Category Archives: doggies

String Cheese and the Crime Scene Field

I have found the secret to Leo’s success. Cheese. If a bike, jogger, or another dog is far enough away, I feed him chunks of string cheese to counter-condition him with a positive association to the scary thing. All summer, I walked him around the nearby college campus, which wasn’t very crowded off-season, but whereContinue reading “String Cheese and the Crime Scene Field”

Good writing is hard work!

It’s Pacific Northwest Writer Blog Hop time! The hilarious and very smart Tiffany Pitts, author of Double Blind, tagged me with the following four questions about the writing process: What am I working on? Right now, I’m busily promoting my first book, Bark and Lunge: Saving My Dog from Training Mistakes, which has been soContinue reading “Good writing is hard work!”

Buy a book, benefit shelter dogs

This Friday is the official launch of the Bark and Lunge book tour! I will be reading, answering questions, and selling books and T-shirts at The Humane Society of Skagit Valley, and donating the proceeds to the shelter. Since not everyone can make it to beautiful Skagit Valley for this party, but I know youContinue reading “Buy a book, benefit shelter dogs”

Mia’s Big Girl Condo

Mia’s been doing better when we leave her outside during the day. (I’ve written before about her penchant for eating doors inside.) But pretty soon it’s going to be cold and wet out there, so we renovated our backyard shed for her comfort. I didn’t take any before pictures, but trust me, there was aContinue reading “Mia’s Big Girl Condo”

Would you clone your dog?

When asked who would play us in the movie of Bark and Lunge, it’s easy to cast the roles of me and Rob. Right now, I’m thinking Kristen Bell and Chris Pratt, but I’ve also thrown out Claire Danes and Jennifer Lawrence for me, and Matt Damon and Andrew Garfield for Rob. The real challengeContinue reading “Would you clone your dog?”

WOOF! Traveling with a reactive dog

Whenever I’m preparing for a trip, I get a twisty, angsty feeling in my chest because I hate leaving my dogs behind. Lots of places in the Pacific Northwest welcome dogs, but they wouldn’t necessarily welcome leash-reactive Leo. Since I don’t consider it socially acceptable to take him on walks where he barks and lungesContinue reading “WOOF! Traveling with a reactive dog”

A writer writing about writing (about dogs)

My friend Tiffany Pitts, author and mother to an awesome shepherd named Thor Michaelson, invited me to participate in a writerish blog hop. I mention Thor Michaelson because 1) this is a dog blog and 2) Tiffany and I met through Thor. I’d been following Thor Michaelson on Facebook for several months when I happenedContinue reading “A writer writing about writing (about dogs)”