Real-Time Dog Training: A Rant
Last Friday on Twitter, I posted a Mini-Rant that prompted a few people to ask what on earth had happened. There is NO way to tell that particular story in 140 characters, so here is the full-sized rant.
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Dog Pedicure Smackdown
Thanks to diligence on my part, Lilly is MUCH better about the toenail thing than Ginko. I take the tiniest bit off of each of her nails once a week, both so that they don’t get too long and so that she never gets out of practice with this grooming task. We jokingly call it Turkey for Toenails, but most times I use cheese instead. One toe, one hunk of cheese. It’s a good trade.
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Ginko Takes A Snowbath
During the long, cold, snowy winters, it’s hard to find a good time for a real deep-soaking, heavy-sudsing bath. So, we sometimes resort to the famous “snowbath.” Observe. [video]
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Another Study in Canine Body Language & Play
I shot a little video earlier this week of Lilly and Ginko playing chase and jaw wrestling games. For those who know Lilly’s noisy play style and stunted social skills, I’ll ask you to pay attention to how quiet this particular play session is. Ginko does many things to ensure Lilly continues to play, which is very smart and polite of him, I think.
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Pet Spending Increases During the Great Recession
I get all kinds of interesting alerts via email. This includes tidbits from something called Packaged Facts. Today’s missive touts a 5% or $2.5 BILLION increase in pet-related spending in 2009. — despite the recession. Those outside the dog world might be surprised by the data (which is used to promote a whole, big report on the pet market), but I am not. It’s really quite simple.
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Dog Training Jackpot Gone Wrong
Saturday, I caught up on my dog grooming duties. Most weeks that means Lilly and only Lilly, but I decided I’d attempt to trim Ginko’s front toenails. With a muzzle and enough cheese, I can occasionally get him to cooperate. Just as I imagined myself drafting a victory blog post, our celebratory dog training jackpot went terribly wrong.
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Living a Superlative Life
One of the best ways to get readers’ (and, therefore, editors’) attention is to use superlatives. If something you write about is the biggest or smallest, best or worst, or better yet ONLY or FIRST, then chances are you’ve got a winner of an idea. However, the problem with such thinking is that it can warp you.
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Low-Fat Dog Food
Well, kids. Today is my birthday, so rather than reinvent the wheel. Allow me, please, to merely point to my latest post over the Dog Food Dish (my new paid blogging gig), where I talk about the role of fat in dog food.
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Dog Training: Power or Pride?
Some days, my brain buzzes with larger, more philosophical sides to dog training. In part, this happens because of items I see in dog world news such as this dog training summit. At some point soon, I may rant a bit on that very topic since I’m not shy about the fact that I’m no fan of “He Who Shall Not Be Named.” But, today, I wanted to share a distinction I think will help.
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How Many Dogs Does It Take
Based on discussions with my dog writer & dog blogger friends, I’ve began to wonder … just how many dogs does it take before you (or anyone) truly knows anything about anything when it comes to dogs.