01/22/2026
Ivy (Dr. Turk’s beloved companion) has crossed the rainbow bridge yesterday.
In light of the 7891st day of January, the seemingly longest day of the entire year in the way it feels, with short days and long nights, and a depressing day called “Blue Monday” to add to the mix, I add more to this month of grief.
That said, however, sometimes you need to work hard to find a smile in these times and so I share with you a little bit about this silly little monkey I adored so much.
Ivy got her name to be a bit of a play on words. One of the modalities I use in my clinic is intravenous (IV) therapy. I was hoping that Ivy would be a therapy dog, to be there to help reduce any anxiety revolving around treatments of any kind. Unfortunately that was not what Ivy wanted to do, and I respect that.
Ivy was a therapy dog, but only for one person…me. She was always right by my side, she would alert me to everything. When someone came home, she would greet them but then would immediately run to me to let me know someone was home. If the cat was being “bad” by counter surfing and stealing people food out of cupboards (yes…I had an incredibly smart cat too), Ivy would run to me with urgency that I needed to follow her so she can show me what Angel was up to.
Ivy was so smart that sometimes it took me a bit to understand what she was trying to tell me, but we worked out systems of communication that we built on and it was amazing when we were able to understand what was needed.
If Ivy wanted something, she would point with her nose, then look at me and point again and keep doing that until she got it. This was especially true for the laser pointer. She always was up for a good round of “light game”.
Dogs are amazing. Their only fault is that they simply don’t live long enough. They all have very special quirks in their beautiful personalities that will always be theirs and I will cherish those memories forever.
Hold your most precious moments tightly. We have one more week (5000 more days) of January and then the days will notably get longer, the temperature will eventually get warmer and our hearts a little less sad.
💔🪽🐾🐕
