My best friend Clare’s dog, Archie, was just diagnosed with Canine Cognitive Dysfunction (CCD): Doggie Dementia, or Canine Alzheimer’s. Archie is nearly 15. According to the speakers at a recent Nestle Purina Companion Animal Nutrition Summit, an estimated one in four dogs over the age of 10 shows at least one sign of brain aging,…
Girls – & Greyhounds – Just Wanna Have Fun!
Greyhound rescue is often a grim business. My friend Karyn spends endless hours unearthing the conditions under which racing greyhounds labor — caged most of the day, fed decayed, steroid-laced food, discarded like trash after their working days are done — to provide ammunition to reporters like Tim Vanderpool (here’s his latest on the topic)…
Charles (Not) in Charge
Meet Charles, my friend Rebecca’s Brussels griffon. Rebecca is going into the hospital soon for spinal fusion surgery. I promised to take care of Charles for the three weeks during and post-op, so last night we had a trial sleepover. It didn’t go so well. Charles was distraught at being left with a strange human…
Paying BlogPaws Forward: Being the Change
This is going to be quick, because explaining what today’s “Be the Change” challenge is all about is better left to BlogPaws, the organization where it all started. And also because I want others to know that even if they’re busy and broke — guilty on both counts! — they can still help. First, there’s…
And the winner of the SleepyPod Air is…
This was tough. It was really, really tough. The abundance of wonderfulness of the entries was such that my co-sponsor, Mary-Alice Pomputius of DogJaunt.com, and I were extremely conflicted. But in the end, there was one contender that stood out not only for cuteness, and not only for technical skill — both of which it…
Celebrating WMDHM’s birthday: My 10 favorite posts
Yesterday, my blog turned one year old. In blog years — similar to dog years — that’s a long time. So by semi-popular demand — two of my Twitter pals said they wanted to see it — I am going to complete my retrospective of the first year of Will My Dog Hate Me with…
BlogPaws, the (Partial) Poop
I came, I talked, I learned. And I was inspired. For those who missed BlogPaws, the first pet blogger’s conference, I’m happy to report it was a huge success. I don’t have all the stats about how many attended — a big ballroomful, for sure — or how much money was raised for pet charities…
WMDHM: The Shameless Book Promotion Phase
The reason I initially created a dog blog was to establish my expertise as the author of a book about dogs. It soon became clear that, although fun, being a dog fashion correspondent might not be the best route to that goal. So I began writing about more substantive topics and, as the publication date…
WMDHM: Greatest Hits of the Dog Dressing Phase
It’s hard to believe it’s been nearly a year since I started this blog, on April 12, 2009. Whenever I’m tempted to think that I’m not where I wanted to be at this point, which is fairly often, I remind myself of a few things: I had no clear idea of where I wanted to…
Pet photography: A quick primer
Talk about serendipity. I had been in contact with journalist, artist, and animal activist Twig Mowatt for quite a while. When I visited her pet portraits site, I was not only impressed by her art but also struck by the section about how to take a photograph that could be used as a basis for…