Stumbled across couple of interesting dog-related reads…

First on the list is 101 Best Businesses for Pet Lovers.  I dream of one day having my own dog-related business (when I grow up), so I might have to check this out.  I already have a specific future dog business in mind, but I don’t want to divulge it because it’s so good that everyone will want to steal my idea!  Oh yes, it’s THAT good. 

On that note, I just discovered that one of my other genius dog business ideas has already been developed - flushable poop bags.  I swear I’d be a millionaire 10 times over if only I could think up business ideas that hadn’t already been thought up by someone else! 

Anyway, here’s an interview with the authors of 101 Best Businesses for Pet Loves (who built a local pet store business that was acquired by PetCo).

The other interesting book I came across is Eco Dog which tells you how to reduce your dog’s carbon paw print.  Hmmm…I gave Oscar a stern talking-to about his carbon footprint and I’m happy to report that he’s promised that his next car will be a hybrid and he’ll try to cut down on green house gasses by farting less.   Good boy.

I love the Internet, but I can’t fall asleep every night without reading a few chapters of a good old fashioned physical book.  Here are a few of my dog-related recommendations…

If you’re thinking about getting a dog, I strongly suggest The Art of Raising a Puppy by the Monks of New Skete.  Not only will this book help you decide if you should really get a puppy, but it will also help you figure out what kind of dog is right for you and offers excellent advice on training and care of your animal.  Even though the copyright is 1991, the pictures look like they were taken in the 70s - so don’t read it for the fashion, but it’s a must-read for the content.

My favorite piece of advice (which I have never seen or heard anywhere else) was about what to do if your puppy/dog gets away from you.  Living in New York, I’m in constant fear that I will drop Oscar’s leash or that he will escape from the dog run when someone has carelessly left the door open and he will run out into traffic.  The good advice from the Monks is as follows:

“…do not chase after her…Instead, try moving quickly in the opposite direction.  Dogs have a predatory instinct that manifests itself when something runs away from them, and often you can trigger this by pretending to “escape” from your pup.”

I had to use this method once - we were visiting my parent’s house in upstate New York.  My parents live on a wooded 27 acres, surrounded by farms, so Oscar is allowed to go off-leash.  He’s normally very good and stays within 20 feet of us, but one day we came across some grazing cows at the border of my parents property…uh-oh.  Oscar had never seen a cow before.  We looked at Oscar, he looked at us…we said, “No, Oscar!”, he took one last look and hi-tailed it after the giant “dogs”.  

At first it was hilarious - the cows actually started running away from an 18 lb dog and mooing in protest.  But it got scary quickly, he was on the other side of a barbed-wire fence and what if he actually caught up to them??  Remembering the advice from the monks, I told my mom & sister to run in the opposite direction.  I yelled Oscar’s name one more time and as soon as he turned to look, I started sprinting in the opposite direction.  It worked like a charm.  Oscar hi-tailed it back and we’re now able to tell the funny story of the time a lap dog tried to herd cows.

But I digress - back to the book recommendations…

For puppy training, I also like The Complete Idoits Guide to Raising a Puppy by Liz Palika.  It’s very easy to read and a good book for reference.

We’ve also had a lot of fun with tricks training.  For simple step-by-step trick training methods try Dog Tricks for Dummies by Sarah Hodgson and The Everything Dog Training and Tricks Book by Gerilyn J. Bielakiewicz.

Finally, if you like a good dog-related novel, check out The Dogs of Babel by Carolyn Parkhurst or The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon.  Babel gets a little wacky near the end and The Curious Incident isn’t really about dogs at all, but they were both excellent reads if you’re looking for some good fiction.

Any dog-related reading recommendations?  I’d love to hear them.

Happy MLK Jr. Day!

 Wow, we had a pretty dog-tastic weekend!!  First, on Friday night we attended a reading by Sharon Sakson of her new book, Paws & Effect: The Healing Power of Dogs at Barnes & Noble.   On Saturday, we attended our friend Stella’s birthday party at Animal Haven.  And then yesterday Oscar had a super-fun play date with his BFF, Buddy (pictured below).

So, when we heard that Sharon Saksonwas coming to our neighborhood Barnes & Noble, we had to check it out.  Ms. Sakson is a writer, dog show judge and breeder (of Brussels Griffons, Dachshunds & Whippets).  We had purchased one of her earlier books, Brussels Griffons:  A Complete Pet Owner’s manual, shortly after bringing Oscar home.  This book is a must for Brussels Griffon owners - it’s packed with a ton of information (both general and breed specific) without being tedious - a very fun, easy read.  It’s also got a ton of great pictures of super cute Griffs!  Here’s Oscar, listening raptly to the reading…

We haven’t read her newer books yet - Paws & Reflect: A Special Bond between Man and Dog and Paws & Effect: The Healing Power of Dogs, but they’re on our must read list, especially since we found out that she writes a lot about therapy and service dogs.  Sharon is also a fellow blogger and she has some really cute puppies available - our favorite is Fuzzy Bear because he looks a lot like Oscar did when he was a puppy.

At the reading, Oscar had the privilege of meeting one of his heroes - okay, maybe Oscar didn’t really know it, but he got to meet our inspirations for pursuing therapy dog training - Mr. Gruffyd Babayan and his owner Gay Cropper.  We saw Mr. GB being honored for his therapy dog work while watching the Westminster Dog Showlast year and thought - hey, what a cool thing to do.  I had always pictured therapy dogs as big dogs - like most service dogs.  But seeing a Brussels Griffon therapy dog, really gave us the push we needed to become a therapy dog team.

Ms. Cropper also told us about a very inspiring therapy dog story…Mr. GB does a lot of pediatric visits at the Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital.   One day, he was asked to visit a very young boy who had fallen from the 5th story of a building.  Up to this point, the child had been unwilling/unable to talk about the accident, but when he saw Mr. GB (who is missing one eye), he immediately asked the dog, “What floor did YOU fall from?!?”.  How amazing is that?

We’ve been getting some similar reactions with Oscar lately - he broke a toe a few weeks ago and his little splint is evoking some empathy with the hospital patients we visit.  Thanks so much Mr. GB & Ms. C for inspiring us to undertake such a worthwhile and rewarding cause!

To find fun dog events happening in your neighborhood, don’t forget to check out our calendar of dog events.   We recommend that you bookmark it and check back often, it’s always being updated with fun new events!

Tune in tomorrow to hear all about Stella’s birthday party - it was quite an event!