Want to know what your dog is thinking?

 Do you know what your dog is really thinking?

You may not — but the 11 expert dogs at Things Your Dog Doesn’t Want You to Know do.

Just send them a question about your dog’s behavior — along with a photo or video — and they’ll enter your name to win a free copy of “Things Your Dog Doesn’t Want You to Know.”

A new winner will be randomly selected every week.

And, of course, they’ll also answer your question right at ThingsYourDog.com.

Enter as often as you wish.  The dogs love to give advice.

Click HERE to submit your question.

Book Review: Things Your Dog Doesn't Want You to Know: Eleven Courageous Canines Tell All

 How long has it been since you've laughed out loud while reading a book? Too long, probably.

Treat yourself to this little gem of a book: Things Your Dog Doesn't Want You to Know: Eleven Courageous Canines Tell All and you'll be guaranteed to chuckle and snicker and laugh out loud.

So you think dogs are just dumb animals? Eleven clever canines, in a series of essays that switch from one dog to another, will set you straight and clarify just how smart and observant dogs really  are. They interact and run their humans' lives a lot more than we might have known in the past.

Meet Axelrod the yellow lab, who is helping to maintain the herb garden by "watering" it three or four times a day. Tinkerbell the chihuahua, is so fashion savvy that she "alters" the leather on her human's ugly shoes. Sarge the German shepherd does such a thorough job on his assignments that he keeps getting fired. Poor Moonbeam has been adopted by a messed up vegan New Age follower but still manages to find meat.

We also hear from Dimples, whose humans have decided to include her sons Runt and Mutt Junior into the family, but are doing a very poor job of it. Charlie the schnauzer is living with six other dogs and states that his humans love dogs more than people only because they have no human friends. Young Gabby the dachshund is discovering boy dogs and catches up on doggie gossip during her walks. Sophie, on the other end of the life-cycle, is quite elderly and shares many years of wisdom.

Orson the bulldog is a food connoisseur who admits that the shapes of his treats are not very important. He barely looks at them anyway. Bandana  is a border collie who is very much in charge, except one thing - he can't stop chasing cars. He explains why. Rufus is a dreamer. He was trained as a hunting dog, but he has dreams.

Jeff Johnson and Hy Conrad, the authors, have done a great job of capturing "dog" and sharing "dogginess" with their readers.

 Things Your Dog Doesn't Want You to Know: Eleven Courageous Canines Tell All is available at amazon.com.

Enjoy!

Book Review: Dog Days

In Elsa Watson's DOG DAYS, struggling café owner Jessica Sheldon volunteered to be the chairperson of Woofinstock, Madrona’s annual dog festival, to overcome her reputation as “number one dog hater” in her dog crazy Northwestern town. Determined to prove her dog-loving credentials, Jessica rescues Zoe, a stray white German shepherd— and in the process the two are struck by lightning.

Jessica wakes to discover paws where her feet should be, and watches in horror as her body staggers around the town square…. Zoe and Jessica have switched bodies. Learning to live as a dog is difficult enough, but Jessica’s real worry is saving her café from financial ruin. To complicate matters, she’s falling hard for Max, the town veterinarian.

I totally LOVED this book. It's well written, interesting, and perfect light summer-weather reading. DOG DAYS has many great passages written from Zoe's point of view which gave me some insight as to what really is going on in dog's heads, and passages from Jessica's point of view - in a dog's body -  starting to understand and love dogs.

Highly recommended to anyone looking to escape from reality for a few hours.

DOG DAYS is available at Amazon.com.

let the wild rumpus start

“And the wild things roared their terrible roars and gnashed their terrible teeth and rolled their terrible eyes and showed their terrible claws.” 

---  ― Maurice Sendak, Where the Wild Things Are

Maurice Sendak, the children's book illustrator and author whose unsentimental approach to storytelling revolutionized the genre and whose best-known tale was the dark fantasy "Where the Wild Things Are," has died. He was 83.

How bored are you?

How bored are you, or more importantly, how full of cat hair can your house possibly be?

If your answer to both those questions is "very!" this book, Crafting with Cat Hair: Cute Handicrafts to Make with Your Cat, might help solve your problems. Well - at least those two.

Crafting with Cat Hair shows readers how to transform stray clumps of fur into soft and adorable handicrafts. From kitty tote bags and finger puppets to fluffy cat toys, picture frames, and more, these projects are cat-friendly, eco-friendly, and require no special equipment or training. You can make most of these projects in under an hour—with a little help, of course, from your feline friends!

Guest Post: Elegy for a Hamster

Author bio: Brian Wapole started telling stories to himself when he was five years old and is pleased to be sharing the experience with a wider audience. His first novel, The Feast of the Moon, is now available in paperback and as an e-book. Visit: http://brianwapole.com/ to read a sample, order a copy and to read original short stories for kids.

Elegy for a Hamster

Emmie’s hamster was not repelling the intractable force of time with the same elan he once possessed in the May morning of his youth. In fact, he was dying. He was having a hard time passing pellets and urinating. His fur grew patchy. The world he watched wax and wane from behind the glass of his aquarium was dimming – his eyesight deteriorating. He was eating less each day.

And Emmie’s mom was not pleased.

"I want you to take Hamlet," Emmie’s mom said to me.

"Take him where?"

Emmie's mom’s eyes began to water and she waved away the question.

"I got it."

As I walked out of the kitchen with his traveling cage (a shoebox), his blanket (a strip from Emmie's old sweatshirt), and his water bottle, Emmie's mom said, "don't tell me, when."

I took Hamlet home. Emmie had approached me the day before and got me to swear that I would not have him put down. I told her that he would die peacefully in his sleep.

What I didn’t tell her was that the sleep would occur while he drifted on a cloud to the continent of Euthanasia the following day. Hamlet’s organs were shutting down – it was the humane thing to do. I would take him to my house that evening since the Vet was closed.  

I set the shoebox, thick with woodchips and plush remnants from Emmie’s shirt, next to me while I wrote. About two paragraphs into the evening I pointed a space heater at the box, buffering it with a pillow. I was concerned that he would be too warm – then not warm enough. I changed out the pillows, searching for the right insulation.  It was January and I knew he liked to be warm. Emmie always kept him snuggled in a little blanket. Then I turned to write.

For about five minutes.

I heard scratching form the box. Maybe he needs water. But he wouldn’t drink – not even when I held the water tube to his mouth.

I stopped trying to write. When I agreed to take Hamlet I thought, “He’ll be with me for a day, then I’ll take him to the Vet’s. I’ll keep him warm in the meantime.” Easy.

But within an hour he dominated my concerns. How to get him to drink? It was one thing if he wasn’t eating – but dying by dehydration…I didn’t want to witness that. I tried to get him to accept the water bottle. No way.

“Fine,” I thought. “What else can do I?”

I picked up my pen and focused on the novel I was writing  Nothing. I was a tundra of creativity. I let my eyes lose focus, staring at the page. I looked at the pen.

Inspiration.

I took the pen cap to the sink and rinsed it off. I brought it back to Hamlet’s box and jiggled a drop of water onto the pen cap’s slightly concave arm. It was just wide enough to hold a drop of water on its tip. I balanced the drop on the end of the arm and tipped it into Hamlet’s mouth. He swallowed.

I spent the next few minutes coaxing drops of water into Hamlet, succeeding about one out of every six attempts – maybe eight drops before he tired of the activity. Every two hours we played the pen cap game. Before I went to bed I adjusted his blankets and set the space heater on low.

The following morning I heard scratching. Today, I was to take him to the Vet’s. I looked at the golden lump rise and fall with each breath. I decided to keep him with me. As long as he was drinking and eating a little (he had eaten one nugget of something) I was not going to put him to sleep.

In between seeing students (I am a tutor) and other responsibilities, I monitored Hamlet’s condition. When I tried writing, I could not focus on my novel.  I was thinking of Hamlet. So I started writing about him. Within a few minutes the ramblings morphed into a story. By that night I had a novel framed-out and ready for construction. The Feast of the Moon is that novel. Hamlet died peacefully in his sleep that night.

Come to my window

Photographer Rachel Bellinsky has taken something we see every day — pets peering out from windows — and has captured it an adorable gallery. Titled "Tails from the Fishbowl," it features a charming compilation of animal portraits she took while walking her dog, Cooper, through their Southern California neighborhood.

Bellinsky is in the process of putting together a book of photos called “Tails From the Fishbowl: Cats and Dogs With a Window Seat.” which will be ready to ship in March, but you can reserve a copy here. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to the Humane Society.

Source and many more sample photos available here.

Book Review: a dog named Slugger

A Dog Named Slugger by Leigh Brill, is a true story about a woman who, at the height of her Cerebral Palsy symptoms, turned to a service dog organization where she was matched with Slugger, a highly intelligent, devoted and loving Yellow Labrador. The book is heart-warming and inspiring, but it also promotes a very worthy cause--the Service Dog Industry. Leigh’s proceeds from the book will go to the nonprofit St. Francis Service Dogs organization. On a personal note - - I've had a copy of this book for a few months, and had it by my bedside, knowing that I would soon have lots of time to do nothing but reading. I recently had surgery for total knee replacement on my left knee! While what I went through was nowhere close to Leigh's needs and the restrictions which go along with Cerebral Palsy, but living in a four-level house made me very quickly understand how nice a four-legged helper would be. It never failed that whatever I needed was in the wrong part of the house. Opening doors holding onto a walker in front of me, or while holding a cane in one hand and other supplies in the other, really brought home to me what a huge help Slugger's presence must have been to Leigh. I really enjoyed getting to know Leigh by reading her book, and fell in love with the playful, but hardworking Slugger, and his protege Kenda. My only criticism is that there weren't enough pictures! I would have loved to see more photos of these new friends. If you'd like to know more, visit the website: Leigh Brill or Facebook page, A Dog Named Slugger.

Book Review: Photobooth Dogs

Photobooth Dogs is a wonderful collection of 100 portraits, taken in photobooths, of folks who love their dogs and decided to create a photo memory of that love. Cameron Woo, co-founder and creative director of The Bark, collected the photos from flea markets and attic boxes and documented 80 some years worth of memories. Looking at some of these nostalgic photos makes me want to run out and find a photobooth and bring my cats to pose with me. (via Dog Art Today) Photo : copyright Cameron Woo, 2010

Just incase you were wondering - US$11,542,683

Sotheby's: Audubon sells for record £7.3m

LONDON 7 DECEMBER 2010 --- This evening, one of the most magnificent printed books ever produced, John James Audubon’s Birds of America, sold at Sotheby’s London for £7,321,250/ US$11,542,683, establishing a new world record for any printed book ever sold at auction. A fiery enthusiasm among four collectors bidding on the phones and in the room drove the price rapidly beyond pre-sale expectations (£4-6 million/ US$6.3-9.5 million). The book was bought by London dealer Michael Tollemache, who was bidding in the room and who described the work after the sale as “priceless”. Source

How much?

LONDON -- Sotheby's is auctioning a rare copy of John James Audubon's "Birds of America," billed as the world's most expensive book - a treasure that could sell for 6 million pounds ($9.5 million). One of only 100 or so remaining copies of "Birds of America," the tome will be on the block Tuesday in London alongside a first edition of Shakespeare's plays expected to fetch at least 1 million pounds ($1.6 million). The books come from the estate of the 2nd Baron Hesketh, an aristocratic book collector who died in 1955. Another complete copy of "Birds of America" was sold by Christie's for $8.8 million in 2000, a record for a printed book at auction. The collection of 435 hand-colored prints is made from engravings of Audubon's illustrations. Source

I think I have to read this book

Rossetti's Wombat, by John Simons, tells the story of Top, a wombat who belonged to the Pre-Raphaelite painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti for a few months in 1869. The book also describes the strange history of the European fascination with the wildlife of Australia, from the late 18th century onwards. By 1860, most well-to-do people could buy a pet kangaroo from a London pet shop - and many of them did. Wombats were rarer and more expensive but the tradition of wombat owning was well established by the turn of the 19th century. Napoleon had a pet wombat, as did the Duke of Edinburgh. I can understand why. They are adorable! "The Wombat is a Joy, a Triumph, a Delight, a Madness!" ~ Dante Gabriel Rossetti Image source

Kennedy endorses "first dog"

The president-elect's family has only just narrowed down its choice for first dog to either a Portuguese water dog or a Labradoodle. Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy, in a written statement, said he supports the Portuguese pooches. He already owns two and just brought a third pup into the fold. "I am proud to endorse the Portuguese water dog as the next First Dog of the United States," Kennedy's statement reads. "They have a can do and hopeful spirit. They are smart. They are resilient. They are determined. They are optimistic. And they are tireless. Sounds like a perfect fit for the Obama Family and the Obama Administration." Source: WLKY.com Photo of Ted Kennedy and his Portuguese water dog, Splash(Globe Photo / Chris Hartlove) Click the play button below to hear Senator Edward M. Kennedy read from a children's book, "My Senator and Me," purportedly written by his dog Splash

Source: Boston.com

The philosopher and the wolf

A spur-of-the-moment decision to buy a wolf cub changed Mark Rowlands’s life. From that moment on he found human company never quite matched up. The Philosopher and the Wolf: Lessons in Love, Death, and Happiness is the story of the eleven years Brenin and Mark had together. An excerpt: "The rule was that Brenin was never, ever, under any circumstances, to be left on his own in the house. Failure to abide by this rule involved dire consequences for the house and its contents; and the fate of the curtains and the air-conditioning pipes was merely a gentle warning of his true capabilities in this regard. These consequences included destruction of all furniture and carpets, with a soiling option also available for the latter. Wolves, I learnt, get bored very, very quickly - about 30 seconds of being left to their own devices is generally long enough. When Brenin got bored he would either chew on things or urinate on them, or chew on things and then urinate on them. Very occasionally, he would even urinate on things and then chew them, but I think that was just because, in all the excitement, he would forget exactly where he was in the order of proceedings." "Brenin and I were inseparable for 11 years. Homes would change, jobs would change, countries and even continents would change, and my other relationships would come and go - mostly go. But Brenin was always there - at home, at work and at play. He was the first thing I would see in the morning when I woke - largely because he would be the one to wake me, around daybreak with a big wet lick to the face - a looming presence of meaty breath and sandpaper tongue framed by dawn's murky light. And that was on a good day - on bad days he would have caught and killed a bird in the garden and would wake me up by dropping it on my face. (The first rule of living with a wolf: always expect the unexpected.)"

Happy Howl-o-ween!

It is Halloween. Small children ring our doorbell. May I eat just one? *

* Dog-ku

Wonderful doggie poetry

Haiku is an ancient and revered art form. What kind of haiku would be composed by a dog? They say integrity is its own reward. Wrong. I like pig ears. They say old habits die hard. Wrong. Bruce Willis dies hard. Old habits last forever. Why no dog congress? 'Cuz we can't stop sniffing butts. Oh wait! That's the same.

Dog-ku: Very Clever Haikus Cleverly Written by Very Clever Dogs, written by Steve D. Marsh is the most charmingly funny book I have read in ages. The haiku are clever and humorous. Many pages contain pictures of some very cute dogs. I brought the book to work today. My coworkers and I spent way, way too much time reading the poems out loud to each other and laughing at them. Here are some of our favorites :

I am not howling. It is country music and I'm singing along. Accidental poop Left by your bedside with love. Why do you step there? I don't shed that much. Just enough to decorate Your brand-new dress pants.

Dewey Readmore Books

Dewey Readmore Books was the resident cat at Spencer Public Library. He was put in the book return one cold January night in 1988. When the staff found him the next morning, they decided to adopt him. After the library's board of trustees and the city council approved, the kitten was declawed, neutered, and given the proper vaccinations. A contest was held to pick a name, and Dewey Readmore Books was officially added to the staff. The staff cared for Dewey and donated their pop cans to feed the kitty. Patrons and friends from as far away as New York have donated money for Dewey's food. Dewey passed away on November 29, 2006 due to complications from a stomach tumor. He had become very frail because of hyperthyroid disease for which he was receiving medication. He died in the arms of the library director, Vicki Myron. He had just celebrated his 19th birthday eleven days before he died. Vicki Myron, the director of Spencer Public Library, has written a book about the impact Dewey had on her life, Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World Through her developing relationship with the feline, Myron recounts the economic and social history of Spencer as well as her own success story—despite an alcoholic husband, living on welfare, and health problems ranging from the difficult birth of her daughter, Jodi, to breast cancer.

Book Review: Dog Park Wisdom

The title is misleading. Dog Park Wisdom, by Lisa Wogan covers a lot more than just the dog park. This book is a handy guide for every aspect of dog ownership from picking the right puppy and choosing the right name, all the way to traveling with your dog. From breaking bad habits to understanding canine emotions, Wogan covers everything from potty training tips to grooming, proper playtime and off-leash etiquette. There are great anecdotal stories from the author, her friends, family, and sometimes from complete strangers. My favorite among these is why you should wear a belt when visiting the dog park. Photos by Bev Sparks make Dog Park Wisdom visually a pleasure as well as a fun read. Lisa Wogan continues to gather tips for dog care and share new tidbits at her blog, www.dogparkwisdom.com. Bev Sparks photography is used by ad agencies and greeting card companies, appears in magazines and books. See her portfolio at dogphotography.com.

Book Review: Yorkie Doodle Dandy

21-year-old American Air Force Private First Class William A. Wynne, stationed in New Guinea during World War II, met and fell in love with with Smoky, a Yorkshire Terrier pup. The story told in Yorkie Doodle Dandy is the history of their experiences together in war, being smuggled through customs, military discharge, their return to America, Will's wedding, two inter-coastal automobile trips, performing in show business and much more. Smoky is actually a renowned WWII hero who strung telephone lines through an eight-inch drainage pipe under an airstrip in a combat area - a three day job which was accomplished in two minutes by the seven inch tall, four pound, Smoky. Stories about Smoky appear in over 50 books and magazine articles Including Volumes I and II of the History of the Fifth Air Force. Smoky was YANK magazine's "Champion Mascot of the SWPA" in 1944. Yorkie Doodle Dandy is a great cream puff of a book - an excellent way to spend a rainy Sunday afternoon.

Book Review: Merck/Merial Manual for Pet Health

A book that should be in the library of every pet owner and pet lover: The Merck/Merial Manual for Pet Health is an outstanding resource. Written by veterinarians and animal health specialists, the book is still aimed at the public at large. It's easy to understand and also easy to find information quickly. The book covers health issues in common and exotic pets, but there are also some unusual and interesting special subjects. I found the chapter on diseases spread from animals to people (zoonoses) fascinating because I like this sort of off the wall stuff. Merck/Merial Manual for Pet Health is a book I will keep handy and will refer to often for the well being of my pets.