Howling Good Fun
My sister and her husband used to live down the street from a fire station. At least 10 times a day (often many more),...
Take the Sit/Down/Stand challenge!
My trainer friend Sarah Richardson, owner of The Canine Connection in Chico, California, recently attended a conference in Hot Springs, Arkansas, with a world-renowned...
Sick? Or Psych?
The first thing that didn’t seem right when I woke up at around 6 am was that Boone was not asleep on the dog...
Panhandling with Dogs or Other Pets
How do you feel about people who panhandle with a dog - or dogs, or a cat? I'm conflicted every time I see this.
On one hand, if I were ever homeless, you can be darn sure I'd have a dog with me. It seems like many dogs who live on the streets with their humans are some of the most unflappable, well-socialized dogs around. And I'd have to say that dogs who spend almost all of their time with their humans are likely to be far happier than well-fed dogs who sleep on cushy beds in climate-controlled homes but alone all day.
On one hand, if I were ever homeless, you can be darn sure I'd have a dog with me. It seems like many dogs who live on the streets with their humans are some of the most unflappable, well-socialized dogs around. And I'd have to say that dogs who spend almost all of their time with their humans are likely to be far happier than well-fed dogs who sleep on cushy beds in climate-controlled homes but alone all day.
Camp Fire: More Notes from a Disaster Area
Tens of thousands of people and animals have been affected by the fire, and thousands of people are helping those displaced. Several emergency shelters were hastily set up to contain pets. Some of the pets were left at the shelters by owners who were themselves homeless and staying in shelters; many more were rescued and brought to the shelters with either an address or rough estimate of where they had been rescued from.
Beware of harmful algal blooms (HABs)
There are many global environmental disasters that I am
concerned about in a big-picture way, but at this time of year, the one that I
am...
A Good Reason to Neuter
Enjoying the mild spring weather, I was working with all the doors and windows in my house open. So when my dogs, who had free run of the house and backyard, started to bark at something, I looked out the window and saw a stray dog wandering around the front yard. He's about 50 pounds, some sort of Kelpie/Cattle Dog-mix. I got up and went out the front door, and he ran off down the street. I almost started to look for a leash and treats, but I was busy, on deadline, so I went back to work. Ten minutes later, the barking started again, and there is the dog again.
The secret to dog-training success
One of my ex-boyfriends from many, many years ago had a sort of dad-joke he’d tell at least once daily. Any time he saw...
What do you feed your dog? And why?
The other day, I happened to go into a pet supply store that I had never been in before, and was looking at their...
Foster Dog Coco Has Found Her Forever Home
I’ve written three previous posts (links are here, here, and here) about my most recent foster dog, Coco – a young mixed-breed with spinal...
How “Bird Flu” Could Threaten Your Dog
The “bird flu”, or avian influenza, has been around for a long time; it’s circulated in wild birds since the late 1990s. But like all viruses, it mutates over time—and influenza viruses are known to mutate very quickly. What’s more, some emerging strains are deadlier than others.
An Update on Recent Foster Dogs & Rescues
I’ve been doing a lot of fostering and co-fostering and rescuing lately, and I’ve written about it here and on the WDJ Instagram page,...
