I received this email from Brigitte's husband and wanted to pass it along.

hi,
thank you for your email. i'm brigitte's husband and she asked me to reply. we're in our summer house and only have our cell phones there and don't go online. she's fine, the pets have a great time here, and she'll be back around september.
cookie turned one and is one lovely happy dog.
brigitte sends her greetings to you and all the other pet talkers.

markus