My mother always told me to keep a low profile, not to put myself forward. (Why she believed that is a whole other story that I won’t go into here. Like my blog subtitle says, this is a “guilt free zone.”) That might be good advice for social occasions — everyone loves a good listener…
Meet my latest book reviewer: What a dog!
I’m afraid I don’t have time right now to get into a thorough discussion of how — and under what circumstances — dog is a pejorative term. I trust that everyone who reads this blog is aware that, ignoring any linguistic conventions, I consider being compared to a canine the ultimate compliment. So I was…
How to find a good dog trainer, Part 2
Finally: The completion of my series on dog training. It covers a bit of the same ground that previous posts do, including those that mock dominance trainers. I’m aiming for straightforward and dispassionate here, not because I’m any less riled up about the topic but because in some circumstances it’s the best way to convey…
Coming Soon: Dog Training, Part 2
I would like to write useful, illustration-rich blog posts that everyone Stumbles, Diggs, and otherwise disseminates to vast numbers of people on the internet. I want to be a reliable, methodical blogger, one who has regular features that people come to expect on a given day of each week like all the “how to write…
The scoop on poop eating
Frankie just came in from the back yard with a satisfied look on his face — and a little piece of dog poop caught in the fur around his mouth. This made me very unhappy for a variety of reasons, but not for the most obvious one: the fact that he was feasting on his…
Will My Dog Hate Me for Fostering?
Before Frankie came to live with me, he spent a good deal of time in the care of my friend Rebecca, who rescued and fostered him. As I’ve described in the introduction to my new book, AM I BORING MY DOG, she won the affections of the shy guy — to the point that he…
Cruel to be kind
I’ve just finished lunch. The point here is not the food — although my foodie friends would no doubt beg to differ — but the ‘tude. Frankie’s attitude that is. During the entire meal, he was in his traditional spot on a hemp rug about four feet away from the dining room table, staring at…
How to find a good dog trainer, Part 1
After another bout of a mystery intestinal problem — apparently not related to his diabetes, fortunately, but still worrying — Frankie’s feeling much better, and expressing himself through enthusiastic doggie flatulence. It’s a good thing he’s little. And that I wasn’t planning any dinner parties. So, as promised, I’m beginning my series on how to…
Dog trainers, behaviorists & dupes, oh my!
Somehow, my post on how to find a good dog trainer keeps getting sidetracked, and I’ve begun to realize why. It’s not just that I felt the need debunk the most popular notions of training so as to put the subject into context. It’s also that training is unregulated, and therefore difficult to discuss without…
Dinner at the Dog Dominance Cafe
Honestly, I was planning to forgo all negativity, to stop writing posts with clever — but hostile — titles about a certain TV personality. I was planning to — and still will, I promise — write about how to find a good dog trainer. Then, yesterday, someone posted a link on Twitter to a dog…