Senior dogs: Appreciate, don’t discriminate

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Today, I have a special treat for you – a guest post from one of my favorite bloggers!  Editor-at-Large for LIFE+DOG Magazine and Founder of Grouchy Puppy, Sharon Castellanos writes to educate and inspire people to focus on the beauty and joy of having a dog in their life.  She shares stories and interviews that strive to illustrate how we all have it in us to give fearlessly and influence positively.  I was lucky enough to finally meet her in person during BlogPaws in spite of that whole hurricane thing.

I think pets, like a fine wine, get better with age.  Below, Sharon discusses ageism and appreciating older dogs.  It’s the perfect post to share with you during Adopt-a-Less-Adoptable-Pet Week.

Do dogs face ageism like people? When I read how people will
drop off their dog to Animal Care and Control because the dog is old, it makes
me a little crazy.
Why is it so hard for some people to be empathetic? A dog
lives an entire life being your companion and buddy. Who else is that excited
to see you, every time you open the front door, whether you’ve been gone five
minutes or five hours.
As we age, no one likes to feel aches and pains that come
with the advancing years. We all have to change our diet and take things a
little slower. It is the same with a dog. Why would you expect them to be any
different?
Cleo isn’t a puppy and that is a good thing. We love that
she was already an adult when we adopted her. When I think back, it almost was
like cheating because she came with bonus extras. I almost felt as if we should
have paid more. An older dog more often loves to hang out with you, rather than
dashing off to sniff every new and amazing thing. This is certainly true for
Cleo.
Sure puppies are cute but so are old dogs. Who doesn’t love
a sweet face with a little grey around the muzzle? How adorable is it when you
see a small old dog wearing a sweater. They look almost professorial. All they
need is a little pipe and a newspaper.
I can only imagine the regret these people must feel after
they get home. Their dreams filled with the consequences of what they have
done. It has to be tough thinking that you couldn’t give the same level of
commitment to a relationship as a dog can.
The upside to many of these stories in San Francisco is that
we have wonderful groups who step in and scoop up that senior dog for a new
life with people who can commit. Have you heard of Muttville? Our city has lots
of families who adore the senator or professor look in a dog.
Let me say that Cleo may be old, and now we’re dealing with
age-related issues for her but I wouldn’t trade her or these experiences for
anything. Being with her now helps me reflect on my own mortality and how I
view and treat old people. We all age and I for one appreciate having a dog in
my life who is willing to go through it all with a big happy face.

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Sleeping Dog #1 & K9 Kamp Challenge #2

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You may remember my dad’s dog, Roscoe.  His cuteness has been documented on the blog before.  I went to visit my dad this weekend (sans Bella – she and the hub stayed home).  On the technology front, it was a recipe for blogger withdrawal – dial-up Internet and a crappy cell signal.  Regardless, it was nice to spend some time with my family, and I still had puppies for entertainment!  One of those puppies was Roscoe, who managed to be insanely cute while taking a nap:

I’ll share more photos from my trip another day – I think this photo stands on its own.  Do you ever find your dogs sleeping in funny positions?

Oh, and I also wanted to update you on this week’s K9 Kamp challenge. This week, we were supposed to incorporate fetch into our workout.  However, there was a twist – after throwing the toy, Bella and I raced to get it!  (As you know, Bella and I already broke out the rope toy in order to
complete last week’s challenge.  So, of course that’s the toy we used
for the fetch challenge as well.)

Photobucket This week’s challenge was definitely more intense than
our walking from last week.  Bella’s pretty fast when she’s got her eye
on a rope toy.  However, she also tires out relatively quickly, so we
broke it up into several chunks of 10 minutes or so each.  (Also,
probably a good thing it wasn’t me asking her to fetch the rope bone and
bring it to me… she’s never quite mastered that game.  She always
takes the toys back to Toy Corner instead.  She’s like a homing pigeon.)  It was a fun challenge!

Be sure to check out Peggy’s Pet Place and Kol’s Notes today for more updates, and swing by tomorrow for information on Challenge #3.

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Hey girl… bird is still the word

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Today’s post is inspired by that whole Ryan Gosling “Hey girl” thing (if you don’t know what I’m talking about, you should stop whatever you’re doing and check it out – I’ll wait).  It’s not the first time Mr. Gosling has made an appearance on this blog, and I’m sure it won’t be the last.  I mean, the man’s dog has an adorable mohawk, AND he shares his name with adorably tiny feathered creatures.

(Before we dive in, I also wanted to encourage you to visit Grouchy Puppy – I did a guest post that will be featured there today!)

  1. Your weekly pun: Goose Newton.
  2. Wondering why I’ve got “Hey girl” on the brain?  I blame this absolutely hilarious mash-up of Beauty and the Beast and that Honeybadger guy.  It’s possible I like this version better than the original.
  3. Apparently this goose would like to challenge the idea that dog is man’s best friend.
  4. This duck would like to help him in that quest.
  5. All goslings (except for Ryan) one day grow up to be geese.  This video beautifully captures that process.
  6. Speaking of birds, anyone familiar with Portlandia and that whole hilarious “Put a bird on it” thing?  Whatever your answer, I recommend you head over to The Bloggess.  You’ll be happy you did.
  7. Related: maybe Portlandia was wrong and you should put a cat on it instead?
  8. Now that we’re on the topic of cats, I just discovered this video that seems to be the perfect follow-up to Monday’s Office Space cat.  Apparently curiosity about the fax machine will land the cat a rocking office job.  (Bonus: cats wearing ties!)

I found today’s video strangely hypnotic:

Is it the music?  I don’t know, but I would be lying if I said I didn’t watch it several times.  Bird is the word, after all.

You know what else I’ll be watching several times?  The return of Pop-Up Video.  There should really just be a channel constantly playing Pop-Up Video. Are you listening, Vh1?

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My mixtape to you: 5 dog song parodies

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I recently read Something Wagging’s post on 15 Ways to Tell if You’re Dog Crazy and it got me thinking.  In particular, number 15 on that list is “when you sing around the house, you change the lyrics so they’re about your dog.”  I have a long and storied history of changing lyrics (for both dog and non-dog related purposes). It’s a disease for which I have not sought professional help. 

Today you shall get the benefit of my crazy.  I present a sampling (a blog mixtape, if you will) of songs I’ve changed the lyrics of to sing to or about Bella.  She gets to experience my performances live on a regular basis (it’s like I have a show in Vegas, but it’s at my house and no one pays to see me).  Feel free to work these songs into your daily life – I won’t even ask you to pay royalties.

5.  “You Give Love a Bad Name” by Bon Jovi – this whole song is perfect, but it begins, “Rolling in stuff, and you’re too blame… Bella, you give dogs a bad name.”

4.  “Hey Mickey” by Toni Basil – As in, “oh Bella, you’re so fine, you’re so fine you blow my mind – hey Bella!”

3.  “Iron Man” by Black Sabbath – Short and to the point: “You… are… Bella dog.  Do do do do do do do… you’re a dog.”  This one is subject to multiple variations during live performances.

2. “Paparazzi” by Lady Gaga – this one may be familiar to you: “”Open the dog food can, I’ll follow you until you walk me, pupper, pupperazzi.  Baby, there’s no other pet owner for me, my pupper, pupperazzi.  Promise I will whine, until that toy is mine.  Maybe you should feed me, I’ll chase you down until you feed me, pupper, pupperazzi…”

Finally, my personal favorite:

1.  “Karma Chameleon” by Culture Club – sing it with me: “Bella Bella Bella Bella Bella Chameleon…. you come and go, you come and go-oh. Walking would be easy if you would stop zigzagging… just walk calmly, just walk calmly-eeee…” (And remember, it’s pronounced “Cha-me-lee-on.”)

There are many (MANY) more I could share with you.  However, I figure I should leave you wanting more.  So… do you want more?  If so, perhaps I’ll post more of these another day. 

I don’t think I’ve mentioned it here yet, but I’m in the process of participating in a 31 Days to Building a Better Blog Challenge.  Today’s task was to compose a list post… hence the format.  I do enjoy a good list, and I sometimes forget how fun they can be!  For other list-type posts I’ve done in the past, check out these:  favorite posts, bath tips, favorite tv episodes, parody TV shows and parody movie pitches.  I also utilize the list format for No Frown Friday and sometimes add smaller lists in other posts (like this BlogPaws recap ). Do you use list posts?  What do you think about them?  Tell me about it in the comments!

   

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K9 Kamp Challenge #1: Make it work

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PhotobucketThis week’s challenge?  Walk it off.

The first K9 Kamp task was to walk for 60 minutes this week.  Given the fact that it feels like it’s been raining here for a month, I had a feeling that completing this challenge would be… well, a challenge.

We did manage to get in two good walks outside.  For the first walk, we had some company.  Bella had a play date with our friends’ new dog, Dozer.  (Photos below.)  It was the first time the two had met, so we decided to take a walk around the neighborhood together before letting them run around in the backyard.  (In addition to our walk, Bella got plenty of running and romping in that day as well.  She was one sleepy pup that evening!)

For our second walk, we managed to get out during one of the rare sunny spells.  However, to complete our final minutes for the week, I had to get creative.  Things here have felt sort of like a monsoon – going outside was not a great option, so I decided to improvise.  Bella and I did some laps around the house instead.  I’m sure anyone looking through my windows would think I’d finally gone insane.  In any event, I convinced Bella to follow me around the first floor by carrying her favorite rope bone.  It ultimately became a walk/tug hybrid, but I think we did the best we could given the circumstances.

Be sure to check in with Kol’s Notes and Peggy’s Pet Place today to read more recaps of the first challenge, and then check them out tomorrow for Challenge #2.  To tide you over until then, I leave you with a few photos from Bella’s play date…

I’m not sure what’s up with Bella’s face in that last photo… she
managed to get stuff stuck to her face during the course of the play
date.  I removed it, of course – but not without taking a quick photo
first!

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BlogPaws Episode 6: Community & camera capers

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My series of posts on BlogPaws has more episodes than some TV shows… apparently I had quite a bit to say!

Anyway, it’s time to recap Day 2.  I was running a tad behind, but I managed to grab some breakfast and slip in just as the keynote speaker was getting started.  The morning began with a talk by Heidi Ganahl, the Top Dog at Camp Bow-Wow, which sounds like a pretty fun place for a pup to spend a day or an evening.

Heidi is quite the impressive entrepreneur as well as a philanthropist.  Her speech was quite inspirational; she shared the experience of losing her husband at the age of 27 and the journey that eventually led to the creation of Camp Bow-Wow.

For more on Heidi, check out her website and then read this pre-BlogPaws interview that Grouchy Puppy did with Heidi.  If you’re interested in finding out if there’s a Camp Bow-Wow near you, check here.  You can also check out the Bow Wow Buddies Foundation, a nonprofit arm that is involved in some great causes.

After listening to Heidi, I should have gone to a breakout session. I planned to – and from what I heard, the offerings in the first time slot were great.  However, I ended up hanging out with Diane and Cosmo from To Dog With Love and a few other bloggers, including Tamar from I Have Cat and Donna (and her pup Yaxley) from Raising a Super Dog.

Cosmo
Yaxley

I got so distracted by talking (and by cute puppies and that adorable kitten Tamar is holding in the photo above) that I completely missed the first session.  The dangers of being chatty, I suppose.

I got back on track in time for the second session of the day.  There were a few I was interested in, but I’m very happy with the one I chose, entitled “No Blog is an Island: Tools to Build Traffic & Community.”  The session was presented by Felissa Elfenbein from Two Little Cavaliers and Neil Brogan from Life with Dogs.  Neil was unable to make it in person.  However, thanks to the wonders of technology, he joined us via phone. While waiting for the session to start, I talked it up with Lisa the Pet Book Lady.  So glad I got to meet her!

The session began with an absolutely awesome video.  Seriously.  Go watch it.  I’ll still be here when you’re done.

Now that you’re back, a few notes about the session itself.  We had a great discussion of the concept of community, which led to last week’s Pay it Forward Blog Hop.  (I still plan to find some great guests posts from you from the hop… my to do list is just taking longer than I thought!  However, one of the lessons I took from the session was that guest posting is a great way for us to build on each others’ ideas within the greater community.) 

A few other highlights:

  • If you have the choice, go for threaded rather than flat comments.  (If you’re like me, “threaded comments” was a new phrase. However, you know how on some blogs you can reply to specific comments rather than just replying at the end of the discussion?  Those are threaded comments – discussions rather than just a linear list.  Blogger doesn’t offer this option.)
  • Follow the Golden Rule – deal with troublemakers quickly.  Consider posting rules for behavior so that your readers know your comment policy.  Don’t spend time arguing with your community members.
  • Don’t be the loudest voice in the conversation.
  • If you would consider it SPAM, don’t do it to your followers.

After that interesting session (complete with Felissa’s retelling of the Stone Soup folk story – a timeless classic in my book), I headed to lunch.  While eating, we were treated to a special presentation from BZTAT (a.k.a. Vicky Boatright).  She teamed up with Miah from Start the Change for a very moving performance.  Go visit BZTAT’s website to learn more about Okey’s Promise. I also recommend this great post about Okey’s Promise over at Bocci’s Beefs.

Oh, and did I mention that Saturday morning was when my fun photo shoot with Pamela and Honey from Something Wagging this Way Comes took place?  It was a good time!

Up next… one last session, finally meeting up with the fabulous lady behind Grouchy Puppy, and some closing thoughts.  We’re in the home stretch!

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Today, we remember

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It’s hard to believe that it’s been ten years.  It’s a day fixed in my mind – I remember exactly where I was that morning. I had an early class and returned to my on-campus apartment to find my roommates watching the news, horrified by what they were seeing. While trying to process what was happening, some made panicked phone calls to loved ones who worked at the Pentagon (less than 20 miles from our campus). Others checked on the status of friends and family in New York and DC, hoping they were okay.

I don’t even know what else to say about the tragedy that unfolded that day.  Words don’t seem to be enough.

However, I want to share this video from the archives – it’s from The Dog Files, and although I posted it last year, I think it’s just as powerful today.

Bless all the heroes – both human and canine – who were there that day, as well as those who continue to work tirelessly on our behalf.  We are forever in your debt.

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BlogPaws Episode 5: Blogging with the stars

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Previously… I ate some cheesecake and finished the educational portion of Day 1.

After learning about various bloggy things, the first day of sessions was over.  It was time to head back out into that big lobby and chat it up once again before our screening of Spooky Buddies.  Luckily, I quickly encountered Kim from This One Wild Life, who was kind enough to allow me to be her wingwoman (wingblogger?) for the evening.

We grabbed a glass of wine (farewell to my final drink ticket) and some popcorn (in my book, wine goes with anything) while we waited for the evening’s festivities to get underway.

After mingling for a bit, the doors opened and we headed inside.  We picked up some movie snacks and grabbed a seat a few rows from the front.  Little did we know that the rows in front of us would later be removed and we’d be in the very first row… not that I’m complaining, but it was somewhat unexpected.  Anyway, Kim and I chatted for a while about this and that – it was like hanging out with an old friend.  (Kim, feel free to correct me in the comments if you thought it was more like hanging out with an annoying person who won’t go away… I kid, I kid.)

Here’s the coolest part… not long before the movie began, Kim and I checked our Twitter feeds (hey, it’s a blogging conference) to find out the results of the Petties (it’s like the Oscars, but for pet blogs).  Be the Change for Animals (which Kim co-founded) won for Best Cause Blog!  It was a pretty amazing moment – and fortunately, the BlogPaws photographer happened to swing by at the perfect time and get it on camera.

(Check out her acceptance speech – Be the Change for Animals donated its $1,000 to Best Friends Animal Society.  Pretty great, huh?)

Not long after that, it was time for the movie premiere of Spooky Buddies – BlogPaws was the first press screening in the country.  I’ll admit, I’ve never seen any of the other movies in the franchise, so I wasn’t quite sure what to expect.

The basic story – the five main characters (a.k.a the Buddies, a group of five adorable Golden Retriever puppies) encounter the legend of the Howl-oween Hound and must stop Warwick the Warlock’s evil plan before it’s too late.

The movie was cute… not necessarily one I would have sought out on my own, but I definitely think kids would like it.  I actually enjoyed it – there was something about the crowd (including dogs barking at the screen) that just made it a fun experience.  Here’s the trailer:

Obviously, I’m not the only blogger writing up her thoughts on her Spooky Buddies experience these days.  For a few more, go visit Bocci’s Beefs (and find out how many stand-ins each puppy had on set), My Tail Hurts from Wagging So Much (for an interview with the director), and The Chronicles of Cardigan (for a firsthand account of what it was like to watch the movie with your pups). 

After the movie, it was time for a Q&A session with the director.  I have to imagine that working with kids and puppies is quite the challenge, but he really seemed to enjoy it.

Once the Q&A ended, we had the opportunity to get our photo taken
with one of the stars – an adorable puppy dressed in a bunny costume. 
The photographer wasn’t very quick on the draw – which didn’t work so
well when a tired puppy was involved.

In the interest of getting these
photos done quickly so that the pup could get out of his duds and take a
nap, Kim and I did our photo as a duo.  Once I have a copy, I’ll
definitely share it here.

Once that was all done, Kim invited me to crash a Greenies happy hour that she was invited to attend at the hotel bar.  I was a bit hesitant, but I’m glad I let her talk me into it.  I had a fantastic time chatting with Doreen from Doggies and Stuff, Jess from Indy Dog Blog (a party crasher like me), and others.

Eventually, it was time for me to say goodnight and head home.  After I got home, I snuggled with Bella and caught up on Project Runway.

One day down, one more to go.  I was able to attend the second day, but I did end up ducking out a bit early due to the hurricane. Never fear, I still have lots to tell you.

Up next?  More sessions, some great speakers, a photo shoot or two, and meeting up with some more of my favorite bloggers.

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