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So, your dog’s been skunked

So, your dog’s been skunked. What should you do? (Aside from cursing the day you were born, of course.)

First and foremost, do not – I repeat DO NOT – let your dog back into your house. (Friends, I’m essentially writing this post for Past Me, in hopes that a rip in the space-time continuum will allow me to warn her of the events that transpired on November 18 and prevent her from opening that patio door. If she’d only known what Tavish had been up to out there…)

You’ve already let him back in the house, haven’t you? I’m sorry to report that it’s too late for you. There’s only one way out.So, your dog’s been skunked

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Tales of a neighborhood Facebook page

We live in a society. And in a society? There are rules.

I’m woman enough to admit that I don’t know it all. As a dog-having person living in a neighborhood, who can I turn to advice? How will I find out the social norms and expectations of my community so that I don’t end up cast out to survive on my own in the wild with nothing but my sixteen-pound dog for warmth?

Enter the neighborhood Facebook page.Tales of a neighborhood Facebook page

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Lists and the women who love them

Last year was a busy blogging year for me… just not on this blog. I launched my webcomic, which – like a shiny, new toy – has gotten the lion’s share of my attention. I’ll admit that I’ve found myself missing this space and hope to give some more attention to my first blog-child in the coming year. (We’ll talk more about that later this month – stay tuned.)

With that in mind, I wanted to start off the new year with a new post. When a friend told me about 50 Happy Things, I just knew that this was the perfect way to kick off 2016 (and to help me find some positivity in a year that seemed to be full of sad news from the world at large). Plus, I love lists. I have a list of the lists that I keep. It’s like list-ception.

You can visit Tales from the Motherland for the full lowdown, but here are the basics:

  • Set a timer for ten minutes.
  • During those ten minutes, write a list of 50(ish) things that made you happy (or that you were grateful for) in 2015. (After time was up, I went back and added some links, comments, and photos – you know I can’t resist a good link roundup.)
  • Add your post to the list of bloggers participating in this flood of gratitude. (Don’t have a blog? That’s okay! You can do this on your own – either just for yourself, or to share with your friends in another format. Also, if you want to tell me some of the things that made you happy in the comments, I’d love to hear them!)

I armed Tavish with a stopwatch, which he promptly ignored in favor of going back to sleep. (Hosting people for New Year’s Eve is exhausting, apparently.) So, looks like I’m on my own. Here we go…Lists and the women who love them

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When puppies make puppies…

Blog the ChangeThis post is part of Blog the Change for Animals, a quarterly blog event dedicated to shining a spotlight on animal causes. I originally had another post planned for today, but it’s still in limbo due to a nasty case of writer’s block. So, I decided to share a post I did last year (with a few tweaks) about a topic that never seems to go out of style.  (Just ask Bob Barker.) 

From time to time, I write about some of the more interesting search terms that bring people to this humble blog. One of these search terms inspired today’s post. Those fateful words? “I want a puppy that makes puppies.” Well, dear searcher… what exactly do you mean by that? I kind of hope you’re looking for some sort of child’s toy that I haven’t heard of yet. Or a puppy prodigy that spends his spare time building Lego replicas of other puppies.When puppies make puppies…

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Would you forget if you could?

Riddle me this, dear reader… is there anything you would erase from your mind if you were given the option to forget something completely?

That’s right. I’m getting all Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind on you today.  (Although, for the sake of this exercise, let’s assume that there are no odd side effects or shady corporate employees to consider.)

So, what would it be? The red pill or the blue one? If you choose to forget, what memory would you erase? It could be anything – a relationship that ended badly, the loss of someone important to you, or an embarrassing moment.

I spent a lot of time thinking about my answer to this question. Would you forget if you could?

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#BtC4A: Dogs aren’t perfect… but neither are you

Blog the ChangeI’d be lying to you if I said that I knew what I wanted to write about for this edition of Blog the Change for Animals. However, I recently read a story that supplied the thesis* for today’s post. That thesis?

Don’t be an idiot.

(A secondary thesis? Don’t do things that make me roll my eyes. It makes my eyes hurt. I don’t like it when my eyes hurt.)

So, let’s get to it. The story that inspired today’s post sounds too stupid to be true. Our tale begins with the return of a dog named Misty to a high-kill shelter. Want to guess the reason? I bet you can’t.

#BtC4A: Dogs aren’t perfect… but neither are you

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