Coffee with a canine: Marion Winik & Beau

This weekend's featured couple at Coffee with a Canine: Marion Winik & Beau.

Winik, on how Beau joined her household:

Five years ago at Christmas time, I decided to give my then-16-year-old son Hayes a miniature dachshund for Christmas. I had grown up with an amazing black-and-tan dachshund named Schnapps and had been wanting another one ever since. But it seemed like there was always a reason not to get a dog. Having babies, moving across the country, stuff like that. When I finally started scheming to find a puppy, people STILL said I was nuts. How could I take on more responsibility, what with my pre-existing group of teenagers, toddlers, cats, and husband, all having to be fed and cared for? Well, it’s not even going to be my dog! I explained, I was giving HAYES the dog.

I searched on the Internet until I found a likely vendor of miniature dachshunds in the rural town of Dillsburg, PA, and I sneaked off with Hayes's younger brother Vince to see a litter of puppies when they were just six weeks old. They were all male, and the smallest one had a large scar across the top of his head. This is the one Vince selected immediately, to the breeder’s surprise. She assured us the vet had said it would eventually disappear. Actually, it has gotten much, much more pronounced and now I have to answer the question, "what is that lump hanging off Beau's head?" many times every day. Oh well. He...[read on]

Marion Winik is the author of eight books of creative nonfiction and poetry, most recently The Glen Rock Book of the Dead. Her other works include Telling, a best-selling collection of personal essays; First Comes Love, a memoir now in development for motion-picture release; The Lunch-Box Chronicles; Rules for the Unruly and Above Us Only Sky. She is also the author of two books of poetry.

Winik's essays and articles have been published in The New York Times Magazine, O, Salon, Real Simple, and The Los Angeles Times, among others. Her commentaries have been heard on All Things Considered since 1991, and are collected on the npr.org website. She was the 2008 "My Life As A Mom" columnist for Ladies Home Journal, and continues in 2009 as that publication's "Advice Lady."

Visit Marion Winik's website.

Read--Coffee with a Canine: Marion Winik & Beau.

--Marshal Zeringue