8th Annual Pet Blogger Challenge

January 6, 2018 By Jodi

For the last seven years, Amy, at Go Pet Friendly has been hosting an annual Pet Blogger Challenge Blog Hop. It works like this: Amy posts a set of questions, and participants answer them and add their posts to the link. It’s a wonderful community building event, and the best part is, you have the ear of the best of the blogosphere to help with any issues or questions you might have.

Photo courtesy of Go Pet Friendly.

We have been participating for 6 of the 7 years, I like it because it gives me an opportunity to reflect on the previous year, what worked and what didn’t.

So let’s get to it, shall we?

Question 1) For those who may be visiting your blog for the first time, how long have you been blogging and what is your main topic?

My first post was December 1, 2010. At that point, I had no direction with the blog, I was just writing to garner an ‘online presence.’ Within the first six months, I had begun writing about the dogs. The blog has evolved over time to what it is today. A humorous look at life with dogs, with side focuses on health, training and animal welfare.

Question 2) What was your proudest blogging moment of 2017?

While I really love inserting humor into my posts, I think the posts I wrote about UTI’s, Cushing’s Disease and Endothelial Decompensation turned out pretty well. I felt almost like a real writer.

Question 3) Which of your blog posts was your favorite this year and why? (Please include a link.)

My Dog Has Morning Wood, What Your Male Dog’s Erection Might Mean. I love writing humorous posts, and if I can share some knowledge in the process, that’s a BONERus for me.

Question 4) In terms of your blog, how do you measure success?

This is really where I personally struggle. I compare myself to others, and for me, that’s a very bad thing. In my opinion, I’m never good enough, and I see others having success and that reinforces my failures in my mind.

Question 5) In what ways has your blog changed during 2017?

The biggest change has probably been my lack of blogging. Although thanks to Jodi Chick from Kol’s Notes, I think I have pinpointed the direction I WANT my blog to go in. Now I just need to find the motivation to make it happen.

Question 6) What was the biggest blogging challenge you overcame in 2017, and what did you learn that could help other bloggers?

My biggest challenge has been to keep blogging, and I’ve only done that by forcing myself to post at least once per week. Some weeks it’s way harder than others.

Question 7) When things get hard, what keeps you blogging? (Question submitted by Pamela Douglas Webster of Something Wagging This Way Comes)

It’s Jan, from The Poodle (and Dog) blog God-damn it. She says I cannot quit without getting her permission and I’m too afraid to ask.

Question 8: Looking forward to 2018, what are you hoping to accomplish on your blog this year?

I really want to try and dig myself out of this hopeless feeling I have, and start writing again, and start visiting blogs again. I’m in a pretty lonely place right now, and you all helped me with that when I first started blogging. I need to feel that community again.

Question 9) In addition to what you’d like to accomplish, is there one specific skill you’d like to improve or master this year? (Question submitted by Jodi Chick of Kol’s Notes)

I’d like to learn how to make Text/Images. Like this one.

Question 10) Now it’s your turn! You have the attention of the pet blogging community – is there a question you’d like answered, or an aspect of your blog that you’d like input on? Share it here, and we’ll answer you in the comments!

I’m sort of torn right now. As I said, I’ve tackled some of the health issues that the dogs have had this past year, and I think they were well written, and fairly well received, but I also like writing the humorous posts too, (although sometimes I think a lot of people don’t ‘get’ my humor). So my question is, can I do both? Is there a way to hit that happy medium on the blog? What types of posts do you like to see here? Do you like the humor, the serious or a combination?

Many thanks to Amy for hosting this blog hop!

4 Gifts 4 Pets – Giveaway

November 27, 2017 By Jodi

Today we’re participating in the 4 Gifts for Pets blog hop, hosted by Jodi Chick from Kol’s Notes, and Bryn Nowell from A Dog Walks into a Bar.

A bunch of fabulous bloggers are joining together to offer you a chance to win some fabulous prizes consisting of:

A CleverPet Electronic Dog Puzzle

PLUS 1 of 3 gift cards $200, $100, $50 to the winner’s choice of either Amazon, Etsy or PetSmart

I don’t know about you, but I spend WAY too much money around this time of year, which is why the 4 Gifts concept really strikes a chord with me. If you’ve never heard of the 4 Gifts idea, here’s the down and dirty. Instead of overindulging your children or in this case pets, this year choose one gift from each of the following four categories.

Want, Need, Wear, Eat/Read (for kids you would choose from the READ category).

I thought it would be fun to turn this post over to Delilah and see what her answers would be. Hang on, it could get ruff.

Bout’ time I got a shot at this.

WANT– I WANT the Clever Pet Hub from Clever Pets. For real. I mean first of all, I AM a clever pet, duh and secondly, the Mama doesn’t walk me nearly enough. I’m bored, I mean really bored and this Pet Hub is the ultimate in puzzle games. I mean, not only can use the touch pad and have all the treats I want, but there is a light game too! I love lights, I could chase those things all day. **hint* Just don’t tell your human there’s a phone app to control the puzzle, they could really put a damper on your fun.

NEED – I NEED a tick tag from Only Natural Pets. Ticks were horrible in the northeast this year and the Mama picked more than one off me, and also off Sampson. Ticks are nasty, nasty insects and they leave marks on my sweet pink skin. Don’t get me wrong, she uses a natural tick spray, but DOG! I’m here to tell you that Sampson and I HATE that spray. Someone, please give the Mama a kick in the pants for me and tell her to get me one of these right now!

WEAR – This is an easy one, last year Mama won a TeckelKlub coat from a contest at A Dog Walks into a Bar. Did she think of me? NO! NO, she got the coat for Sampson, and while yes, it’s true a coat that fits me won’t necessarily fit Sampson, her rationale was that Sampson’s coat, while a bit big, would fit me. Well I’m putting my paw down, this dog is NOT having any of that!! Besides the size, Sampson’s coat is a reddish color, and while I admit, he does look sharp in it, PURPLE is my color and I want my OWN TeckelKlub coat.

EAT/READ – She’s going to let me choose EAT or READ and really, this is a no-brainer (no surprise there Mama no-brain. I choose EAT! I love to eat, and I’ll eat just about anything, but right now, what I’m really craving is Jones Natural Chews Chicken Barkers. Honestly, the Mama was so excited to find Jones at our local feed store, and she picked up some chicken barkers. Then she put them in the pantry and every time she opens that door, either Sampson or I try to pull another one out. DAWG…that stuff is GOOD!! More Mama more, I want more Chicken Barkers.

Social Media Bonus – Every day of the contest, we’ll be sharing a DAILY BONUS word or phrase on Facebook. Find the DAILY BONUS WORD, and come back to this post and claim FIVE extra entries.

The 4 Gifts for Pets Giveaway hop is sponsored by CleverPet. All gift card prizes were funded by contributions from the participating bloggers. The opinions and ideas in this post are my own and are uninfluenced by any other person or business. The individual sponsors are responsible for their giveaway prizes including shipping.

Stuff I have to tell you – No purchase necessary. Giveaway is open to US and Canadian residents, except Quebec and where prohibited by law. Canadian winners will be required to answer a skill testing question. Canadian winners may be required to pay duty and/or taxes on shipments sent into Canada which are beyond the sponsors control and at the sole discretion of Canadian Customs. Giveaway will run from November 27 through December 8, 2017 at 11:59pm PST. Winners will be randomly selected and notified via email. Winners will have 72 hours to claim their prizes; failure to do so will result in forfeiture of the prize. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest do not sponsor, administer, or endorse this promotion. Participants must read and agree to Gleam’s Privacy Policy before entering and participating in this promotion.

Each participating blogger paid an entry fee which will be used to fund some prizes. Grand prize was provided by CleverPet.

Each of the images will bring you to another fabulous blog, where you’ll get additional chances to win. Good luck!

Hosted by:

Kol’s Notes and A Dog Walks Into a Bar

Joining in the fun is a team of fun and fabulous bloggers:

4 Gifts for Pets Giveaway – HLAD

Trick or Treat Giveaway Hop – Teach Your Dog To Stand

October 20, 2017 By Jodi

Once again we are participating in the Trick or Treat Giveaway Hop. (Official rules are in the widget footer!)

Stuff I have to tell you…The Trick or Treat Giveaway Hop is sponsored by CleverPet, The Honest Kitchen, Planet Dog, and Health Extension. The opinions and ideas in this post are my own and are uninfluenced by any other person or business. The individual sponsors are responsible for their giveaway prizes including shipping.

You guys might remember that we had high expectations last year to try and teach Delilah how to turn on a light. Yes, you can check out that video here,

no, we never finished learning it.

This year, I just can’t seem to get my blogging life together, and I once again had high expectations to teach a really cool trick. Turns out my expectations far exceed my time and abilities, so that really cool trick will once again wait. Who knows, maybe I’ll start trying to train that trick right now, instead of waiting until a week before the post is due. Then I can wow you with it next year. 🙂

So because I really suck at trick training, I’m going to show you how to teach your dog to stand up on two legs.

Obviously, I am referring to the two back legs, and since Sampson has no strength in those, our demonstrator dog will be Delilah. Also, this should be fairly easy because Delilah ALWAYS dances backwards on her two back legs when I am giving her her dinner.

Some of you might be wondering (like Hubby is) why you’d want to teach your dog to stand on their back legs, especially if you have a dog like Delilah, who already stands up and peers into the sink, and takes food off the stove. Truthfully, I think this trick is best suited for smaller dogs, but if you want to do freestyle dance with your dog, it’s not a bad trick to learn.

The key is to know your dog, and know their strengths. Delilah’s back legs are very strong, and she’s only up on them a few minutes, so I feel comfortable teaching this to her. Besides, who am I kidding? We both know damn well that I won’t keep up with training this. Hey, at least I’m honest. 🙂

Now, Delilah is both a joy and a curse to work with. She’s a Labrador, so she is highly motivated by treats, which means she will do her best to learn what you are asking. BUT her desire for food, can often times become a distractor, because she can’t always focus on what you want, because she is too focused on the treat.

Pay attention here, because I’m going to tell you something REALLY important.

Ready?

Here goes…

The key to teaching a trick to your dog, is to find the lowest food value your dog will work for. Click To Tweet

Delilah WILL work for a banana chip, which is probably her most favorite treat on earth, but the fact I have a banana chip in my hand, causes her to lose her mind and she can’t focus on what I want her to do. She will also work for a green bean, or a chick pea which has far less value to her, therefore her focus will be more on the task at hand, rather than on the treat.

Make sense?

Good!

Then let’s see how we do it.

Step one – find the lowest value treat your dog will work for.

Step two – sit your dog in front of you.

Sit Ubu, sit. Good dog.

Step three – take your treat, show it to your dog and slowly bring the treat up just above your dog’s head.

Heads Up, Not 7-Up

Step four- slowly begin raising the treat. As your dog begins raising themselves encourage and continue raising the treat.

Dancing Bear

Step five- when your dog has gotten as high as you want them to, praise them and give them the treat.

All the way up! Good girl!

When we put it all together, it looks something like this.

And just because you’ve hung in here, this is Delilah jumping backwards as I bring her her dinner. As you can see, she’s so excited, she can’t take her eyes off the bowl.

I’d like to thank all the Sponsors, and all the bloggers who participated in this blog hop, and especially Jodi Chick from Kol’s Notes and Jessica Shipman from Beagles & Bargains. Without all of them, none of this would be possible.

All of the participating blogs have an individual widget, so not only can you learn tricks from each of these blogs, you can also enter to win at every one of them. That’s pretty awesome too!

Additionally, please make sure you are following us all on the Instagram, as there will be a special Social Media prize where you can win a $100 gift card to PetSmart.

Now go, go learn tricks, enter to win and seriously, have fun with your pets!