BY SKYLER, DEB AND TIM SMITH
DR. GLUCKMAN ~ I’ve had three cats and a dog cared for by the Mendon Village Animal Hospital and there has always been something special about Dr. Gluckman. He exudes a sense of calmness and caring that conveys his experience and compassion. If you take your pet to Dr. Gluckman there is no question that you have gone to the right place.
Dr. Gluckman made me feel special when he took the time to come into work early one morning last summer and meet with me for this interview. It turned out to be a good one. As we entered the building there was already a nice variety of patients in the hospital’s waiting room. The doctor escorted us upstairs and we all grabbed a seat around the table in his meeting room.
LOCATION ~ In sharing the history of his practice Dr. Gluckman informed us that he has actually worked out of three different locations in the hamlet. He started in 1979 in the building on the 4-corners that is now A Touch of Gold. He moved from there to Mill Road in the building that is now Hair and the Hound in 1987. In 1997 the practice moved to its new state-of-the-art building where he will celebrate his 40th anniversary as Mendon’s veteran veterinarian this year.
GETTING THE INTERVIEW ~ There was an ironic twist which occurred in the process of me getting this interview. When we conducted our interview with the owners of Pizza D’s there was one woman sitting at a table enjoying her lunch when we began. I noticed that she seemed to be taking an interest in our proceedings and soon after we started she was joined by her husband, Dr. Gluckman. As the Gluckmans listened to our Pizza D’s interview they kind of got caught up in the excitement. And Mrs. Gluckman enthusiastically signed her husband up. “My husband would be great for this,” she said.
Dr. Gluckman had a general idea of what we were talking about because we had left an invitation at his reception area. The doctor had requested that one of his staff members contact me but that seemed to have kind of fallen between the cracks. As I have worked on this series of articles there have been more than a few quirky coincidences that have come together in just the right way.
IT WAS FATE ~ The Pizza D’s interview had been intentionally set up at what would be considered their off time as obviously the lunch hour crunch time would not be conducive for the owners to leave their stations. So the fact that our mid-afternoon paths happened to cross with the Gluckmans was just the cat’s pajamas, so to speak.
Look forward to two great components to next week’s piece. I will reveal to my readers the inside story on the Gluckmans’ romance and the good doctor’s story about the smartest cat in the history of Mendon.
