It’s a little ironic for me to be posting about preaching to the choir because: I’m a nonbeliever I grew up attending a synagogue, not a church, and synagogues don’t have choirs It’s a tired cliche, and I try to avoid those But the topic came up when Karen Friesecke, DIY queen and blogger at…
Friday Focus: Making Rescue Less Necessary (or How to Avoid Internet Puppy Mills)
The question this week was How do you define rescue? Plenty of people provided excellent definitions in the comments section. And others admitted to having fallen short of the ideal. So the more I thought about it, the more I thought about how defining the term isn’t useful. This site is about education, not recrimination.…
Blog the Change
So I’m sitting here obsessing how I spaced out on this event and haven’t written anything and then decided to just shut up — I’m talking to you, oh accusatory voices in my head — and write something. This is, after all, a guilt-free zone and the point of this day is to raise awareness…
Training Tuesday: Bat Boy!
What’s with the fledgling superheroes, mammals that turn bugs into guano, or baseball go-fers, you may be wondering. I’m talking about B.A.T — Behavior Adjustment Training, the new, non-cave related frontier where Frankie’s continuing education is taking us. As I’ve no doubt mentioned: Our trainer, Crystal, is a science geek and is always interested in…
Friday Focus: Dog Rescuers, Defined
This week’s question was inspired by my friend Clare — well, actually, more or less demanded by her. It started when an acquaintance of Clare’s who had initially expressed interest in rescuing a dog ended up buying one from a Pomeranian breeder with this over -the-top website. Clare joked, “I usually don’t approve of buying…
Sex & the Single Dog Blogger
Dating in the internet age is tough. “Must love dogs” is no longer specific enough a requirement to ensure a meeting of minds (etc.). Consider this scenario: You spot a guy on an online dating site and one of the things that draws you to him is a profile picture with a dog licking his…
Use Some (Car) Restraint: Small Dog Edition
I don’t generally use blackmail to get guest bloggers (0nly because I don’t generally have any leverage) but in the case of my car safety series I mentioned in public that I’d asked my two favorite pet travel bloggers to help me out. What else could they do but identify themselves by complying? Rod Burkert…
Training Tuesdays: Suddenly social?
Frankie is perverse. No sooner did I post last week about how it was okay that Frankie didn’t show any interest in other dogs, then what does he do but show interest in another dog. It’s like he knew I had written off his doggie social skills and wanted to prove me wrong. This was…
Happy Birthday, Frankie!
Today is Frankie’s birthday, at least the one I chose for him. He was five when I adopted him and of mysterious parentage (royalty who fell on hard times, I suspect). I decided on July 4 because he came prenamed Frankie, it was clear he was dandy, and… well, I told the story on this…
Friday Focus: Do real dogs need other dogs?
This week’s question was: Does your dog need to play with other dogs to have a completely fulfilled life? Many people who responded in the comments section of the post that posed this question or on Twitter didn’t necessarily advocate dog parks as a venue for play, but suggested alternatives because, the consensus was, dogs…