Heart Like a Dog

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

Co-Hosted Follow-Up Friday

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Welcome to this week’s edition of co-hosted Follow-up Friday Blog Hop.

Follow-Up Friday Blog Hop

Follow-Up Friday

 

My co-hostess this week is someone I admire very much.  She adopted a shy, fearful dog and found out she has some reactivity issues.  Some people would give up on dog like Bella, but not Leslie and Jan.  They’ve found an agility class for reactive dogs and have met with behavioral specialists to find a way to help Bella.  Leslie courageously shares their story on her blog.

Many thanks to Leslie from Bringing Up Bella, for co-hosting the FUF blog hop. The blog hop that let’s you wrap up your week and leads you right into the weekend.

Trail Blazers – Author’s Note

The snow we got was the light and fluffy kind.  All you snow connoisseurs will know, the light, fluffy snow is just as bad (if not worse) than the heavy wet snow.

While I could only manage one loop around, the dogs got plenty of running time.  I however felt like I’d worked out in the gym for about an hour.

Snow

That is hard work!

I. Kid. You. Not.

The Dog Squad – Update

Can you say, open mouth, insert foot?

It was supposed to be a fun post mainly designed to get some followers on Pinterest.  It worked, I now have 16 Pinterest followers, but at first I don’t think it came off quite the way the post was intended.

Initially I started reading the comments and I thought, WHOA, that’s not how I meant it at all.  I thought maybe I better go in and update the post to try to make it a bit clearer.  When I signed into my dashboard there was a comment in the spam folder from Yvonne DiVita.

OMG.  Yvonne DiVita read my blog.

I started to hyperventilate.  Where’s a paper bag when you need one?

But, I caught my breath, updated the post and calmed down a bit.

My friend Cokie wrote this in the comments:

“you thought it looked like the cat people worked it with their wardrobe more than the dog people at BlogPaws, which I think is a fair statement in that I remember seeing more fanciful cat ears, cat prints, cat glasses, cat earrings and cat jewelry in general, than dog ears, dog glasses and dog earrings… Just sayin’ =^..^=”

Thank you Cokie.  That is exactly what I meant.

Pet Blogger Challenge – Author’s Note

What a great, thought-provoking challenge.  I’ve barely gotten into reading the posts (last I looked there were over 80 participants) but I’m already learning so much from all of you.

Great job to all who participated and thanks so much to Amy, from Go Pet Friendly for hosting this blog hop. I really look forward to participating again next year.

Speaking of blog hops, this wraps it up for me.  Many thanks to Leslie from Bringing Up Bella for sharing the co-hosting duties.

This is the Follow-Up Friday Blog hop,



get the InLinkz code

Pet Blogger Challenge

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Today I’m taking part in the Third Annual Pet Blogger Challenge Blog Hop, created and hosted by Go Pet Friendly.  I found out about this challenge too late to participate last year, so this is the virgin tour folks.  My very first time. 🙂

Here are the first timer questions.

1. When did you begin your blog?

December 1, 2010

2. What was your original purpose for starting a blog?

I originally started the blog to gain an online presence.  To have enough people interested in what I had to say, to make myself and my children’s book desirable to an agent/publisher.

3. Is your current purpose the same?

I’m pretty sure it’s not.  I’m pretty sure (at least for the moment) I want to focus on my blog.

If not, what’s different?

First I feel like the book isn’t really that good and second I think maybe I’m not cut out to write a book.

If so, how do you feel you’ve met your goals?

4. How often do you post?

I post every day.

5. Do you blog on a schedule or as the spirit moves you?

I’ll start a post when the spirit moves, but sometimes it will sit in the dashboard for months before I finally finish it.

If you publish on a schedule, why? How strict are you about your publishing deadlines? What do you do for inspiration when it feels like you’ve covered every topic?

I’m afraid if I don’t keep to a schedule, I’ll lose interest and not post at all.

I usually write my post the night before, if I love the post, I’ll schedule it for early publication in the morning, if I think it could use a bit of tweaking, I’ll publish later in the morning, but it has to be up by 10:00 am.

When I’m totally lost with nothing to post about there are a number of things I do:

  • I sometimes go see what my fellow bloggers are writing about, sometimes one of their posts will inspire me.
  • I look through the dashboard to see if there are any posts in there I want to work on.
  • I look through pictures of the dogs and see if one of those sparks a story idea.
  • I google dogs and see if any stories pop up that resonate with me.

If you don’t publish on a schedule, why? How do you think your decision affects your audience? How do you know when a topic is “post-worthy?”

6. How much time do you spend writing your blog per week?

I spend an enormous amount of time every week working on my blog.  If I had to put it in terms of time I’d probably say two to three hours a day, between thinking about it and actually writing.

How much time visiting other blogs?

I probably spend at least 12 to 15 hours a week visiting other blogs.

Share your  tips for staying on top of it all? 

It’s hard staying on top of it.  I used to respond to every comment that people left on the blog, but lately that has fallen by the wayside. 

I decided if I was going to be serious about blogging then it had to be a priority.  I make the time to blog, it just has to be that way.

As for keeping up with others, I have all of my subscriptions in my google reader.  When I sign in I usually hit my favorites first, then start working my way down.  I’m a very fast reader which helps tremendously, but when I’m really crunched for time there are many days when I don’t comment on a post I’ve read.

7. How do you measure the success of a post and of your blog in general (comments, shares, traffic)?

I’ve never been good at measuring my blog’s success and I will be the first one to tell you I have no idea how all that works.  I will sometimes look at the stats to see how many daily views I had.  I think more often than not I look at the comments.  When a post has a lot of comments, I feel pretty good.

Okay,yesterday I did look at my subscribers and it’s still stuck on 54, even though the stats show at least twice that in terms of views.

Do you look strictly at the numbers, or do you have a way of assessing the quality of those interactions?

Like I said, I’m not big on looking at the numbers.

8. If you could ask the pet blogging community for help with one issue you’re having with your blog, what would it be?

What can I do to make this a better blog that would attract more subscribers and sponsors?

9. What goals do you have for your blog in 2013?

I want this to be a great blog, to be one of the first blogs you go to.

Whew, that wasn’t as bad as my first time at certain other things!. 😉

Holy woof woman, can you sensor your mouth once in a while?

Holy woof woman, I’m so tired of your feeble attempts at humor.

 

Thanks to Go Pet Friendly for hosting this awesome event.  You can hop along using the link below to see what my fellow participants have to say.

Still More Thoughts From a Walk

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Here is another post about thoughts that, Sampson, Delilah or I have on one of our walks.  You can find part one here and part two here.

This particular thought process would be thoughts we might have had on our Hunting Bigfoot Walk.

I pull up to the park, sling Sampson’s leash over my shoulder and jump out of the car.  I gingerly lift the back hatch, shouting “Wait!” as I do so.

Sampson darts out of the car.  I call him back, get him back inside the car and try again.  This time it takes.  They wait patiently, I unclip Delilah’s leash and say, “Okay, free dog.”

Both dogs race into the park, they are almost at the field by the time I push through the snow.

“Here” I shout.

They both run back to me, I treat them and give them the hunting Bigfoot spiel.

Someone with a big foot has been or is here.

Someone with a big foot has been or is here.

 

Sampson – Whatever mom, I’ll keep my eyes peeled, but I’ve got pee-mail to check.

Who is she kidding

Delilah – Bigfoot? What the woof is she smoking? That foot is barely bigger than hers.

Me – I have to pee.

We make our way to the back of the woods.

Me – I still have to pee.  We’re all alone up here, no-one would know.

More Sniff

Sampson –  This is definitely not eau de dog.

Delilah – Look at her over there, she can match her foot to every print in here, it isn’t going to change the fact that she has man-sized feet.  I think I saw a mouse using one of her old shoes for a boat.

We head down the hill towards the field.

Toilet

Sampson – I think Big Foot took a leak in our woods.

Delilah – There is NO Bigfoot, it’s just someone with a bigger foot than mom’s.

Me – But what would I wipe with?

Looks at hands.  Hey I’ve got gloves…

I really thought that, but no I did not use my gloves.  I did hurry home though. 🙂

Did you ever imagine what your pets are thinking?

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