Dog Tales

  • Ominous Splashing in the Lake on a Dark and Creepy Night
    I let the dogs out for their nighttime potty and went out onto the back deck to look up at the stars. It was a week before Thanksgiving and cold weather was reaching its fingers out for a touch, but …
  • Do Pets Remember Being Abducted by Aliens?
    This is probably the weirdest blog post I’ve written to date, and I am writing it in all seriousness. Our dog Dakota was sound asleep and actively dreaming, loudly yipping with her feet paddling as if she were running a …
  • Training Your Dog to be Home Alone eBook
    For those of you who don’t want the full book Bad Dog to Best Friend, I’ve excerpted the three chapters that will help you train your dog to be home alone, and released them as an eBook called “Training Your …
  • Fireman’s Dog Dies
    We hear about stories in the news such as the hero dog from Afghanistan who foiled a suicide bomber’s attempts to blow up an American barracks, and was later adopted by an Army medic who had witnessed the dog’s bravery. …
  • Punched in the Nose by a Dog
    Dogs can bite you, body slam you, claw at you, or lick you silly but did you know that a dog can punch you in the nose and give you a nosebleed? I didn’t, until yesterday. I’d already learned about …
  • Man’s Best Friend and National Dog Week
    For virtually every vice and oddity, occupation and religion, hobby and emotion, there is a holiday to honor it. We honor mothers and fathers, grandparents, teachers, firefighters, secretaries, bosses and sweethearts. We celebrate beer, practical jokes, waffles, head lice and …
  • The Perils of Procrastination
    We all do it. We put things off and sometimes years can go by and we still haven’t done the deed. We figure the thing will always be there when we get to it. The trouble is that’s not always …
  • Cactus Isn’t a Dog Toy
    Our dog Dakota was at it again. This time she was after something in the burn pile. It offered the perfect hidey hole for small animals. For several months we’d throw sticks and branches on the pile letting it build …
  • Cat Lady to Dog Person
    I was one of those girls that everyone thought would end up as an old maid owning thirty cats. I always had a cat, and no matter where I traveled or moved, my cats went with me. I didn’t ditch …
  • Guilty Dog
    I came home late one evening to be greeted at the door by my dog Gypsy Rose. The moment I walked in it was obvious she had been on the sofa. This was illegal. She wasn’t allowed on the sofa …
  • Jockeying for Alpha Dog
    Dakota had been progressing. From her early days with us as the most godawful dog imagineable, she had reached a place where she brought us joy and laughter rather than work and frustration. She’d come a long way from her …
  • Cheese Wrapper Party Trick for Dogs
    We’d shown off our two dogs for visitors before by demonstrating our dogs’ prowess at playing the Go Find It game and their understanding of sign language. We’d even shown our dogs’ love for sliced cheese, which is a joy …
  • Used Dog, Free to Good Home
    She was a dreamboat(What were her previous owners thinking?) We often hesitate to adopt a dog from the dog pound because we figure we don’t know what we’re getting into adopting somebody else’s used dog. We assume that if the …
  • Dog Eats Roasted Dead Bugs
    Live bugs are a delicacy in a dog’s diet providing not only a tasty morsel, but the thrill of the chase as well. Noisy, buzzy bugs and small, easy-to-catch animals were prime targets for our dogs, including poisonous toads and …
  • Dog Pees From Excitement
    I called it “pee pee feet” and I hated visiting my neighbor’s house for it. Their dog peed on the floor every time he got excited which was anytime people came to visit. The worst part was that it was …
  • The Perfect Outdoor Dog Game
    Dakota was an energetic dog who needed a lot of exercise so we got her a big, bouncy ball about the size of a volleyball. We weren’t the sort to go jogging with her or rollerblading so we looked for …
  • The Right Dog
    I’ve talked to quite a few dog owners as a result of writing Bad Dog to Best Friend. Once you write a book about training a problem dog, you find yourself meeting people with problem dogs everywhere you go. One …
  • Catahoula Leopard Dog
    The Louisiana auditions for American Idol, Season 10, were about to begin. They opened the show with a picture of the Louisiana state flower (Magnolia), the Louisiana state bird (Eastern Brown Pelican), the Louisiana state reptile (alligator), and then they …
  • Religion Should Be Like Dog Training
    I was listening to Bette Midler’s song “From A Distance” which looks at wars and hunger from a larger perspective. The song seems to ask, “Why can’t we all just get along and help each other?” Bette Midler’s song really …
  • Dog Collar Spy Camera – Part 2
    We’d gotten a glimpse of what our Catahoula Leopard dog did while home alone when we put a dog collar video camera on her. Now it was time to spy on the reformed bad dog that I’d written a book …
  • Dog Collar Spy Camera – Part I
    Do you ever wonder what your dog is doing when you’re not home? Or what your dog does when he goes wandering? A dog collar camera will answer all your questions, and it works on cats, too. Our dogs are …
  • Dog Eats Pine Cones
    Our Catahoula Leopard Dog is a cheap date. She recently turned one year old and we’ve had her since she was a puppy, so we’ve been through the puppy chewing phase with her. Whereas our other dog needed heavy duty …
  • Bug Catcher Dog
    We were never bothered by flies in the house. Our dog Gypsy Rose could catch a fly in midair. Catching bugs, especially flying bugs, was one of her favorite pastimes. She could also catch wasps. The first time our dog …
  • Some Toads Are Poisonous for Dogs
    It was a warm, summer night in Georgia. Toads were calling out for their mates and cricketsong filled the air. The moon was just a sliver in the sky. An owl hooted off in the distance. Our dog Dakota disappeared …
  • How to Drive a Catahoula Dog Crazy
    Start with a four month old puppy dog who is full of joy and happiness at being adopted into a home with a big, fenced in backyard and an Australian Cattle Dog/Husky mix (Ausky dog) to play with. Take the …