be better to find the cause for cancer in dogs (and in 2-legs), because if you knew what caused the trouble, then you wouldn't have to find a cure.   You wouldn't have the Awful Trouble in the first place.

Just like with my Heart and it's trouble.   If someone knew what was the cause of Heart Trouble like I have, then I wouldn't be hanging around trying to figure out a way to send My Tumor off into Outer Space where it could be safely blown to pieces.  No.   I wouldn't even have the darn thing, because I would never have got it.  I could be spending a lot more shopping time if I didn't have My Heart Trouble.  And time for more Blogging too.   Not to mention Bob.   I would be able to chase his little butt down the hill and run back fast and lock the gate so he couldn't get back into the yard.  HA!

If you would kindly ask your Mouse Person to take you away to Learn All About Big Dog, Hudson, Murphy then you will be able to work your way around the website for this amazing thing that Mr. Luke and his friends, Hudson and Murphy are doing.   You will learn how you can help them with money,of course, and with giving them some places to stay, and why there is this need and where they will be next.  

Get This Part---- if you want to be involved, but Big Dog, Hudson & Murphy have yet to reach your town, or maybe you are just not on their walking route, then you can subscribe to their Newsletter which will come into your e-mail box automatically, or YOU CAN SUBSCRIBE TO THEIR BLOG which is at 2 Dogs 2000 Miles: The Blog

 And so, back to what I told you about your Visa card .   You can ask your Mouse Person to take you away to Puppy Up: The Store and you will be able to buy wonderful items like this:
                                              
Is this not WONDERFUL?   My Gram purchased 12 of these (and when you buy 12 you get a discount so it is like spending the money for 10 but getting two extra).   These are a mere $3 each and you KNOW that is way less than you spend on your coffee every day in that Store Starting with the Letter S.  So there!

We didn't really know what "puppy up" meant and we had to look to see, but this is what the puppy up people had to say:

                                                              "puppy up! is our version of 'man up' or 'cowboy up' neither of which can hold a candle to the undaunted spirit of the puppy. Their instinct for survival is so great that they're unaffected by self doubt or discouraged by uncertain outcomes or the opinions of others.

It's that spirit that we carry throughout the walk and that of cancer patients who struggle physically and emotionally with challenges. We've tried to capture that spirit in our puppy up! brand. Every purchase supports our cause for canine cancer which you can learn more about at
My">www.2dogs2000miles.com"

My Mom and My Gram are going to go shopping again in a few days and they are going to get some cute little pink shirts that say "puppy up" on the front of them, and two fun bumper stickers to stick on their cars.   Then when everyone asks what that means, exactly, they will be able to explain about Mr. Luke, Hudson and Murphy and how they are doing what they are doing to help to save the lives of dogs. 

Thank you Mr. Luke.    Thank you for walking till your toes are aching and for spreading the word about cancer and research and The Spirit.     You know, Auntie Tracie Hotchner was very right, once again.   She told me to get up off of my sorry little tush and to do some research and some blogging.   And so, I found out all about Mr. Luke and his Mission, and his spirit, which is now my spirit.  

Feeling ever so much better,

Princess Daisy

Oh and by the way, every Saturday morning when Auntie Tracie Hotchner has her Dog Talk: The Radio Show (which I have told you ALL about) ---- you know the show that My Beautiful Mom was on on July 19th?  Well each Saturday morning, I think, Mr Luke calls in to chat briefly with Tracie about their current place on the map and what is going on.  So this is just one more reason you have to listen to Dog Talk.