Below is a link to another really neat piece I wrote for the American Kennel Club on the history of dog toys. In addition to interviewing toy designers, I talked at length with professors of American material culture, who study the everyday things we own as a way of understanding our lives and beliefs. It includes a timeline of when various dog toys were introduced. I was shocked, for example, that Nylabone launched in 1955 and Kong in 1976. …
Ages ago I asked about dreams you have about your dogs. Thanks, again, for your input. Well, in journalistic circles, where the motto is, “Blogger, do not scoop thyself,” I had to wait until the article I wrote for one of the American Kennel Club magazines came out. I recently got a copy. It explains the different kinds of dreams, when they typically happen in your sleep cycle, and what they mean. …
Some day, I’ll be done grieving for Katie’s loss, even though I never really had her in the first place. In the meantime, I try to glean what I can from her encounters with Lilly … because really this has been a daily learning exercise. As promised, here is a recap (so far) of what spending so much time together has done for Lilly. …
We’ve been brainstorming why our house might make Katie nervous or wild. It’s hard since we’ve already eliminated or mitigated all the things that made Lilly a wreck, and she’s much more sensitive. So, it’s hard to think of new things. Here’s what we’ve come up with so far. …
Over the weekend, Holly posed a very keen question about the ongoing Katie saga. She asked, “I guess my question would be … not can you give Katie a home, but should
you.” That, dear readers, is the issue, isn’t it? It keeps me up at night, which considering I’m still getting over being quite sick, is not good for my health — physical, emotional, or otherwise. To explore this dilemma, I pose the following imaginary adoption interview. …
After Katie panicked inside our house, during yesterday’s visit, we did more in-and-out games to build her confidence for coming inside. I showed her all over the house, but she seemed particularly fearful of the basement, so we did not go down there. BUT, we struggled with two things when she was inside: 1) She would not lay down and relax. Period. and 2) Anytime Lilly showed any bossy or resource guarding behaviors (usually over me or Tom), Katie responded with invitations to play. …
I could write another long report about how today’s visit is going, but videos tell so much more. Tom brought Kaite over around noon, and since things are going well enough, we pretty much left all three outside to their own devices. We check on them now and then, and everyone is happy and fine. We let all three poke around INSIDE the house, and Katie seemed nervous, agitated, even though Lilly and Ginko were totally fine with it. So, they’re back outside. More info later. …
On Wednesday, after I was mostly done working for the day, Tom and I walked Ginko over to Katie’s house to pick her up. On Dog-Geek’s advice after our early miscues, we wanted to walk them together back on to our property since their first meeting here didn’t go so well. We’ve gone out on leash to see Katie 5 days in a row now, so Ginko was very excited and pulled the whole way. Here’s how her 2+ hour stay went. …
Yesterday afternoon, we took both Lilly and Ginko along for our ongoing work to see if Lilly’s best friend Katie (the borzoi) might come live here. We’ve reached an interesting point, where I’m less worried about what Ginko might do and more worried about Katie worrying what Ginko might do. Clearly, when I botched their first introduction, Ginko made a distinct impression on Katie. And, it is NOT a good one. …
From my contacts at Colorado State University’s veterinary school — During times of economic struggle, pet owners may be looking for ways to reduce the cost of caring for pets. But some measures that seem to reduce costs may end up being more expensive in the long term because of impacts on a pet’s health. …
