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Dog Year

A letter to Cleo, our rescue beagle, 1 year after her adoption

Tim Cigelske
4 min readMar 4, 2019
this is fine (photo by Jess Cigelske)

Dear Cleo,

It’s been almost a year since we adopted you. You’ve filled our house with more love. And also fur. And also pee.

Seriously, what’s with peeing on the rug? You know that we’ll let you out the back door whenever you want.

We built an entire backyard fence for the sole purpose of letting you and Bella run loose to urinate freely in nature. And yet, once every few weeks you have an accident in the house. This has earned you the nickname Pee-o.

You’ve gained some weight and filled out a little, which we’re happy to see. You’re no longer the trembling skin and bones frame like when you showed up at our house after living your life as an outdoor hunting dog.

You’re more confident in some ways but still skittish. You still run away from any beeping sound that comes from a phone or watch. Thankfully the doorway and steps don’t confuse you anymore. You know your way around the house and have your favorite spots on the couch and in your beagle bed by the door.

Cleo’s adventures

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Tim Cigelske
Tim Cigelske

Written by Tim Cigelske

Educator. Podcast addict. Wrote a book about creativity: http://bit.ly/thecreativejourney

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