Bringing Your Dog to Work: Keeping the Office Safe

If your dog will be joining you at the workplace, you need to take steps to make sure your office is pup-safe and pup-friendly. Make sure your personal workspace can comfortably accommodate a dog. When I used to bring Miko to the radio station, he would curl up and sleep underneath the counter while I was on the air. It was perfectly Miko-sized! (I wish I had pictures of this, too!) Keep all power cords and wires out of range — you don’t want your pup nibbling on any electrical cords. I caught my dog Lally chewing on the cord … Continue reading

Hot Days (and Hot Dogs) Ahead

The temperature yesterday was in the 70s in the Portland, Oregon area. By tomorrow, forecasts are calling for temperatures in the 90s! It looks to me like summer is coming… and coming fast. Dealing with the heat is somewhat easier for people than for pets. After all, we have thumbs for turning on the air conditioning… or the option of escaping to a cool, dark movie theater when the sun is too much. Some dogs do love the sun and heat, though. My brother’s American Staffordshire Terrier Lily Biscuits just loves sunshine. She’ll sprawl out on the warm concrete sidewalk … Continue reading

The Power of Your Dog’s Nose

If you ask your dog, we humans are nearly crippled. We’re practically nose-blind! Dogs, on the other hand, can get a whole lot of information just from the scent of something. Are you constantly baffled as to why your dog chooses to sniff people in private places? Dogs actually have a special sex-sniffing organ in their noses. They can investigate strangers much more quickly with a nose to the crotch; family members and familiar humans may get an arm or leg sniff once they’ve passed the initial inspection. With their complex sniffers, dogs get a lot more information out of … Continue reading

The Early Christmas Present: Trouble for Murphy, Mr. Meow and Tabby

Because Wayne returned to his old job with the old hours (i.e. long and frequent), he knew he wasn’t going to have time for Christmas shopping. So last Sunday we went to Best Buy to get me a new digital camera: a Canon PowerShot SD 1000. Wow, is it slick! It’s my first digital camera so I have a bit of a learning curve to overcome, but who cares? That’s half the fun. Besides, it does a bunch of neat things my film camera couldn’t do –like take movies with sound! I haven’t had all that much time to play … Continue reading

Murphy’s Best Friend: Tucker, the 80 Pound Wonder Dog

Murph at Tuck’s Birthday Party. (Tucker’s the rust colored dog to the right of Murph.) In honor of Best Friends Day, I thought it’d be fun to profile Murph’s all time bestest bud in the whole wide world: Tucker Joseph. (Or, as I like to call him, Tuck Tuck Toodle Bottoms.) How They Met When we adopted Murphy, he was about the friendliest little pup around. He was always eager to meet other dogs. (Kind of reminds me of Aimee’s thoughts on being a dog and how the world would be a better place if we were all a little … Continue reading

Meet the Josephs

Tucker Joseph with his Aunt Court and Uncle Wayne Labor Day Weekend 2006 I’d like to introduce you to some very dear friends of mine, the Josephs: Michael, Karen and Tucker, the 80 pound wonder dog. (a.k.a. Murphy’s best friend.) When we lived in Jacksonville, the Josephs lived at the top of our block. They moved into their house right around the same time we moved into ours. I remember thinking as I’d see Karen walk Tucker up and down our street, “My golly, that’s a big dog for that lady. I hope she can handle him.” Well, of course … Continue reading

Roady’s Long, Strange Trip

Lisa Pietsch is the Community Coordinator/Jack of All Trades/Boss of All Bloggers here at Families.com. In a roundabout way, I got to help her find her second dog, Roady. Aimee: What inspired you to look for a second dog? Lisa: I had no intention of looking for a second dog. We’d lost a dog (Thor) just a year earlier and he had been very dear to me. I wasn’t at a point where I felt I could bring another dog into our home yet. I found Roady purely by accident. I was reviewing a blog that you had written about … Continue reading