Author: Roxanne Hawn

Trained as a traditional journalist and based in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, USA, I'm a full-time freelance writer for magazines, websites, and private clients. My areas of specialty include everything in the lifestyles arena, including health and home, personal finance and other consumer interests, relationships and trends, people and business profiles ... and, of course, all things pet related. I don't just love dogs. I need them in my life. Seriously.

Dog Gripe

Dog Boarding Dilemma

Based on my post Top 10 Ways Veterinarians Can Better Serve Fearful Dogs, I wrote something along the same lines for the Pet Services Journal, a trade magazine for those in the petcare services industry. I don’t have the published issue yet, but I need to whine about my own search for a boarding facility suitable for Lilly and Ginko — both of whom have issues. Right now, it comes down to this: the dog boarding industry (as a whole) is poorly equipped to deal with dogs like mine. That’s why we haven’t gone on vacation …

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Dog Training Update | Musings

Coping With Changes

It’s a crazy time here at the house. When I leave for meetings or class, I NEVER know what I’ll find when I return. One day, Tom had torn down a wall in the basement (which had been done wrong by previous owners) so that he could use the drywall somewhere he needed it. Another day, he tore out all the carpet upstairs. Despite the chaos on two of our three house levels, Lilly is coping with the changes well. We haven’t had any remodeling-related dog behavior issues. …

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Dog Video Gallery | Info-Share | Musings

Lilly Laughing

Back in 2005, researchers from the Animal Behavior Center in Spokane, Washington, and from the Spokane County Regional Animal Shelter published a study on the affects of the sounds of dog laughter on stress behavior in shelter dogs. It got a fair bit of media attention at the time, including this segment from ABC news. Over the weekend, I captured video of Lilly laughing as Tom roughhouses and tickles her tummy. Take a look and listen. Notice in the video that Tom makes the ah-ah-ah dog laughter sound back to Lilly, and she indeed seems to …

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Dog Training Update | Dogs on Drugs | Musings

Weekly Training Update (Sept 18)

Last Sunday’s class posed many challenges for Lilly. We worked alongside (at a distance, of course) several big, young dogs Lilly doesn’t know. On this weird, foggy day, Lilly went into a mild-shutdown funk the minute we moved into the shady park. You’ll see in these photos the worry, in contrast to the smiling face you’ve seen lately. …

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Entirely Off Topic

And, So It Begins

About a month ago, my sister had surgery to remove an aggressive breast cancer from her body. Today, she begins a year of chemotherapy. Recently, she invited friends and family to join her at Mass in preparation for this journey. By coincidence or divinity, the day’s readings had to do with physical healing of some sort — the blind being able to see, the deaf hear, and so on. When the priest began his homily, he essentially said that he had trouble with such passages and that likely most of us don’t really believe in such miracles. …

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Musings

Sniff, Sniffles, Joy

Last week our training and blogging friend KB waxed poetic about how much she loves the smell of her beautiful, brilliant lab K. I chuckled because I feel the same way about Lilly. Don’t get me wrong. After a day playing outside in the pastures, creek, and pond, she definitely smells like a dirty, mountain dog. BUT, her day-to-day scent is sweet. It must be individual, though, because Tom could not disagree more. …

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Dog Photo | Dog Training Update | Musings

Happy, Happy Carnivores

After class on Sunday, which was a bit of a rough one, Lilly and I made our first visit to PC’s Pantry in Boulder, which comes highly recommended by several of our training and blogging friends. Lilly stayed in the car since off-leash dogs are welcome in the store, and there are several cats hanging out, etc. I bought some training treats, some organic shampoo and such, but I also went for some EXTRA SPECIAL treats — raw bison bones from Boulder Dog Food. PC’s keeps them in a freezer. (And, P.S. …

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Entirely Off Topic

Harvest Weekend

Temps began dropping below freezing here overnight last week. While our unheated greenhouse can hold some extra warmth during these early shifts, the vegetables inside began showing the strain. So, ~~with all that excess time I have right now~~, I began our final harvest. I am NOT one of those people who wax on about the beauty of autumn because frankly this time of year makes me sad. It’d say melancholy, but that’s a word closely related with cornucopia — which is forbidden in our house. (That’s a story for another day.) So, it’s with a hint of seasonal boo-hoo …

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Dog Training Update | Dogs on Drugs | Musings

Weekly Training Update (Sept 11)

Two summers ago, I wrote full-on rant about loose, poorly fenced dogs who were ruining my ability to take Lilly on a decent walk in our rural neighborhood. Today, I can report: 1) I was right about the danger. 2) Things have improved. …

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Dog Training Update | Dogs on Drugs | Musings

The Scary Kitchen Window

When we last spoke about The Scary Kitchen Window over the sink, the one that has the nerve to slide side to side when the others go up and down, I had resigned myself to never opening this window again in Lilly’s lifetime — another 10 years, give or take. Even as our customized Relaxation Protocol work continued for weeks in 2008, I’d given up on using the window as trigger/stimuli examples because it broke my heart to see Lilly flip out. Essentially, I stopped paying attention to the window at all, and so …

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