Sometimes a topic for a blog post has to jump up and down in front of me waving its metaphorical arms, before I realize I need to write it. This was apparently one of those times. First, someone on Twitter asked Snickers (@ snick_the_dog) about puppy nipping and teething, which we did cover in Dealing with Puppy Biting and Chewing. Then someone on ( Read more... )

I wrote my first blog entry on August 11, 2004, so I have been blogging for almost five years now. Much of that history - and many of my favorite old posts - are on my other site. Today, I thought it would be fun to link back to some of them. I hope you'll read and enjoy at least a couple of them. :)

• December 19, 2005: Small Dog
• February 13, 2006: ( Read more... )

Earlier today, someone cleverly named "Anon" left the following comment on my recent post Things I'd Love to See in My Lifetime.Because of their brief lifespans, too much emphasis on companion animals isnt good for a society or an individual. If Snickers is already five, hell be dead in about seven years anyway.
My first thought was "that was mean" ( Read more... )

Snickers is definitely LOVING being back in an urban environment. He definitely enjoyed the big yard and the big parks we went to in Indiana, but mostly I think we was almost as bored as I was. When he went outside he would check the fence perimeter and then settle on his park bench and wait for me to sit down with him. Now that we're back east, he ( Read more... )

Luckily, I don't have to say it's been many years since I was here.

Last summer I decided, rather suddenly, to take a A Four Year Vacation from NYC. I quit my job, packed my stuff, wrote about What I Will Miss About NYC and What I Will NOT Miss About NYC, loaded up the U-Haul and drove to Indiana. A couple weeks after I arrived, I blogged about ( Read more... )

In no particular order, here are a few dog-related societal improvements that I feel would have immense benefits for companion animals and the humans who love them.

• the psychological benefits of animal companions recognized so that the elderly wouldn't have to give up their pets when entering assisted living or nursing care facilities
• dogs proven to ( Read more... )

Snickers and I fostered little Penny in the summer of 2008. She was a great little Shiba girl who got off to a bad start (her original owner didn't train her, give her any boundaries or instill any self-confidence in her). Our relationship with Penny was a little rocky for the first week or two when she came to live with us. She was a fast learner ( Read more... )

As most of you know, foster Shiba Murphy did NOT move back east with me & Snick. My sister is graciously caring for him and letting him romp like a wild man in the huge yard with her silly-retriever-dogs ( Read more... )

A number of people have emailed me recently asking about Murphy. (I haven't been doing a very good job of keeping the blog up to date since I moved. Sorry ( Read more... )

This morning one of Snick's "anipals" (that's what the animals on Twitter call themselves), who also happens to be a Shiba puppy, asked: @Snick_the_Dog what did your parents do to help you get over your nipping and teething phase?
This was not a question that Snickers or I could answer in 140 characters or less (not to mention that I was at work and ( Read more... )