No, not a dog, I'd never advise anyone to ever give a dog away! What I'm hoping to go "Free to a Good Home" are our booklets on house and litter box training whose prices have been radically reduced so that shelters, rescue groups and veterinary clinics can give them away for free. I began thinking about this when the Peggy Adams Animal Rescue League ordered 2,000 Way to Go booklets early this year. Kristi and the adoption counselors originally bought the booklets because their research showed that house breaking problems were a common cause of dogs being returned to their shelter. I talked recently to the shelter's Director, Kristi Jackson, who said that since they began giving the booklets out in their adoption packets, their returns and hotline questions have decreased. Of course, Read More
Green & Gold: Early Fall in Wisconsin
Ever wondered why the Green Bay Packer's colors are green and gold? Well, I never did until I began noticing that the entire world seems to turn green and gold in early fall in Wisconsin. I doubt that's the reason they picked those colors, but it sure is fitting because around here, the Packer colors show up at the same time that the world cloaks itself in the same hues. It's remarkable how much of the out of doors is green and gold right now, so much so that I can't exaggerate it. (Or, in the words of Ryan Lochte, "over exaggerate".) The entire natural world does indeed seem to be an explosion of green and gold. I've mentioned it to several people now, and every one of them listens, then comes back later and says "You're right!" Everything is green and gold! This Read More
Small Dogs, Big Dogs. Love Both? Or Not?
I was going to title this Size Matters? But then, well . . . you know. But today's question IS about size, and whether a dog's size influences your interest or attraction to it. Full disclosure: I grew up in a dog-loving family that gravitated toward medium to large-size dogs. Comments were made by my parents and friends about small dogs that weren't particularly positive. "Yappy," my father called them. According to one relative, "Rug rats" weren't even "real" dogs, that distinction being reserved for Labradors and German shepherds. Then, early in my career, I began volunteering at dog training classes, and eventually began my own training and behavior consulting business. And lo and behold, I discovered that the smartest dog in one class was the Miniature poodle, and that the Cairn Read More
Six Words to Summarize Your Dog
I've been proofing the typeset pages of my memoir this week, which includes several sections about my Lassie, and her death six years ago. As I read through the pages, trying so very hard to concentrate on spelling and grammar, I had to stop, overwhelmed as I was for the deep sense of loss I still feel when I think about Lassie. Six years she's been gone, and I still miss her. Deeply. Perhaps because she is the last dog of mine to die in my arms. Perhaps because she was one of those special dogs whose life was so pure she seemed almost otherworldly. I don't know. I just know that as much as I love Willie, Maggie and Tootsie--and I love them more than I will ever be able to express--I still miss my Lassie girl. In honor of her, and of all the dogs we love so much it hurts, here Read More
Guilty Pleasures: Animal Shows that are So Bad They’re Great
Woe is me. Jim and I missed one of our favorite television shows last week because our recording schedule got knocked out by a storm. The show is Zoo, shown on CBS in the states. The program's premise is that a chemical company created a mutation that has caused animals to be 1) more intelligent and 2) viciously aggressive toward people. Not said is the fact that it has apparently made people much LESS intelligent. The characters on the show make one foolish, okay. . . stupid decision after another, and the fact that they are still alive would have Darwin rolling in his grave. The show is just flat awful, but so awful that Jim and I have begun to look forward to hooting on the couch when it comes on. The ridiculousness of the show is never ending. Example: An evil military man has come Read More
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