Each year, the Sun moves into Pisces on February 19 and stays until March 20. That means that right now it’s time to shine the celestial spotlight on the divine sign of Pisces the Fish. Happy Pisces Season, Dogsters!
For dogs, especially hard-luck mutts and misunderstood breeds, Pisces season is paws for celebration. The Zodiac’s generous givers and champions of the underdog, Pisceans are compelled to serve others. It follows that Pisces Dogsters naturally want to lend a helping paw to dogs (and, in fact, all creatures great and small).
Consider Paco Collars, makers of hand-crafted leather neckwear for dogs and belts for humans. This California company proudly champions the ultimate underdog, the pit bull, so one of its collar models is called the PBRC, in honor of Pit Bull Rescue Central‘s efforts to rescue and rehome at-risk pitties. Another Paco design, available as a collar and a belt, celebrates the Neptunian compassion for canines: Decorated with circular studs to give the appearance of bubbles moving through water, it’s called … the Pisces! And it’s a beaut.
Pisces adore barefoot comfort, so the flooring choices in a Zodiac fish’s animal house will invite going shoeless. Save scratchy sisal for the doormat and bring on the smooth stuff for canine comfort. In winter, Pisceans will ensure the safe, comfortable footing of beloved bare-pawed dogs with Morton’s salt-free Safe-T-Pet Ice Melt. In a Neptunian’s cove, you’ll find many reminders of Pisces’ natural element in the form of seaside colors (sandy beiges, sea-glass greens, sky blues) as well as conches, coral branches, and other catches from the deep. Framed family photos may include shots of Spot romping by the seashore!
Piscean poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s love for her sweet spaniel is immortalized not only in her letters, but in Virginia Woolf’s bow-wow biography, Flush. Per Pisceans’ point of view, dogs deserve consideration as serious subjects, hence Nobel winner John Steinbeck’s account of a cross-country trip with his poodle, which yielded the must-read title Travels with Charley. It’s compelling reading whether or not you’re a Dogster.
Actress and 2012 Academy Award Nominee Glenn Close (see her in Albert Nobbs, which she also produced) adores her mixed-breed dogs, Jake and Bill. She established the “Charitable Shops” on Fetchdog (her husband’s business venture), where a percentage of purchases are donated to the canine charity of their choice.
And even when Glenn’s shooting schedule for TV’sDamages could not have been more jammed, she made time to help out a shelter dog. Partnering with the Mayor’s Alliance for NYC’s Animals, she fostered a pit bull mix named Sweet Pea, taking on the responsibility of a third dog and treating S.P. like royalty until her forever home was found.
Glenn’s fellow Pisces performer, Drew Barrymore, is also keenly aware of the incredible canine talent on offer at America’s animal shelters, so her beloved mutts are all adopted. And Neptunian actress Jessica Biel adores her two adopted pit bulls!
Meanwhile, in Brooklyn, NY, small K9s enjoy the comforts of home-away-from-home at a swanky dog daycare facility called Wag Club. When it’s time for the K9 clientele to head home, it’s clear that they’ve been treated like royalty, with lavish attention to their critter comforts. Wag Club dogs are in no hurry to leave! That’s probably because this place is the vision of a Piscean, John Squires, and he treats all the guest dogs as if they were his own.
Pisces are such sensitive souls that, for better or worse, they feel things deeply. According to the excellent @Xstrology on Twitter, “Pisces feel the pain of the world as if it were their own.” And it hurts their hearts. Happily for the world’s voiceless creatures, Pisceans draw strength from their legendary compassion, taking bold action to prevent further animal suffering.
Pisces veterinarian Dr. Andrew Kaplan adopted his beloved mutt, Toby, a few hours before the dog was scheduled to be euthanized at a crowded municipal animal shelter. The very idea that his best friend might’ve become one more sad statistic of pet overpopulation compelled Kaplan to do his part to stop overpopulation. And so the vet created The Toby Project, which offers free and low-cost spay/neuter services in a van that travels to low-income NYC neighborhoods. (Kaplan is also a confirmed vegetarian; again, that’s so Pisces!)
One of Kaplan’s celebrity clients is a fellow fish, actress Bernadette Peters. With her best friend, legendary animal lover Mary Tyler Moore, Peters founded Broadway Barks, an annual adoption event that shines the spotlight on New York City’s adoptable dogs and cats. The Piscean pit bull lover also wrote two books to raise awareness of dog adoption: the first, Broadway Barks, was inspired by her magnificent mutt Kramer; and the second, Stella Is a Star, is all about sweet Stella the pittie.
Here’s another classic Pisces for you. Swedish-born photographer Anneli Adolfsson‘s specialty is portraits of music phenomena: Marilyn Manson, Joan Jett, Steven Tyler, Ani DiFranco, and Kiss have all been captured by her camera. But for Anneli (pictured with her dogs Angel and Princess), the ultimate rock god is a Boxer named Master 7 with an unusual white marking on his chest in the shape of the number 7. “Master will always be the love of my life,” she says.
In 2005, someone broke into Anneli’s home while she was out, and she returned to find Master missing. She searched the neighborhood and left food outside, but when he didn’t show up, she posted flyers and visited every local animal shelter, her heart pounding harder at each stop. “Finally, when I arrived at the last shelter, a woman told me they got a Boxer in D.O.A.,” she says. Anneli identified the body of her beloved friend; he’d been shot once between the eyes.
“Master’s death was a wakeup call that challenged me to refocus my life on something close to my heart,” says Anneli, who resolved to dedicate herself to dogs in need. She began volunteering at the Nevada SPCA, taking pictures of the adoptable dogs to help them find their forever homes. “Each shelter dog has a fascinating life story, just like rock stars do,” she says. To raise awareness and funds for dog rescue, she plans to exhibit her portraits and compile them in a book, with proceeds donated to an animal charity.
If the fish is the sign you seek to love, know that the ones mostc osmically compatible withPisces are Scorpio, Cancer, and Taurus. And if you’d like to learn about how Pisceans decorate, please check out my “Star Style” column on astrology and lifestyle/design – my special cosmic niche! – for Traditional Home magazine.
Dogster Pisces and friends/lovers of Dogster Pisces, we’d like to hear from you, so please share your thoughts in the comments!
