Dangerous Instincts: How Gut Feelings Betray Us is a new book by Mary Ellen O’Toole, PhD, a former FBI profiler. She is a friend of a friend and was nice enough to offer these safety tips to people who love dogs.
After more than four years blogging about real life with a fearful dog, I’ve learned a lot and made oodles of mistakes. When Caring 4 Creatures, a rescue group based in Atlanta, Georgia, asked me to write a guest post, I summed up several important lessons for anyone who adopts a fearful dog.
I hope you’ll pop on over there today to see what I have to say in the guest post called “Adopting a Fearful Dog,” including:
It’s time for a good news post, don’t you think? Here are three happy things we wanted to share.
I’m taking the day off from a new post … thanks to this nice Influence Positively Q&A interview with me that Grouchy Puppy posted on the Cleo’s Day section of her blog.
Even those of you who’ve been longtime readers or who actually know me in real life, might be interested in my answers to these questions:
Last week, Mary-Alice from Dog Jaunt, a great blog all about dog travel, posted our guest post about the dos and don’ts of hiking in rattlesnake-prone regions. I hope you will check it out. Dog Jaunt has a whole new graphic look and even a neat Dog Jaunt Store, including dog travel stuff and shirts that say … “Because you dog will never ask are we there yet.”
Today, Lilly and I are happy to welcome Guest Blogger Rod Burkert from GoPetFriendly.com, which has both an incredible site for info on traveling with your dogs (including a trip planner) and a terrific blog with loads of updates on their non-stop, on-the-road adventures.
Last week, I mentioned a Be the Change petition effort by GoPetFriendly.com to get hotels to ditch their weight-limits on dogs. Today, you can read my guest post on the Go Pet Friendly blog about the many dog-friendly spots in our “hometown” of Golden, Colorado:
Today, I’m pleased to do a Blog Swap with fellow web writer, designer, and blogger Melanie McMinn, an American ex-pat living in New Zealand. Her beyond-beautiful blog The Frugal Kiwi offers great money-saving and DIY ideas on many fronts. So, when I came up with an at-home, free way to cool my laptop, I offered to guest post on her blog in exchange for a guest post here. So, I’m super excited to present Melanie’s insights into training cats to do tricks. The videos are darling!
Training Cat Tricks
Beg, shake hands and high-five are all common tricks for Fido. Easy enough to teach and fun for your dog to learn. But what if you don’t have a dog?
Chamille, the LaPerm, came to us as an ex-breeding queen.
When Sir Ed, the Devon Rex, joined the family, I tried training him as well.
Since Ed prefers causing havoc to eating treats, he’s proved to be a less promising cat to train than Chamille. However, he has trained US to play fetch with him — a common behavior for his breed. Ed’s favorite game is to drop an elastic pony tail holder on my foot and have me fire it down the hall for him. He’ll race after it at breakneck speed, grab it, and bring it back for more fun.
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Today, I’m teaming up with fellow freelance writer Dara Chackwick from Fit in Real Life for a blog swap. So, her entry appears here, and mine is posted on her blog. Keep an eye on Dara, she’s HOT STUFF, her book about how mothers shape their daughter’s body image is set to publish in 2009. One of the reasons I find Dara’s blog so compelling is that we have essentially the same body and similar issues with food and exercise. BUT, for today, she’s musing about what she’s learned about food from her Golden Retriever, Colby:
When the Dog Becomes the Trainer
By Dara Chadwick
Last
year, I lost 26 pounds as the Weight-Loss Diary columnist for Shape, a
women’s fitness magazine. More than a million readers watched as I re-shaped my
body, addressed my emotional eating issues and overhauled my diet by thinking
about food in a new way. It was an intense year, filled with ups and downs and
lots of public pressure. But when I reflect on what I learned about food, my
body and what it needs every day, I realized something — I could learn a lot by
simply watching my golden retriever, Colby.
morning, I fill his bowl with a delightful mix of lamb and rice kibble. He’s
always interested in watching what I’m doing, but it’s more observation than
anything else. He’ll walk over, give the kibble a sniff and sometimes even take
a bite or two. But he doesn’t scarf it down the moment it appears. He’s come to
trust that his bowl will be filled twice a day, so there’s no need to rush. He
eats when he’s hungry, walks away and comes back for more later, knowing all
the while that he’ll find what he needs.
to look at food that way, too. I eat when I’m hungry, but now I eat smaller
amounts instead of pushing myself to finish what’s there. When my body tells me
I’m hungry again, I go back for more, confident it’ll be there. Food isn’t some
scarce commodity that needs to be consumed on the spot.
Colby’s
also taught me the right way to indulge in a treat. He’s well aware of when
something extraordinary has appeared in his bowl, whether it’s a piece of
cheese or a juicy bit of steak. When that happens, he eats with gusto, never
worrying for one moment about calories or fat grams or whether he should. It
reminds me of the advice my dietitian gave me last year about holiday eating:
When something special appears, like pumpkin pie or a holiday casserole, treat
yourself to a reasonable portion and enjoy it guilt free. But foods you can get
any old time, like potato chips or mashed potatoes? They’re not splurge-worthy.
anything, Colby has taught me that it’s OK to ask for what you need
emotionally. I’m an independent kind of gal, so asking for help or a shoulder
to cry on has always been a struggle. My pride sometimes gets in the way, but
not so for Colby.
pride.
bored or anxious or just wants to connect, he never heads to his food bowl.
Instead, he walks right over to where I’m sitting and nudges my hand until he
gets his nose under it. “Pet me,” he demands. He never worries about seeming
needy or bothering me or distracting me from the important work I’m doing. And
if I tell him to lay down, he doesn’t feel hurt. He just plops down next to my
desk, content to be near me and knowing he’s loved…no food necessary.
Colby, I’ve learned to take my time, eat when I’m hungry, enjoy an occasional
treat and ask for what I need from others — a perfect training plan for a
healthy attitude toward food.
