WARNING: Author is endowed with an incurable case of SSH (Sarcastic Sense of Humor). If that is not your cup of Joe, you might want to retreat now before you are offended.
If you are reading this, you are either a lawyer or chronically nosy (atta dog!).
If you are a lawyer, you will be profoundly disappointed. I am going to do my very best to make this as easy to read and understand as I possibly can. And no thank you, I don’t want to make it better.
If you are chronically nosy, I hope you will find the detour worth the effort.
This website was created for the purpose of sharing information, experiences and expertise — mostly mine but also those of others I admire. Above all, My Dog’s Best Friend is meant to celebrate the best friends we humans will ever have on this earthly journey and hopefully beyond. And it is part of my journey on the way to returning their gifts and my best attempt to be their best friend.
It is also intended as a place to put forth a different perspective on the issues surrounding animal welfare, advocacy, the “pet problem,” dogs, dog keeping, anything and everything that relates to dogs. There might be some non-dog topics now and then; my overactive attention and aging brain don’t always have perfect focus.
And finally, it is also intended to pick quarrels and provoke trouble, because like Mother Mary, I am damn good at both and because as George Bernard Shaw so brilliantly points out “all progress depends on the unreasonable man.” I am not a man, but I have never been accused of being reasonable which leads me to believe I am on the right track.
What I am NOT trying to do:
Sell you anything.
Get you to part with that Starbucks latte or pepperoni pizza you crave so much. Enjoy!
Get you to change your mind or teach you anything. Whether or not you want to consider a different point of view, be better informed, have a more complex understanding of the issues, be more thoughtful and far sighted of your actions and those of others around you, is entirely up to you. It would certainly be very rewarding if you did any or all of those but it will not define or influence my mission or my measurement of success.
Get you to do anything you don’t want to do. You don’t want to adopt a shelter or rescue dog because you don’t want to “inherit someone else’s problems?” You just don’t know what wonders you are missing out on but part of me gets that.
You just have to have that one breed of dog that only the rich and famous have and that must come from a breeder to be the right pet for you? I am not sure I get that. A decade ago I could have but there are some places you just can’t go back to.
You don’t want to spend your weekend volunteering to help clean up the mess that is animal sheltering? I totally understand; not exactly a whole lot of fun cleaning up poop.
Or looking into the eyes of a neglected animal, a defeated animal, an old or sick animal or a perfectly healthy one of the “wrong breed” and knowing that they are not going to be walking out the front door. Not to mention keep coming back weekend after weekend to the same stories.
It is heartbreaking and soul crushing. So I totally get it. I ran a special needs dog rescue 24/7/365 for over a decade, so yes I do know what it’s like.
I sure can’t blame you for not wanting to get involved beyond going to the occasional beef and beer fundraiser or mutt strut. But then please don’t expect me to be particularly receptive to your rants about how “someone” needs to do something or has to stop “murdering” all these wonderful animals and how shelters and rescuers need to “save” this or that dog or cat or bunny.
And please do not ask me to find a “loving home” for the dog you just “can’t keep” another day unless you have a 100% legitimate reason. Hint: the list of legitimate reasons is extremely short. See, I am already picking quarrels and provoking trouble. I take my job very seriously.
What I would LOVE you to do:
Open your mind and hear me out. If you decide you don’t agree with me, this is still a free country I hear and there are about a million other websites that will be more to your liking. Google is your second best friend.
Open your mind and try a little harder to understand what your dog is trying to tell you. Try to understand what dogs are about rather than demand they be what we want them to be.
Be kinder, be bigger, be more giving and more compassionate. Aim to know better but don’t stop there. If you can learn what a dog can to teach you, you will be happier with life and a better human being. What’s the downside?
Open your heart and accept the love your dog so freely offers you every single day without asking for much in return. And do your best to return the favor, we humans are not the best at unconditional love but that’s no excuse for not trying a little harder.
If you are motivated to do something to make a difference, fantastic! You can always contact me for ideas, I would be happy to give you a bunch. And I trust you can come up with a bunch on your own.
If you like what you see here, if you think it is worth sharing, by all means do that. Tell your friends, your family and your neighbors to check out my website. Tell your veterinarian, if you have one, and ask them to let their clients know about it. Tell your groomer or your trainer. Word of mouth is a time honored way to spread useful information. It doesn’t take very much time and it doesn’t cost you anything. You will have my eternal gratitude.
About the content of this website:
If you want to share any of the information I post, feel free to do so. All I ask is that you DO NOT change the intent of the message, take things out of context and that you do not use it for purposes that are detrimental to the welfare of animals. I think you are smart enough to figure out how you would be doing that but if in doubt, you can always contact me and I will let you know what I think. I am never at a loss for opinions. And it would be nice if you gave proper attribution to the source of the information, be it myself or any of the other authors I quote here. Also, make sure to check original sources for their copyright policies.
My Dog’s Best Friend logo, domain name, blog posts, all content and photography are copyrighted to My Dog’s Best Friend – unless otherwise noted. If you illegally use them to make money and I catch you, I will most likely not be a happy camper. I just might ask my canine best friends to have a chat with you. Fair warning: Unlike me, they might not use big words — or 4-letter ones — but I am guessing you will have a tough time convincing them it is OK to benefit from someone else’s work. So save us all a whole lot of trouble and don’t do that. You are never wrong to ask permission to use anything you find here. I am sure we could work something out; I can be reasonable if you are.
If you would like to comment, disagree with, expand on, question or otherwise add your voice to the discussion, by all means do so. As long as you do it in a respectful and non-violent manner, your perspective and opinion will be appreciated and posted. I love debates, almost as much as I love dogs.
If you, however, want to engage me in a fruitless time-wasting effort to prove me wrong, negative, depressing, hateful, hurtful, bitter, stupid, closed minded, biased, prejudiced, judgmental or any other of a million “bad” things I might be, I will be happy to refer you to a couple of my friends. They have given that approach their best shot, they gave up; I’m still a troublemaker. I also refer you to my paragraph above. My dogs get bored sometimes; I can send them over to chat with you too. Fair warning: They are not as fond of debates as I am.
Comments will be moderated and will have to pass the dogs’ sniff test before they are posted. No appeals, sorry! No “boss” to bump it up to, unless you would like to chat with my dogs. They are always willing to listen. They might be understanding and generously offer to share their bones with you. I am not as generous, I don’t share my food and I have no money or other valuable assets to compensate you for any injury my dangerous and inconvenient ideas might cause you.