Owner: Karen Shanley: My life as an author, mom, dog nut URL:http://karenshanley.com/blog/ Join Date: Sun, 18 Feb 2007 06:12:51 -0600 Rating:0 Site Description: Author, Karen Shanley, shares her humorous and insightful views on life as a writer, mom, and lover of three dogs: one Australian Shepherd; one Border Collie Mix; and one dog in a Maine Coon cat\'s body. Site statistics:Click here
Wanderings — Sheep Herding Game 2007-02-18 06:56:21 I know. I’m nuts. But, go ahead. Try this and see if you can get all eight sheep in the pen, then report back! I’ll even give you a hint. Just as in real life, don’t let your “dog” chase the sheep.
Darned if Cait didn’t get all eight in before I did.
I never said I [...] Read more:Sheep
Front and Center 2007-02-16 06:53:09 Is this a perfect Sit in Front
, or what?! Boning up on a little obedience and the girl’s still got it! Yeah! Read more:Center
How Smart? 2007-02-15 06:58:14 I live with a dog who is brilliant. Really. Kiera’s reasoning powers are on display everyday. (Graidy’s smart but doesn’t quite have the same wattage.) So when I come across articles that imply our animals might actually have consciousness and be able to think, I’m inclined to roll my eyes and think, Where have you [...] Read more:Smart
A Great Day in NYC and the DWAA Awards 2007-02-13 06:00:20 Andrew, Cait and I took a trip to New York City on Sunday. It was the first trip to the Big Apple for Cait. I think the only time she closed her gaping mouth was to chew food! Andrew had been there on several occasions for book dealings with publishers, agents, etc. But I was [...] Read more:Great
, Awards
, Great Day
I'm Famous ! or ? 2007-02-11 06:50:57 Okay, so the “I’m Famous
!” part might be a bit of hyperbole (5 Minutes for Mom provided the button content). But, there is actually an interview over there, so go ahead and mosey on over.
Dog Training with Suzanne Clothier or Laughter is the Best Medicine 2007-02-09 06:52:05 When I first took Kiera to Suzanne
Clothier, way back when, I was most decidedly there to get help with some “issues”. That Suzanne clearly knew her stuff was evident from the get-go. I knew she’d get Kiera and me quickly squared away, and she did. What kept me going back was her gift with [...] Read more:Training
, Medicine
, Dog Training
Little Red Corvette 2007-02-08 06:57:38 I wasn’t actually driving a little red corvette; it was a silver BMW. But Prince’s song was going through my head as I found myself shushing through the curves along the back roads to Vermont just a little too fast. I was taking a friend of mine to the hospital for day surgery, and, knowing [...] Read more:Corvette
If I were King, Expiration Dates… 2007-02-07 06:04:31 … on food packages would be prominently placed and legible without glasses. And they would contain both a SELL BY and USE BY date. Read more:Expiration
P*r*ison B*reak from S*talag 13 2007-02-06 07:17:46 Cait and I come home from grocery shopping for the dinner I’m making for my bookgroup. As I put the bags on the counter, I notice Andrew is having a glass of wine (meant for my soon-to-be-arriving guests).
Andrew isn’t much of a drinker and he knows the wine is for my friends. I look around [...]
What to do for a Dog with Separation Anxiety 2007-02-20 06:41:59 One of my blog buds has asked about Separation
Anxiety, so I thought I’d share some info on what has helped two of my dogs who had Separation Anxiety
.
First, let me state, I am neither a professional trainer, behaviorist, nor vet. Anything shared here should be run by your own team of professionals. It’s also [...]
The Steering Wheel 2007-02-21 06:03:37 Cait has a fear of fire. She seems to have been born with it. It’s been a frequent topic of conversation since the time she was first able to express herself. To help her with this concern, we’ve practiced fire drills at home, we have an action plan for what we’d do and where we’d [...] Read more:Steering
A Spot for Everyone and… 2007-02-22 06:38:49 Everyone in their spot.
Couch Potato
Cushion Potato
Cool Air Potato
The Earth Knows My Name 2007-02-23 06:07:30 The earth knows my name. I hear her call it.
“It’s time…,” she tells me. Her voice a gentle whisper. A soft kiss of a sound.
There is no trace of my garden buried under two feet of snow. No hint of spring in the air. And yet, like the magnetic forces beginning to draw the [...] Read more:Earth
You Know You Want To 2007-02-26 06:20:56 My daughter is doing a jig, jumping on her bed in her pajamas, and singing, You know you want to… Uh huh, uh huh. Her arms are flailing around up over her head as if raised in a Hallelujah chorus.
I’m laughing so hard, I momentarily forget how tired I am.
Cait wants me to tickle her. [...]
Why I Don’t Use a Flexi-Leash 2007-03-02 06:07:04 What’s the matter with using a Flexi
-leash?
This quick video and this quick video about cover it.
All kidding aside… (You don’t know what I’m kidding about? Go back and watch those videos! They take 2 seconds. Unless you’re on dial-up, in which case you’re excused.) Flexi-leashes require tension on the leash in order to keep the [...] Read more:Leash
How to Break into Magazines 2007-03-01 06:17:14 From the Mail Bag: Kate writes: I’d like to start writing nonfiction, human interest stories, emphasizing topics such as dogs and life with dogs, health and psychology. I’d like to start with articles (magazine, newspaper or both) and eventually work towards a book. I have done a few small human interest [...] Read more:Break
, Magazines
Animal Communication — Perfectly Clear 2007-02-28 06:16:50 A visiting friend asks, “Do you want to me to let Graidy out? He’s pacing by the door.”
“Nah, must be around 4 o’clock,” I say, looking at the clock to confirm. “He wants to be fed.”
A while later the same friend, noticing Graidy at the door again, says, “Is Graidy hungry again already?”
“Nope, he wants [...] Read more:Animal
, mdash
, Clear
Happy Birthday HitchHiker 2007-03-03 15:53:42 I’ve been doing some occasional moonlighting over at HitchHiker’s Guide to the Blogosphere; a site where little known blogs are reviewed and get to have their day in the sun. Steve Sherlock, the site owner, reminded me that it’s HitchHiker’s 2nd birthday today. So HappyBirthday
HitchHiker! Long live The Long Tail! Read more:Happy Birthday
Wanderings — Inkling Magazine 2007-03-04 06:07:56 Inklings: On the Hunch that Science Rocks is a science magazine written mostly by women mostly for women. Their “About Us” page describes the magazine as “dedicated to science as we see it. Founded in late 2006, we cover the science that pervades our life, makes us laugh, and helps us choose our breakfast foods. [...] Read more:mdash
, Magazine
I’ve Created a Monster 2007-03-05 06:32:33 It’s near dinnertime. Cait comes running in through the door from an after-school activity and, as all kids do, drops her book-bag on the floor and makes a bee-line for the refrigerator. She swings the door open, stands there, and peers in for several minutes.
I tell her, “You’ve seen everything in there long enough to have it memorized. Close the door and stop letting all the cold air out.” I add, “When you figure out what you want, then open the door again.” (I can’t help it; I was raised thinking that waste of any kind, including electricity, was a sin.)
As Cait closes the refrigerator door, I notice big fat tears rolling down her cheeks. Assuming something terrible has happened somewhere during her day, I ask, “What’s the matter? What happened?”
“Nothing happened, Mom,” she mutters dejectedly and walks away.
I’m thinking to myself, big fat tears are not nothing. I follow after her and ask again, “W Read more:Monster
Living With a Dog Who Speaks English 2007-03-06 06:26:24 Kiera has a vocabulary of a hundred or so individual words and a couple dozen expressions — last time I counted. On the one hand it makes life much easier for me. For instance, I can just tell her to go get Cait for dinner, instead of me yelling upstairs. Or I can ask her to help me find my other shoe that Graidy has hidden somewhere. The “helpful” list goes on and on. There are also those times when it can be a real pain in the butt. This is one of those instances:
Kiera is lying quietly in her favorite “cool” spot by the sliding doors in the living room. I walk into the family room to see what Cait’s up to.
“Cait, do you want to come for a ‘W’ with me?”
As with a young child, when we don’t want Kiera to understand what we’re saying, we revert to spelling or just using the first letter of the word.
Cait asks, “Are you going to take ‘K’?”
I know if I say yes, she won’t want to come be Read more:Living
, English
Meet Duke 2007-03-07 06:42:35 ……
Meet Duke. Duke of Earl. Duke. Duke. Duke…
Can you tell we’re getting a touch of cabin fever around here?
Does Cait Read Your Blog? 2007-03-08 06:40:07 From the Mail Bag: Several people have asked if Cait reads my blog.
The short answer is: No she doesn’t.
Cait knows I write a blog as part of my writing work, and that sometimes I write about her and her dad. But she thinks it’s mostly all about the dogs, and she doesn’t have any desire to read about them.
I also don’t want her reading the blog. If she did, I’ve no doubt she’d go theatrical on me, trying to be funny or clever or whatever to see if she could get me to write about those things. She’s a very normal kid and I want to make sure she stays that way.
When she’s older, and/or when I no longer blog, I do plan on letting her read what I’ve written as a remembrance of these times and an expression of my love for her. So I do my best to make sure that whatever I write is nothing she’d find embarrassing or a trespass to her privacy. If I’m ever not sure of something, I run it by Andrew to see what he thinks. He’s got final veto
Latest Dog Vaccine Recommendations 2007-03-09 06:37:27 My vet has sent a reminder card to let me know that Kiera is due for a couple of vaccines. I’ll bring her in for titers to be taken. I stopped automatically vaccinating some years ago, after I’d extensively read up on the subject.
Here’s the gist of what I’ve learned:
The minimum duration of immunity for the four core vaccines (parvo, distemper, canine Adenovirus and rabies) was 3-7 years. (A USDA study I reviewed similarly showed an average 7-year efficacy for rabies vaccine. Because of the serious and zoonotic nature of this virus, the US has taken a rather bold position of prevention by requiring frequent boosters, 1-3 years in most states. Schultz, a leading vet on vaccine studies, says 3-5 years is sufficient)
Dogs vaccinated (i.e. puppy series of initial vaccine) showed 80% protection when challenged at age 7 with no interim boosters, the same as for dogs given annual boosters. Schultz’s study found 95% of dogs vaccinated initially were protected for life for one or
Wanderings — Sand Castles 2007-03-11 06:47:36 Harrison Hot Springs, in British Columbia, hosts a sand sculpture competition every year. Gives new meaning to the words, Sand Castles. Who would have thought these could be done only using sand and a little water?!
Read more:mdash
Tell-Tale Signs 2007-03-12 06:43:33 A good friend stopped by for an unannounced visit. “You working on a new book proposal?”
“Yeah, working flat out,” I answered. “How’d you guess.”
“Dust-bunnies. Dead give-away.”
Does Job and is Quiet 2007-03-13 06:30:05 “Dad, Finn really likes you,” Cait says.
“I like Finn,” Andrew says.
“Finally, an animal you have no complaints about,” I say.
“That’s because there’s nothing to complain about. He does his job (Finnegan-now 9, Mice-0) and he’s quiet.”
“Sounds like a dating ad: Does job and is quiet,” I say. “Kiera and Graidy do their jobs too, you know.”
“Yep. We’ve got one dog who herds anything moving on the ground, one dog who herds anything moving up in the air, and one cat who kills anything moving in the house. We’re covered.”
“Life is good.”
Read more:Quiet
There Must be a Dog God 2007-03-15 06:37:48 Over the weekend, Andrew, Cait and I went to the local movie rental store. It was a cold, dark evening, and the parking lot of this little strip mall wasn’t very well lit.
Since I’m not much of a TV or movie watcher, I stayed in the car while Cait and Andrew hopped out to go make their selection. A moment later I watched a guy walk up, put his old beagle mix in a sit-stay, not on the sidewalk, but in a parking spot–in a parking lot where cars frequently whiz in and out. Then he turned without looking back, and casually walked inside.
I watched this little dog sit for, oh, maybe a nanosecond. Then she started exploring the snowbank along the parking lot. A car zoomed into the spot right next to her. And then another. My heart was in my throat. I saw her scamper around to the other side of the second car, and then she started meandering around the rest of the lot, barely dodging cars that were not thinking to check their rear view mirrors for a little, old dog.
That was
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