Category Archives for "About Shirelle"

1 Should I trust my guy?

Aroula asks: Should I trust my guy?

Wow, that’s a tough question.  I don’t know anything about him, but I guess here’s the best I can offer:

 

Some legal systems in the world operate from the idea that a person is “innocent until proven guilty.”  In other words, it’s up to the court to prove that the person committed a crime before they can be punished for it.  And in those systems, police often get into trouble if they have arrested a person without “just cause.”

 

I think that’s a good way to be in relationships too.  There are lots of people out there who spend all their time distrusting their boyfriend or girlfriend or spouse, or even their friends.  And you know what?  They’re unhappy people!  They can always find reasons not to trust!  Then there are others out there, who do the Continue reading

Are long-distance relationships possible?

Brena asks: Can a boy live far away from me and fall in love with me?

Hi Brena –

 

Quick answer:  Yes!  It happens all the time!

 

The question is, what is that boy falling in love with?  For example, all us dogs are really obsessed with smell.  So there’s no way we could fall in love with someone we couldn’t sniff out.  People tend to be more interested in sight and sound – they are attracted to other people’s looks and the sound of their Continue reading

How to make your parents happy

sunny asks: How can I be a good son, and make my parents happy?

Hi sunny –

 

What a wonderful question.  It’s a great goal, to want to make anyone happy – whether it’s your parents, or a stranger, or a nice dog who loves to give advice.  There’s just one problem with it:  you can’t.

 

If you look at the June issue of The Pawprint, you’ll see a big piece I wrote about how to make yourself happy.  But the awful truth is that you can’t make anyone else happy.  I know, it’s crazy!  Giving them what they want should be enough!  But sometimes…

 

You know, Handsome loves me more than anything else in the world.  But sometimes something goes bad with his work, or a friend hurts his feelings, and suddenly he’s just not happy.  It doesn’t mean he’s mad at me, or that I’m doing anything wrong, but no matter how many chew toys I drop in his Continue reading

Good topics for practicing conversation

Aree303 asks: Please give me some daily English conversation to use with my 10-year-old son. I like to practice with him. He is in bilingual school but rarely speaks English.

Hi Aree303 –

 

Congratulations to you for caring so much about your son’s education, and working to help him navigate a multi-lingual world.  I’m happy to help.

 

In fact, I think I can help a lot.  Because what you really need is help finding things that interest your son, that can both help him learn English and give you good topics to talk about.

 

May I recommend…   Continue reading

How to deal with a kid picking fights with you.

Chupa Chup asks: There’s a boy that goes to my school and he comes to school care and sometimes we fight and hurt each other and hit and kick and pinch and punch. I don’t know what I can do to make him stop hurting me all of the time.

Hi Chupa Chup –

 

Well, there’s an easy answer to your question, that I’ll bet you’ve heard adults say before:  Stop fighting with him.

Now I’ll bet that just made you roll your eyes, because of course you can’t stop fighting with him, because he’s going to come at you and hit and kick and pinch and punch.  Right?  But maybe you can actually stop the fight instead.

You see, I’ve been in lots of fights.  And I’ve won fights and lost fights.  I’m a good fighter.  But I don’t like fighting.

Actually, let me restate that.  I love fighting, but not when it’s Continue reading

How to start a teen magazine.

Ryta asks: Hello Shirelle. I hope you’re doing great. If you wanted to start a teen’s magazine, how would you go about it?

Thanks for your question Ryta, and yes I am absolutely doing great!  Especially because… Wow, what a cool question!

 

I have to confess, I have absolutely no idea how to get a magazine started, whether for teens or anyone else.

 

But I do hear a lot that the publishing business is really difficult today.  So I’m not sure I’d recommend that you make the huge investment a new magazine would require, without being able to know that you have an audience first.

 

And to do that, I’d suggest that you try something else – something I know as much about as any dog who ever lived!  I think you should start a

 

website!

 

You see, starting a website is really inexpensive.  Handsome only pays a fee of a few dollars a month for me to have AskShirelle.com all to myself.  That frees me to put all my energies into making the site as great as it can be.  Now part of that is that I have a fantastic website designer, Sherice.  She knows all the stuff that Handsome and I don’t, about how to create graphics and set up the system so that the site works right.  But you could save even more money if you got one of those website templates that are always advertised, and then you could just load it up with all the fun teen stuff you wanted to write, and pictures you download or upload, or even create yourself.

 

And then, if you’ve created something really unique, and other people get into it and like it…  maybe you’ll be set up to make a deal and get a real paper magazine made!

 

Hmmm…  this is getting me to thinking…  hey do you think if I put pictures of Justin Bieber on each issue of “The Pawprint,” I could get it published too?!

 

Thanks for the cool question!

Shirelle

How to make your parents trust you.

Bumpy asks: How can I make my parents trust me?

Boy, Bumpy, do I hear this one all the time from kids, teens, even some adults!  Why can’t our parents trust us?  We can be super-responsible in the eyes of the world, but these people, who know us the best and love us the most, have absolutely the worst opinion of our integrity and abilities!

Well, it’s one simple problem you’re facing:  Diapers!

Yes, you read it right, I said Diapers!  You see, when you were born, you were completely helpless – you couldn’t even lift your head up.  And you’re here today and able to complain to me because your parents did absolutely everything for you back then.  They knew you were helpless, and were there always.

Then you got a little older, and you started crawling around, walking, talking… you were feeling pretty powerful.  But no matter how smart or tough you were, they knew that you were still helpless and had no idea how to handle life, because of the big bulge around your Continue reading

1 How to find a friend

Thesun asks: I need a friend. Where can I find them?

Hi Thesun –

 

What a great great question.  We need all the friends we can get.  So it’s terribly important to find them, and definitely good ones!

 

So here are a few suggestions:

 

1)    Many people are embarrassed to admit they need a friend, or that they don’t have enough.  So your bravery in asking your question is already a great sign.  The truth is MOST people are looking for new Continue reading

3 Natural Beauty Tips for Teenagers

CaNdAcE asks: Do you have any ‘natural’ beauty tips for teenagers?

Hi CaNdAcE –

 

I’m so glad you asked me about natural beauty tips.  Because I have to be honest with you – as a dog, I don’t know anything about the artificial ones.  I know some dogs do – Poodles with their curls all coifed into fancy balls, Malteses with ribbons in their fancy-cut hair.  That is not me!  I mean, I can’t even stand it if the shampoo Handsome uses when he bathes me has any scent to it – this is NOT ME AT ALL!

 

Now of course there are things that I think make me beautiful, like rolling in certain substances that Handsome isn’t very happy with (Have you ever walked behind a Continue reading

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