I know, I’ve been a grouch lately. Bah humbugging Christmas. Accentuating the negative on animal welfare groups. Dissing people who don’t appreciate pets. Discussing diseased dog butts. Grousing about defunct writing markets. But 2009 was far from disastrous for me. And I don’t want to finish the year with a bad taste. Consider this my…
Pet charities: Some year-end musings
Writing a book about dogs, starting a dog blog, becoming involved in an online dog community… It’s been a year of continuing education and revelation, including the realization of just how useful an online community can be. The flip side: As a result of connecting with other pet advocates, I learned some things I (almost)…
Pet peeve: Second-guessing dog gifts
According to an informal survey on About.com’s Veterinary Medicine blog — sorry if you didn’t vote yet and this is a spoiler — 62% of pet owners said “Of course” they bought their pets presents for the holidays. That doesn’t surprise me. I’ve found, however, that those who don’t share their lives with a pet…
Welcome to my Christmas-free zone
Tired of carols and forced jollity? Think that giving and receiving shouldn’t focus on a single day of the year? You’ve come to the right place. I’m here to assure you that you’re not a loser, curmudgeon, or bad person just because you’re not involved in the holiday frenzy (though, for all I know, you…
Dog Butts R Us
Dog diseases aren’t funny — except when they are. I worry a great deal about Frankie’s diabetes but I also know that collecting pee samples in public can make for some pretty amusing situations; see The Pee Strip Chronicles, San Diego. And anyone who has made a frantic drive to the emergency room with a…
How Amtrak could become solvent (hint: pets are involved)
Doing a guest post about traveling with dogs on MyItchyTravelFeet.com, a terrific travel blog, was a great experience and not only because it brought new visitors to WillMyDogHateMe. A couple of the comments and questions got me thinking about topics I needed to explore further, or that I have explored further but never thought to…
Blaming the dog
‘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…
We’re on the road
That’s the royal “we.” Frankie is staying at home. But I’ve done a guest post for Donna Hull, a terrific travel writer whose blog, My Itchy Travel Feet, has won all kinds of awards. It was Donna who provided me with the colorful dog clothing pictures from Asia that I posted last month. Enjoy your…
Another contest & a product endorsement
I got an email yesterday from a woman named Annie, the web director at Mambo Sprouts, a site that helps promote natural and organic manufacturers. She asked for my help in publicizing a photo contest on my blog. It’s co-sponsored by Wellness Natural Food for Pets and benefits an animal charity. I said yes, so…
And the contest winner is…
This was tough. Really tough. I was wowed by the thoroughness of many of the comments — not to mention the graciousness of all of them. Not a single person said anything mean about me or Frankie that I had to remove. In fact, you were all wonderfully encouraging about my writing (Frankie’s adorableness was…