0 How to find a long-lost best friend

Wisky asks: I was having a best friend, but now I am not in touch with her; what should I can do to contact with her?

Thanks Wisky!
You know, I’m not sure if you mean that you and your friend have just lost contact, or if something bad happened to your friendship. If it’s just that time and distance have separated you, then you’re in luck – all you need to do is to sniff her out. Do you know where she is? If not, you’ve got something great that no one had until about ten years ago, which is the Internet. If you did a search for her, you might be able to find out where she is (if you don’t know how to do that, just ask a parent or older friend to help you). You could also do the “old-school” method by phoning Information and asking them to help you her.
But if it’s the other way, if something has hurt your friendship, then I’ve got to admit: this is one of those areas that we dogs just never Continue reading

0 Why it hurts when our best isn’t enough

Asmaok asks: Why is it that what hurts me most is when I can not give more than my best?

Wow, Asmaok, it sounds to me like you’re just a great person with a wonderful work ethic. For those who don’t know, “Work Ethic” means that you really value how good a job you do on the tasks you do. Like a student who doesn’t like to turn in work that isn’t really good, or an adult who doesn’t like to be lazy.
The problem is that, as good as a Work Ethic is, it can become too much, and it can get you feeling bad instead of good. The trick to handle this is simple: Give Yourself a Break!
For example, I think my most important job is Squirrel Control. I spend most of my Continue reading

1 Fun things for kids to do on a bus trip

Bow Wow asks: This saturday me and my friends are going on a trip,in a bus…how can we have fun inside the bus?

Hi Bow Wow –

Well the easy answer is that the most fun thing you can do on a bus is
to bring a dog along! Or better yet, lots and lots of dogs! Just
imagine how fun a long bus trip could be if you had, I don’t know, 67
puppies running around! It’d be great! They’d be playing, licking
everyone, nipping at your ankles, tug-of-war-ing, all great for the
first ten minutes or so. Then they’d start… uh oh… throwing
up… and Continue reading

1 Why we get so hurt by those we love.

Duaa asks: “Why sometimes do we feel hurt by our dear ones and cannot smile? What to do then?”

Oh Duaa, I wish I had an easy answer for that!  The more we love someone, the more they can hurt us.  That’s part of what love is – when we open our hearts to someone, we let them in, with all their faults.  So if someone we love tends to say harsh things when they get angry, those mean words will hurt us more.  And if someone we love tends to pull away when Continue reading

0 What to do when friends tell you another friend is betraying you.

crobat asks: I’m confused if my “friend” [Henry] is really my friend and if my X-friend [Daniel] caused it. You see, ever since I introduced Daniel (this is when we were friends)to Henry, I’ve been told that Henry’s betraying me or that Daniel’s tricking me by other kids in the neighborhood. I’ve tried to figure it out on my own. Even though I found a couple things that might have proven that Henry’s innocent, I still didn’t have anything to prove that Daniel’s wrong. What do I do…

Oh Crobat, this is always so hard!  When one friend tells you another friend is betraying you, you never know who to believe, or how to react!  Shakespeare wrote a great play about this called “Othello,” which you’ll probably read sometime in school.  But it sure doesn’t tell you what the right thing to do about this is (“Othello” ends REALLY badly!).  So it’s no help to you today at all.  So I’ll do better than Shakespeare and help you out!!

We dogs don’t really have these same problems in our lives.  The closest we get is when another dog steals our food.  Once I saw – through a window – another dog eating out of my dish.  Well the first chance I had to get inside, I went right up to that dog and got on top of her and Continue reading

0 What to do when you’re feeling hopeless and seeing no reason to keep living.

Suds Asks: Shirelle, sometimes I feel so hopeless I don’t want to live anymore. Does that ever happen to you?

Hi Suds –

I’m sorry you feel so lousy.  I know what it’s like to feel really sad and frustrated and lonely and angry.  But no, I’ve never not wanted to live anymore.  That’s because dogs are different from people – we just never think that way.  But I have to tell you, I’ve never known a human who hasn’t felt just Continue reading

2 Why are ticks attracted to dogs?

Schnapsie asks: Shirelle, why are tics attracted to our kind, that is the canine family?

Oh Schnapisie, did you have to ask this?!  Now I’m going to have nightmares all night!

For a dog, ticks are just about the worst thing there is.  They latch onto us, spread disease, drink our blood, and are impossible for us to scratch off!  While we always appreciate what our humans do for us, handling ticks is one of the most important and valuable things people can ever give us.  So please:

–       Do what you can to prevent our getting ticks

–       Find ticks as soon as possible when they’re on us

–       And when you do find them, get them off of us in a big big hurry!

But your question is about why ticks are attracted to dogs in particular.  Well, the answer is… Continue reading

0 What people should consider before buying a pet.

Schnapsie asks: My wife and I are thinking about getting a new pet for our home. How do we know when we have the right suitable pet? What criteria shall we use?

Hi Schnapsie –
Boy that’s a great question!  In a lot of ways we pets seem to pick out our people, but in the end, it is the person that makes the actual decision to purchase an animal, and that decision needs to be taken very very seriously.  Handsome always says that the single smartest thing he ever did in his life was getting me, and of course I agree all the way!  But people make the wrong decision all the time, and that can result in a lot of misery – for the person, and especially for the pet!
There are lots of good websites to give you specific advice about how to buy pets, such as the Humane Society (http://www.humanesociety.org/issues/puppy_mills/tips/buying_puppy.html) and (one of my favorites in general) About.com.

But there are some important questions to ask even before you think about where or how to buy one.  Here are some biggies:

• 1) Do you, or anyone in your home, or any friends you have or want to have, have allergies?  Handsome, for example, has always been allergic to cats.  Now there are things he can do so he can spent time around them safely, but buying a cat isn’t something he’d normally choose to do!  Meanwhile, he has friends who can’t hang out in our house because they’re allergic to my fur.  But for them, there are non-allergenic dogs (a Portuguese Water Dog is one, which is why President Obama chose that breed when he bought Bo).  Other people have problems with bird feathers, or even rodent fur.  I’ve never heard of anyone being allergic to a fish, though, so I think you can get one of those no matter what!
• 2) How much room do you have?  When Handsome decided to get a dog, he moved out of his nice apartment and found a tiny house, just so I could have a yard to run in.  If you live in an apartment, it’s okay to get a dog, but you’ll have to walk it a few times a day, and your neighbors might get really peeved when we bark, or even just walk around on hardwood floors with our toes click-click-clicking all day and night!  If you have a small place, that’s great for a cat or a small dog.  But are you one of those people who doesn’t like having an animal have full run of your home?  If so, maybe you’ll be better off with something that stays in a cage.  Mice, rats, birds, guinea pigs…   Hmm, my mouth’s watering and my pulse is getting fast!  That leads me to think of…
• 3) Do you have any other pets?!  If you have a cat and you buy a bird, the odds are high that you’re creating a Tweety-and-Sylvester relationship in your home!  Similarly, if you have a dog, you might want to think before you buy a rabbit or kitten.  Tragedy might well ensue!!  On the other hand, if you have a dog and buy a fish or lizard, that shouldn’t be a big problem.  Or of course, if you have a bird and buy a ferret – no problem!   But be sure and think first – is one animal going to hate another?  Or worse, is one animal going to looooooove the other, especially as a snack?!
• 4) Do you have time for the pet?  Animals are pretty easy to live with as a whole, but we do require work.  Dogs need to be walked, cats need clean litterboxes, fish need their water changed.  Handsome got a turtle once, thinking it would be easy to keep; eventually he found it took more work than I did, what with cleaning out its aquarium, changing water filters, and all.  So be sure you don’t get a pet who requires more work than you can spare.
• 5) Can you afford to care for the pet?  Nothing is sadder than someone buying a puppy and building a beautiful loving relationship with it, and then having to give it away because they can’t afford to feed and care for it.  Most pets are pretty cheap to care for (except for medical bills, which I’ll come to later).  But not everyone can afford a pony, or even a python.  Whatever you get, it’s very important to be sure you can keep the pet for as long as you both shall live.  Does that phrase sound familiar?  It should:  Buying a pet is like getting married!  You two beings plan on staying together “till death do you part.”  So it needs to be taken that seriously!
• 6) Should you get insurance?  Pet insurance is a pretty recent thing, and Handsome and I have had great luck with it.  True story: the day after my policy began, I broke my toe while jumping on the fence to talk to the neighbors.  Boy did that insurance help with the medical bills!  Of course, just like any other insurance, it’s possible that you might regret throwing cash away by buying it.  I mean, if your pet stays healthy till the day it suddenly keels over, you’ll have lost money on the deal.  But that’s why they call it “insurance;” it’s there to ensure that you can afford anything that comes along.  It’s certainly not a necessity, but if you don’t get insurance, you should plan with your family for anything that might happen.
• 7) Okay, the biggest question of all to ask:  What do you really want?   Most people like all sorts of animals, but that doesn’t mean every pet is right for them.  Turtles sit and float and don’t do a lot more.  Gerbils run on wheels all night.  Malteses like to sit in laps.  Snakes eat live mice for dinner.  Labrador Retrievers like to swim.  Cats like to keep to themselves a lot and only show affection when they’re in certain moods.  Monkeys like to swing a lot, and tend to bite when they get older.  The best thing about having a pet is the joy of having nature in your home, but having that should make your home feel better, not like that scary movie where they chant “Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!”  So when you think you know what you’d like to get, do a lot of research.  Go to websites, go to the library, and find out everything you can about the kind of animal you’re thinking of getting.

After all, you wouldn’t marry someone without knowing all about them, would you?!  Yikes!!

Okay, Schnapsie, there’s my long long advice.  I hope you and your wife are able to make a decision that pleases you both.  And I also hope you’ve noticed just how nice and tolerant I’ve been here.  Because I’ve gone this whole way without saying…
SOME people are just GOOFY, and they go out and buy a CAT!  Who in the world would want one of those nasty stinky things in their home?!  Meowing, Yowling, oh they’re just….

Whew, okay, that’s out of my system.  The truth is everyone’s different, and that’s what makes the world a great place.  After all, some people don’t like big friendly knuckleheads like me!  Handsome likes to sing an old song to me, that really is what you and the right pet should sing to each other forever: “To each his own, I found my own, one and only YOU!“

4 What’s Shirelle Been Up To

LovesBlackCats asks: Hi Shirelle, So I see it’s been really quiet on the website for a couple of months… What have you been up to? Hugs!

Boy are you right, my friend!  We’ve been working really hard to improve all the things that weren’t working just right here, and because of that, we got a lot less productive.  Now I could make a lot of excuses, like about my friend Dilla, a very rambunctious Boston Terrier, needing two foot surgeries, and my having to bring him lots of chicken Continue reading

4 Why Does School Teach So Many Useless Things?

Lovesblackcats asks: Why don’t we learn really useful things in school like how to fix a flat tire or balance a checkbook? Why do we need to spend time finding the diameter of a circle or doing calculus?

Hi LovesBlackCats!

Boy this question gets asked all the time. I’ll bet they asked it in Ancient Egypt, and it’ll still be asked a thousand years from now. “Why do I have to study stuff that means nothing to me?”

When I was a puppy, I really cared about a few things. Biting, chewing, playing, food, making friends, and whether Handsome liked me as much as I liked him. That’s about it. I wanted to spend all my time pursuing those things. If I could have had my way, I wouldn’t have even slept! And Handsome would ruin my good times every day by insisting on Continue reading