Heart Like a Dog

The Good, the Bad, and the Oh My God of living with dogs!

Things I Learned In 2011

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It’s that time of year where every time you turn around someone is recapping SOMETHING.

Surprise marriages and divorces, top cheating scandals, celebrities we lost in 2011, ten dumbest things congress did this year. 

I’m pretty sure you know what I mean.

For my last post (of 2011, don’t panic) I thought I would recap the top blogging things I’ve learned this year.  I know I’m probably going to sound really dumb when I reveal some of these things, keep in mind I didn’t know the first thing about blogging when I started.  And for the record, I prefer to think of myself as naive. 🙂

Categories.    Categories are words which you choose, that help people find your blog/blog post in a search engine.  For instance if someone googles ‘rescue dogs,’ somewhere down at the bottom of that list you will find one of my posts about Delilah. 🙂

Be The Change.  Be the change for animals is an event that happens four times a year in Blogville, on the 15th day of January, April, July and October bloggers EVERYWHERE write a pet related post.  It could be anything that has to do with making a change for the betterment of animals.  One of my first BTC posts was a copy of  a letter I sent to the Governor of CT regarding a change in law for rescue organizations.

Pingbacks.  Pingbacks are still a subject I’m kind of wonky about, but the best I can figure is if someone makes a reference to a post you made, you get a little note in your comment section letting you know that someone mentioned you.  So far most of my pingbacks are from myself 🙂 but that is something I hope to change in 2012.

Writing Prompts.  Yes there are blogs out there that will help you become a better writer (if that is something you are aspiring to.)  Write on the Edge is one of these blogs.  Every Tuesday and Friday there is a different challenge.  You can choose to participate or not, no pressure.  A few weeks back I did participate and wrote a short story that got a lot of comments.

Comfort Zones.  Step out of your comfort zone.  Try something new, this past year I participated in a “Back to school blog party.”  Hosted by Frankie and Sarge, this was something way out of my comfort zone.  The post was supposed to be from the pet’s point of view and I don’t normally write in that form.  But I took a shot anyway.  If you haven’t seen it, you can find it here.  I think it came out decent if I do say so myself.   

I also participated in the Social Media event hosted by Two Little Cavaliers.  It was a great event that got me a bunch more followers (mostly Twitter.)

I’m thinking for 2012 I will be taking part in the Pet Blogger Challenge hosted by Edie at Will My Dog Hate Me and Amy at Go Pet Friendly. 

Yup. Stepping. Out. Of. My. Comfort. Zone.

Linky Tools.  Linky tools is a blogging tool used in Blog Hops and links you up to other bloggers.  Linky Tools does NOT work with the free WordPress account.  Which leads me to kindness.

Kindness.  Bloggers are very kind people, if you need help or seem to be struggling with something, chances are there’s a blogger ready to lend a helping hand.  Case in point when I did my first blog hop, I couldn’t figure out how to make that Linky Tool work.  A very kind Pamela from Something Wagging This Way Comes sent me an e-mail explaining exactly how I had to use the Linky Tool.  How kind is that?

Blog Hops.  Blog Hops link you up with other blogs and help you easily manuever from one blog to the next, hence the term Blog Hop. 

Right now I know of three regularly scheduled blog hops.  The Monday Mischief blog hop hosted by Alfie’s Blog, Snoopy’s Dog Blog, Luna a Dog’s Life and My Brown Newfies.

The Wordless Wednesday blog hop hosted by BlogPaws.

And of course, the one that I struggled with in the beginning, the Saturday Morning Pet Bloggers Blog hop hosted by Two Little Cavaliers, Life With Dogs, and Confessions of the Plume.

I am looking forward to the challenges of 2012, and as we bid adieu to 2011, we pray you have a safe, healthy and happy new year!

You guessed it, this is the Saturday Morning Pet Bloggers blog hop, hop on.

Follow-Up Friday

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For those new to the blog, my follow-up Friday provides me with an opportunity to update or revise a post from the previous week. 

You know sometimes you post about something and you need an update but it doesn’t warrant a whole blog.  Or sometimes someone made a comment that really resonated with you.  Yup, Follow-Up Friday baby! 🙂

Merry Christmas – Author’s Note

The photo in this blog post was actually taken three years ago by my friend Dawn.  She came out to the house and took about a couple HUNDRED photos of the dogs, the dogs and my grandson, the dogs and me.   

I had trouble finding a photo where 1) both dogs were actually semi-looking at the camera and 2) where my ‘girls’ weren’t hanging out.   

I realized when I was writing this post that three years ago, I wouldn’t care if my ‘girls were hanging out.’  I wonder what that says about me now?

Delilah 1, Ornaments 0 – Author’s Note

She hasn’t been at the tree since she destroyed that ornament, BUT the gates haven’t been off either. 🙂

Back To Work – Author’s Note

Well I didn’t win the money for the Social Media blitz, but I did get a LOT of twitter followers….trouble is I’m not very good at tweeting. 🙁

Also our human friend at 2 Brown Dawgs was wondering where the lab was that these beagles were rescued from and why the details were somewhat vague.

Good observation.  After doing a little research myself (without harming any dogs of course) 🙂  I found a web article that indicated the lab was in Northern California.

My only thought as to why the name of the lab wasn’t released is because if people knew where the labs were that tested on animals, people would be protesting like the Occupy Wall Street movement.  I know I would certainly be writing letters if I couldn’t be there in person!

This And That – Author’s Note

Kirsten over at Peaceful Dog noted that her foster dog Fozzie (go on now take a look, he is certainly one gorgeous boy) “likes to poop over the course of half a block…and then kick dirt over all of it.”

Did I forget to mention that is a Delilah trait?  I will tell you that sometimes we call her “Delilah shit walker.”  I know it’s mean, but I never said I was nice. 🙂

I’ve actually been bent down when she decided after she was about 20 feet away, to kick dirt over her stuff.   Luckily I looked up BEFORE the dirt hit me in the face.

That’s it for me, how was YOUR week?

This And That

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My post today is a little bit of this and a little bit of that.  Neither one was really enough  to make a complete blog post about, so I kind of combined them.

This is about Sampson’s potty habits.  Like a lot of people Sampson is particular about where he potties.  When he was younger, he wouldn’t do his number two business just anywhere, in fact at daycare he would hold it all day and first thing he would do when he came home would be to run into the backyard and drop the kids off.

As he’s gotten older he has become a little less rigid about where he goes, but I do notice when we are out walking he will run ahead and if I by chance I happen to catch up to him, I notice him off in the woods popping a squat.   He will then run off like he is 5 pounds lighter, bouncing and frolicking like a small puppy.

Imagine my surprise yesterday when I picked them up from daycare and while I was settling Delilah into the car, I noticed Sampson up by the fire hydrant taking a dump!  I hurried over to where the pooper scooper is kept and when I looked up; he had moved from the fire hydrant across the driveway and was finishing his poop by the mailbox!

Enough of This.

That is about someone who won’t be named leaving the package of fire starter within munching level of a certain chocolate lab.

Delilah is like my little shadow. Normally wherever I am you can be sure she is close behind.  Which is why when I got out of the bathroom this morning and she wasn’t laying on the bed, I knew she was up to something.

Sure enough I went out into the living room to find her chomping on the fire starter.

Rest assured the fire starter is not toxic to your dog; I know this because this isn’t our first dance with the fire starter.  I will however be watching her to make sure she isn’t bound up from all that fiber.

Finally, just some quick pictures of what crossed my path on my way in to work this morning.

Lucky for them Thanksgiving was last month.

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