You know how wedding blogs often turn into mom blogs? Or how regular blog folks sometimes get pregnant and they’re all, “I promise this won’t turn into a blog about my baby!”?
Well, are any of you actually surprised that this blog has turned into a dog blog?
oh, uh, hey. fancy meeting you here.
I tried to resist it at first, but you know what? I’m trying to be honest with myself here. I love talking about dogs and dog behavior. Frankly, I need somewhere to do it. Yesterday I saw my friend/classmate who is the only other person in my grad program who works with dogs (everyone else works with autistic kids) and both of us sort of fell over ourselves talking about our dogs, our clients, and the dramas that are playing out between our dogs and cats*. I cannot believe how happy I was to talk dogs and behavior with someone who not only cares, but is as excited about it as I am.
A lot of wedding blogs I read (that’s past tense, thanks folks) said, “I have this blog so that my best friend/mother/fiance doesn’t have to listen to me talk about my wedding ALL. THE. TIME.” And while that is not why I write about my dogs here, maybe it should be. Every time I open my mouth to talk dog stuff, I can see Turtle’s expression become sort of, shall we say, resigned.
what happens when i talk about dogs
I just finished reading Gretchen Rubin’s The Happiness Project. I know, I know, I’m a bit late to the game. But I’m here! I’m playing! And I loved it. Not all of it was for me (see the parts about being nice to your kids), but a lot of it was, or it had ways to be applied to my life. I actually got inspired to clean some clutter. The biggest thing that is sticking with me, though, is to Be Gretchen. Except I think it’s really supposed to be Be Bird. The gist of that is: Don’t try to like things you don’t like; don’t try to be something you’re not. Don’t do things that you don’t want to do just because you think you should. Or, if we want to spin it more positively: Be honest with yourself. Love the things you love and dedicate your free time and your passion to those things.
a thing to which I dedicate my free time & passion
So, in case you didn’t see this one coming, I love dogs and I love behavior. I also like rearranging furniture in my house, so maybe you’ll see a post or two about that. But in the meantime, I’ll finally just admit out loud that this is something of a dog blog. Welcome.**
*Major drama that I will probably only write about once it’s resolved.
**Once I admitted this to myself, I suddenly went from posting twice a month to three times a week. Amazing.
I think there’s a big void on the internet for blogs on dogs! I love reading yours and gaining new perspectives on ours
Really? Thanks! I feel like I see a lot of dog blogs, but many of them are not what I’m interested in… glad you enjoy mine
Yay! I found you through weddingbee, but yours has stayed one of my favorite blogs in large part because of your dog posts.
Also, your wife looks super cute sleeping in that photo. I get a similar effect with my husband when I go off on a dog tangent.
Aw, thanks Karen! Yeah, I’m realizing how absolutely necessary it is to have dog people around…
This cracks me up b/c while mine was a dog blog from the start, I have followed a number of other blogs for a while that slowly moved from being blogs about life / DIY / house / goals to being 90% dog blogs. “Twenty-Six To Life” is one; “Our Waldo Bungie” is another. Funny how that happens.
I’m following both of those! I remember finding my first dog blog after reading wedding blogs, and I literally jumped up and down and squealed. It was sort of embarrassing… and Turtle gave me pretty much the biggest eye-roll ever. But worth the excitement
The only problem is that now I’m convinced I need a better camera to take better pictures of my beasts.
I love reading about your dogs (and seeing the cute photos you post)! But whatever happened to “Flying Dingo”?
Thanks! It’s hard enough maintaining one blog… looking at each post and saying, “Well, maybe this is better for the other blog” made a whole lot more work. Though I sort of wish I’d kept Flying Dingo or come up with it sooner – I love the name!
thats right….doggy blogs. Its all about us
Benny & Lily
I’ll tell ya this — I don’t have a dog, have never had a dog, and probably will never have one, (hubs isn’t big on animals and I am a major cat person) but I really like seeing pictures of your puppies and hearing about them.
Aw, thanks! Some cat posts coming soon
Yay for dog blogs! I love reading your dog posts. Especially reading how well-trained your girls are… well, it just gives me hope for my little beast.
Thanks, Julie! Sorry your beast is so beastly
Let me know if you have questions/suggestions for things you want to read about – I am always looking for inspiration!
i keep worrying that my blog is turning into a puppy page but mostly i just want to show of my cute dog. that’s all. now that i have one, i have a lot of new appreciation for your dog posts- keep them coming. but keep your other fun stories coming, too.
I LOVE your puppy posts! She is the cutest, and since she’s right around Fae’s age I really like to hear what’s going on with her!
I love reading about your dogs and your interactions with other people/dogs. You provide a really valuable perspective in regards to training strategies and appropriate behavioral modification techniques. Keep up the dog posts!
Thanks, Heather! Your comment was actually really helpful – you’re right, there are a ton of dog blogs out there but not that many with specific training stuff, which is what I desperately want to read. If you find any others, point me their way!
“I blog about X so my friends don’t have to hear about it ALL THE TIME” is the best reason to blog about anything. Also, I’m not a dog person AT ALL and I still enjoy your blog. So way to go!
I think writing about what you love is key to writing something worth reading. And your blog posts about your dogs are definitely worth reading. So there.
Own it, dude. I keep the folks I keep in my reader not because I 100% identify with the topics they write about, but because I like how they write about them. So go. Get to it. Give us all the dog posts you can dream up.
And for the record, I love dogs but I can’t have one right now. I AM LIVING VICARIOUSLY THROUGH YOU.