Blaming the dog

December 18, 2009

‘Tis the season for retrospectives, and I’ve been feeling pretty sorry for myself.  Many of my prime writing markets have disappeared this past year, or have stopped using freelancers. Yes, I wrote a dog book that’s been well received, and that’s exciting. So was launching this blog. But they don’t pay the bills and won’t for a while, if at all.

And, as yesterday’s guest post at MyItchyTravelFeet.com reminded me, I used to be able to escape my troubles through travel. I’ve never grudged Frankie his care, but his diabetes has definitely put a crimp in my globe-trotting.

In the midst of this self-pity party, my “martyr alert” alarm went off. I realized that, in the time-honored tradition of anyone who’s ever shirked homework, I’d been blaming the dog.

It’s true that Frankie is not a stellar traveler. I’ve detailed his dislike of car rides in several June posts. Getting pee strip readings of his blood glucose on the road can be difficult too.

It’s also true that, if I decide to leave him at home, it’s more expensive than it once was to get someone to stay with him. Not everyone is able — or willing — to administer insulin shots.

Frankie doing just fine in San Diego

Frankie doing just fine in San Diego

But these are simply challenges, not insurmountable obstacles. Frankie did fine in San Diego, and bounced back quickly from any stress that might have affected his blood sugar levels.  And if I do what I used to do — that is, vigorously pursue new markets for articles — I should be able to earn back any dog sitting fees I incur.

Alternatively, I can take a new direction and try to arrange talks and/or book signings in places I want to visit.

The bottom line: I’ve been using Frankie’s diabetes lately as an excuse for not facing my fears about this brave new world for writers. That’s got to stop. Frankie is way too small — and way too flexible — a pup to serve as a crutch.

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Weekend Win-a-Book Contest: Blog 911

December 12, 2009

Life lessons are sometimes ambiguous. Yes, my failed foray into bells-and-whistles SEO/SEM technology taught me that there’s no substitute for solid writing and communication with readers. A blog is only as good as its content and its bond with a like-minded audience.

But it also made me aware that it’s tough to reach that like-minded audience without user-friendly blog technology. I definitely need to update Will My Dog Hate Me.

Thus this new contest, which will run for the weekend: The morning of December 12 through the evening of December 13. Go to the comments section and tell me what works for you on this blog — literally and figuratively — and what doesn’t. How I can improve the format — social media buttons? page length and post length? feeds? — and the content. Tell me what you’d like to see more of, what could go (except for Frankie). Share features from your favorite blogs, including your own, that I might consider adding to mine.

Amazon copyThe person that sends the most thoughtful/useful comment(s) — there’s no need to stop at one — who makes it clear that he or she has given this some real thought,  wins a copy of Am I Boring My Dog. Just in time for the holidays. I’ll inscribe it to the people — and dogs — of your choice, and send it directly to you or to its intended recipient.  If you’re in the U.S. or Canada, I’ll send it first class, not book rate. (Sorry my UK and Aussie pals; in your case it’s slow boat!)

Of course I reserve the right not to publish anything nasty. Mean comments about Frankie are immediate disqualifiers.

Is this a way to get people to read my blog? You bet — and an easy, low tech way at that. But consider the bonus, if you’re a blogger. It’s a good exercise in considering what you like on your own blog, what does or doesn’t work for you.

Incidentally, I was going to call this contest “Pimp My Blog,” but thought I might be pushing my luck, given my recent “What Would Frankie Do?” post. So there’s another topic to consider commenting on: Where do you  — that is me — draw the line between being interesting and opinionated and being offensive enough to put off people who might benefit from your opinions if they were presented differently?

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Virtually family

December 6, 2009

[originally posted November 26, 2009]

People who don’t blog on a topic that’s close to their hearts and who don’t have a Twitter community that provides important information as well as consolation and celebration might not understand this post.

Then again, they likely won’t read it.

This is for those who do understand, who feel passionate about their dogs and, over the last months, who have engaged with me in conversations that have been intellectually stimulating and sometimes emotionally riveting. I am thankful today for my virtual family. They won’t be sitting down and drinking and eating with me — that’ll be my friend Rebecca, who brought Frankie into my life, and for whom I am thankful every day that I wake up to his scruffy little mug — but they are no less important for being disembodied.

Thank you for teaching me and, often, for bolstering my spirits. The life of a writer tends to be isolated. It’s hard to express how much kind words about my blog and my book have meant on days when I have despaired about my choice of profession.

Some of my best friends are cat lovers. Some of them are even petless. But dog people are a special breed, to whom I have come by a long, circuitous — and, I now see, very fortuitous — route. It’s to them that I raise my virtual glass today and give thanks.

Posted by Edie Jarolim
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Showdown in the Canine Diabetes Corral

October 17, 2009

I’ve been stewing the last few days about a discussion that I became involved in on a veterinary blog. No point naming names. It’s a vet for whom I have a great deal of respect — which is why I read her site daily.

In this particular case, I felt that she had conflated canine and feline diabetes — which are very different — in an overly simplistic fashion, linking both to obesity. So I made what was, in turn, perhaps an overly simplistic comment: That canine diabetes is akin to Type 1 diabetes in humans, and thus not linked causally to obesity; whereas feline diabetes is similar to Type 2 in humans, which means that diet can be implicated as a source of the disease. I mentioned that I had a diabetic dog who was never fat and (more tangentially) that I had written on the topic.

Boy, did I get jumped on! I was accused of  being an owner who extrapolates from a single sample (my dog) to a larger — and dangerous — principle, i.e., that I was letting people off the hook for letting their dogs become obese.

Two things I should make clear before I go further: I later got — and accepted — an apology for the tone, if not the content, of the vet’s comments. And as an unknown poster, there was no reason she should have recognized me as an authority on anything.

As it happens, though, I know a lot about the topic and from genuine authorities: world experts in canine diabetes whom I had consulted for a story that I wrote for Your Dog, the newsletter of the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University. It’s coming out in the upcoming (November) issue. I wrote a little about my research — mostly about a great study for owners of diabetic dog owners being conducted in the UK — at this post, which features the gorgeous (and not fat, as far as I can tell under all that fur) Miss Jasmine.

Co-poster dog for canine diabetes (with Frankie)

Co-poster dog for canine diabetes (with Frankie)

And I never, ever condone canine obesity. There’s no excuse for endangering your dog’s health by overfeeding her.

On the other hand, this being a guilt free zone for good dog owners and all, people should know that there is a genetic predisposition for canine diabetes (as well as for feline diabetes, although it manifests differently). Yes, obesity exacerbates the condition, but doesn’t cause it. So if you have a diabetic dog and you’ve fed him good food, given him plenty of exercise, and kept him trim, don’t beat yourself up.

The other issue, which I obscured by mentioning obesity, is that dogs and cats are different. This should be obvious, but the vet’s post lumped the species together. I can’t tell you how many times people have told me “Oh, I had a diabetic cat and she was cured by diet” or “My friend had a cat with diabetes and he never got cataracts.” Such comments initially, i.e., before I read more extensively on the topic, gave me false hope about Frankie’s potential for a cure — and nonpotential for cataracts.

So let me be clear: Dogs must be on insulin, twice a day, no matter what diets they’re put on. And no matter how well regulated they are, they may get cataracts. That’s part of the way the disease manifests in dogs, but not in cats.

The discussion ended reasonably amicably, with me making the final points about the difference in cats and dogs and being assured, on the site and in the back channel apology, that it “wasn’t personal.”

That’s actually what I’ve been stewing about. It wasn’t personal to the vet, who wasn’t insulted on a major site, having her integrity as a researcher assailed. And who isn’t the owner of a diabetic dog who gets subjected to a lot of misinformed comments about her dog’s weight — or lack thereof — and its correlation with diabetes, as well as with lots of comments about cats that don’t apply to her dog.

Two good things came out of this discussion, however. I became re-aware of  k9diabetes.com because the creator of that site defended my position in the comments section of the vet’s blog. It’s a great site, which hadn’t been fully operational when Frankie was diagnosed. I highly recommend it to everyone whose dog has diabetes.

And (duh) I also realized that I have a forum too: This blog. It may not be as well trafficked as the one on which I posted my comments, but it has some loyal readers who know that I’m a thorough researcher and would never disseminate misinformation. And that it’s not my fault that Frankie has diabetes.

Update: Natalie, the creator of the k9diabetes.com site I mention above, weighed in on this discussion in the comments section; she had a similar experience with vets to the one that Susanne — the owner of the gorgeous pup pictured here — had. It’s hard to imagine that anyone would discourage home blood glucose testing — whatever helps monitor your dog’s health, I say! — and considered “not having accidents in the house” a criterion for being regulated. Yikes.

I also want to invite Natalie — and any owner of a diabetic dog who has a story that might help other owners cope — to write a guest blog. Early on, I posted that Frankie is a dog, not a disease, and that I don’t want to devote this site to illness. That’s still true. But I want others to know they’re not alone, especially when it comes to questioning the advice they get from “experts” who may not have expertise in this particular area.

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Rabbiting around

October 7, 2009

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 — but it really doesn’t cut it when it comes to selling books.

Yesterday I rationalized that a review from the point of view of a dog was too clever not to share. Today, I have the excuse that this stellar write up comes from Phyllis O’Beollain, a woman who diapers her special needs rabbit (okay, so I’m not above pushing those guilt buttons) in addition to being the Small Pets Examiner in Dayton, Ohio.

Rabbit bookends

Rabbit bookends

Among the things she says about AM I BORING MY DOG:

The author, Edie Jarolim, is now my idol. She achieves what I strive for – sharing practical information and education in a humorous fashion. Having earned her Ph.D. in English literature from New York University, Ms. Jarolim felt she was finally qualified to be a dog owner.

This is a book for everyone. If you have a dog, this is the book for you. If you have ever seen a dog, this is the book for you, if only for the humor. If you are busy beyond all reason, as I am, this book is divided into small quick-read segments, each numbered for easy reference.

A pet psychic once told me that I was Frankie’s goddess, but no human ever claimed me as her idol. I would like to say I’m embarrassed but, hell, if I can’t have wealth, I’ll take adulation.

Thank you, Phyllis. You are now my favorite Examiner.

To read the rest of the review, click here.

Posted by Edie Jarolim
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Coming Soon: Dog Training, Part 2

October 2, 2009

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 effective blogs” blogs advise.

I would like to do this so people will buy my new book, Am I Boring My Dog — without my having to mention that book at all; it would just be subliminal –  or so that someone will offer me lots of money to write another book/column/blog.

I also want to look great in a bathing suit without having to give up beer and pizza, and without going to the gym.

But somehow, instead of writing disciplined, useful posts with lists and calls to action, I write about dogs that eat their own poop.

At least I didn’t try to illustrate that post.

It’s not that I don’t want to put in the time. I rewrite my posts at least 10 times before pushing “publish.” And it’s not that I’m not interested in useful topics like dog training.  It’s just that much of the material I’m planning to use is already in the book that dare not speak its name and I tend to feel like writing about new stuff.

But I’ll do better, I promise. I’ll eat less pizza and drink less beer (note: I didn’t mention carrot cake). And I’ll write useful posts with lots of links and pictures, ones that end with questions.

Here’s one: What do you think of Cesar Millan being on a library poster that promotes reading and literacy? That is, does disapproving of a spokesperson make the message less effective in your eyes? To make it less ambiguous: What if, say, Glen Beck was a spokesperson for something nonpolitical like not texting while driving? Would you be glad that someone with a following was spreading a useful message, or would you think it legitimized him as a role model for too many people?

Update: Sometimes the universe answers a question you didn’t know you’d asked. Just as I was thinking I’d better delete this post because it was self indulgent and crabby I came across a terrific post on ProBlogger by Kelly Diehls: Why Blogging is Like the Wizard of Oz and There’s No Place Like Home. A Polemic or Maybe A Manifesto By All the Red Shoe Bloggers. I’d suggest anyone who wants to blog from the heart, whether in the interests of selling a book or not, read it. It’s an example of what it preaches: Be as wonderful and weird as you want to be; soullessness is not the path to success.

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